Elder and Madmess- MOUCO, Porto, PT Oct 29th, 2025

I drove to Coimbra and then took the train to Porto. This new music venue is in the basement of a fancy hotel about 10mins walk from Campanhã, which is pretty convenient. The building itself it a bit of a maze to get into the basement but when I arrived I could hear Elder soundchecking.  I managed to find my way in and the Madmess guys were watching the soundcheck. They stopped and we greeted each other. Nice to see the Elder folks. Super nice people, all of them…

Elder Soundchecking

After soundcheck I hung out backstage with the band while Madmess were setting up but I was really hungry. I was invited to go eat with them at 19 but I could not wait that long..  Has some chicken and chips 3mins away and came back but missed the Madmess soundcheck, they were done. Michael (2nd guitarist in Elder), he was hanging around, while the others were eating so we chatted about life on the road, his music life, the insane USA, etc.. such a nice guy..  

Madmess backstage

The doors opened at 20 and Madmess hit the stage just at 2030. A lot of people were still coming in at this time as only a couple of weeks ago they changed the start time from 21 to 2030.. Anyway, it was full by the time they finished and they pretty much blasted the audience with the very tight set of acid rock. They used to space out a bit but not at all anymore, very tight and perfect, a bit too much for my liking. Most of the set was from the new album and two from Rebirth and nothing from the first album.  The band is working on new material. Sam said it is their best stuff ever. 

Set List: Death by Astonishment, Widowmaker, Albatross, Endless Cycles, Velvet Nebula, Stargazer

Vasco on Bass

Elder were very fast to get things going and within 20mins after the Rush- Tom Sawyer into they blasted into In Procession!!!  Sound was great but LOUD….   The two guitar players have such a great dynamic (Nick and Michael)… They both do leads and cool parts. The band is so tight.  Jack is just rocking out hard on all the songs and Georg just keeps the time and manages the dynamics. Great players. These are complicated and long songs.  I wish some of the guitar solos were a bit longer and they would adventure a bit.. Still such an awesome and powerful band. It was the soundmans birthday so they gave him a shout out, which was cool. This was the 4th to las show so they had sold all the copies of the new album.  Pity…   I asked about playing those songs live and they gave it a try but determined it was not going to be possible and do them justice.  I think it is some of their best stuff.. Anyway, Merged in Dreams is an amazing track and glad they had that one in the set.  I had hoped we would get to hear Lore or Spires Burning.. It was a powerful set. 80mins..  Great night. Thanks guys..

Set List: In Procession, Thousand Hands, Merged in Dreams, Compendium, Sanctuary, Catastasis, Gemini