Justin Nuoffer 
CONCERT REVIEW + PHOTOS
King 810
8/28 – The Annex – Madison, WI
©Justin Nuoffer/Nuoffermedia.com
The Annex in Madison, WI was host to King 810 on a beautiful Wednesday evening. Despite it being hump day, fans lined up early eagerly awaiting the night in store for them. The Annex is one-half of the Red Zone Bar and Restaurant which is located within walking distance to Camp Randall Stadium, the home of the Wisconsin Badgers football team. The off-campus location makes it an easy one for students and adults alike to get to.
The crowd in attendance covered all age ranges, from young kids to old. King 810’s draw was apparent. Once inside, the merch tables were on full display. The local band who opened the show were spotted right behind the security check-in table. Next to the long bar that wraps around a corner of the room, the tour package had all of their merchandise displayed on large black racks. The merchandise was maintained by the band members and featured affordable t-shirts and trinkets. Moving into the main performance room, the back of the venue has two levels to move up into if you want a table or to stand and watch. There are sightlines galore. The room is moderately sized and a tight fit, but that is perfect for this billing.
The tour package featured The Extortionist and The Last Ten Seconds of Life as support. Both came prepared to shake and move the room. The Extortionist are up-and-comers who are heavy as hell, but incorporate many interesting time signatures and genres within their brand of metal. Live they are relentless. Sharing the microphone with fans who know the chorus’ and often encouraging the moshpit to get even more violent. The crowd killers had a ball. Like any show, the same rules applied. If someone falls you pick them up and that they did. The crowd’s reaction was insane. The security barricade could barely hold in place. The Extortionist didn’t have much space to operate on the small stage, but it didn’t matter much. They used every square inch to unleash powerful gut-punching riffs. There is no doubt these guys are very much meant for bigger things in their future.
The Last Ten Seconds of Life is no stranger to playing in tight rooms with active pits. If anything they feed on that chaos. Founding member, Wyatt McLaughlin and his band of deathcore aficionados were extremely efficient. They spared no time and managed to jam 8 tracks into their short set. Four of them came off of their February release No Name Graves. The lineup may have changed in 2022, but they may have become more impressive in the live setting. Every brutal breakdown was a fresh slap in the face. A large portion of the crowd was there to see them. They lunged towards the stage. Vocalist Tyler Beam enticed the faithful brave enough to line the security barrier to scream at the microphone. He stomped around and often reached for the sky and belted out those sweet deathcore sounds. All in all, TLTSOL knows its formula and dominates with it.
The diverse King 810 crowd was prepared. Families with their kids right up front to the big burly guys waiting to throw down in the pit. The background had a massive curtain draped with the band’s decrepit images displayed across it. The mood lighting was purple and green. Those colors were the main ones all night. King 810 mainly consists of guitarist Tim Lucier, bassist Eugene Gill, and vocalist David Gunn. Despite being a lightning rod for all sorts of controversy, King 810 presents as nothing other than humble. They arrived on stage together as one. An electric feeling filled the air. The band wasted no time and unloaded a masterful performance.
Gill was a force on backing vocals. His eyes were barely seen from under his hooded sweatshirt. He stomped around and delivered thunderous bass lines. His backing vocals on “Alpha & Omega” tore through the room. It matched the intensity and surreal lyrics of Gunn’s vocals. Gunn stood just out of the fan’s arm reach and parallel to the front of the stage. He leaned backward with the mic stand in his right hand often. His lyricism isn’t for the faint of heart. It is real life and meant to prove a point. His fights with faith and government are well documented within these pointed words. Five of these tracks that speak about it are from the album La Petite Mort or a Conversation with God.
The band showed off their musical versatility and their genre-mixing worked well. Whether singing, screaming, or whispering they put it all on display. King 810 also featured three tracks from their 2023 EP Follow My Tears. “Brains On The Asphalt” slugged you in the guts and if one listened to the content the power and strength of it landed differently. The same went for the other two tracks. “Say Cheese and Die” and “Isobel” were beyond unique in the set. The heavy usage of digital sounds from a keyboard set up standing in the middle of the set was out there. The pure emotion had the room bouncing like a hip-hop show despite keeping it metal as hell. King 810 had the crowd in the palm of their hands. They had full control of everything.
Closing the evening is perhaps their most popular track “Killem All”. It is so popular that they have branded merchandise with the phrase. The room exploded once again as Gunn was unleashed. His growling vocals with gripping rhymes had the room screaming the words back to him. The floor was shaking and the bodies flew around. Then just like that the stage went black. The band exited as they came in… Together.
It was an extraordinary evening. King 810 was meant to tear through clubs their way. They showed no fear and produced an incredible performance with a room full of their fandom. As the patrons started to walk out of the main room, the chatter amongst the many was about how great the performance was. People with set lists shared it with others so they could take photos of it. There was still an air of excitement. For a Wednesday night, nothing could’ve been more fun. Nothing.
Check out our King 810 concert photo gallery below.
Check out our The Last Ten Seconds of Life concert photo gallery below.
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