02/24/2022
Madame Mayhem 
The Red Zone
Madison, WI

The Annex gets so many rad shows. Jake, the promoter(also known as Midwest Mix-up) always brings in the best line ups. When he put up the flyer for this show, I geeked. I love Madame Mayhem. I have seen them 4 or 5 times now. The band are fantastic and fun. Her voice is thick and powerful every single time. Lyrics written from an obviously female perspective, translate across to the male persuasion as well. As a band they know what works for them. They always know which of their songs work best live.  In fact I have been rocking their “Ready For Me” album for years now. I like to purchase CDs directly from the artist, so I had to wait for this tour to come around to pick up their back catalog. Worth every penny. Natalie or Mrs. Mayhem herself tossed in a few extra goodies for my friend and I. Quite generous.

The show itself was killer. It always is with them. The stage was rather dark, but they lit up the room with their energetic rock anthems. The band itself are a very tight group intent on making you leave knowing who they are. Madame Mayhem herself, is the obvious crown jewel of the group. She commands your attention and won’t give up until it is all hers. Every time she needed to belt out a line she was so powerful you could hear her voice straight past the microphone. Now in my experiences up front photographing artists, that doesn’t happen too often. You can feel the heart within the lyrics. Madame is also extremely animated and generally right on the front ledge of the stage. She is fully engaged with the crowd at all times. The images below will give you a taste of those movements. Drummer, J Bombs, is about as animated as a drummer can get. Between the glares, smiles and jumping around he has time to pound his kit. A very enthusiastic guy for sure. This band is so good. Percy on bass is a bad ass who delivers on backing vocals while being a perpetual back and forth swaying with a multitude of hair flips. Their guitars ripped. Neither had a problem laying down juicy riffs. 

Like I said before, this isn’t my first time seeing them. It surely will not be my last. They never disappoint. It is a rare occasion to actually say that.