Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concert Reviews, Concerts

Novos Românticos | Bastonada, RCA-Radioclube Agramonte, Porto 18/04/2026.

Novos Românticos © Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Vítor Neves

words: Paulo Carmona (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro)
photos: Vítor Neves

Novos Românticos

A punch to the gut of the patriots. That’s what it is.

Any self-respecting lusitano, with a clear sense of their country’s history, recent or otherwise, will feel the almost unbearable weight of the stark, unvarnished reality served up by Novos Românticos. The silver platter is the sound, let that be clear.

This isn’t just music, it isn’t just musical aesthetics. It’s intervention, it’s agony, it’s the near-psychotic despair of someone who feels the weight of Portugalidade. Someone disillusioned with an Abril that seems ever more distant, with fewer and fewer reasons for pride.

Novos Românticos © Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Vítor Neves

David Félix is the man on duty, presenting himself to the audience as a kind of modern-day guru, fully prepared to press on the wound until it bleeds.

He carries an intrinsic ability to command attention: monochord vocal delivery, the sinuous movement of his body to the measured pulse of an electronic post-punk, hypnotic, corrosive, built on pre-recorded loops of guitar, drums, bass, keyboards, and samplers. He drifts across the stage, almost unsteady, faintly lascivious, but the message lands. That seems to be what drives them, and they achieve it with precision.

They performed material from across their repertoire, with a strong focus on their full-length work, Criptopátria. Worth highlighting are Pátria, Mesa Posta, and a very original version of the iconic Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.

Bastonada @ Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Vítor Neves

Bastonada

Bastonada closed the night, delivering verbal and musical blows with their interventionist Electro Punk, edged with rap. It’s pure energy from beginning to end, without a moment’s respite.

They’re young, intense, sharp, and they fire off their songs as if the world were ending tomorrow.

The instruments are always front and centre, and their masked vocalist is a force of nature.

The insolent anger of their youth, combined with the level of competence in their instrumentation, points to a project with real substance and a great deal still to give. It will be interesting to watch.

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Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concert Reviews, Concerts of the Year

PAUS, Teatro Aveirense, 16.04.2026.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Telma Mota

words: Telma Mota (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro)
photos: Telma Mota

On 16 April, it was a ‘Happy Day’ at the Teatro Aveirense, with the funeral march of PAUS.

Having announced their end, the band made their fourth appearance of the year in Aveiro with impact and a certain sense of occasion.

They presented their final album in full, in an uninterrupted 30-minute crescendo. As they have accustomed us, this work entitled Enterro is marked by intense, hypnotic and innovative pieces that combine old-school experimental rock sounds, with complex and repetitive rhythms, with touches of indie vocal lines and the psychedelic textures of post-rock.

However, at this stage, arguably more refined and mature, they decided to stop and die in a florid and controlled manner, celebrating their own funeral with a tour that will symbolically end on 19 November 2026, the date on which they began their journey 18 years ago.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Telma Mota

In a relaxed register, they made a few pauses at the beginning and end of the concert, between better-known older songs, in some way justifying that it is far more interesting to die and bury PAUS with dignity than to pass away in a disordered manner.

Happily for me, as I prefer the band’s earlier phase, more visceral, raw and unrestrained, PAUS opened this concert with Mudo e Surdo and closed with Pelo Pulso, both from their first EP É uma Água

They said goodbye in style, with the intense rhythm of the Siamese drum set played by Quim Albergaria and Hélio Morais, and the striking sounds of Makoto’s bass and Fábio Jevelim’s keyboard. I stood there, clenched my teeth and tapped my foot, wishing only to be somewhere more suited to dancing and exorcising my demons. It is not often one is invited by the dead to their own funeral, but for those present it was certainly a smiling experience.

And they were PAUS. Fare thee well.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Telma Mota

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Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concert Reviews, Concerts

Temples, Hard Club, Porto, 14.11.2024.

© Telma Mota/Mondo Bizarre Magazine

Lost in translation. Definitely.

words: Paulo Carmona (edited by Raquel Pinheiro); photos Telma Mota

Temples are a band of dreams. The magic feeling is constant throughout the band’s performance. Atmospherically very rich and diverse in the structure of their songs, they take us to rest in meadows that stretch far as the eye can see. An immensity of nostalgia and divine emotions that, in fact, can only be reached in temples of sound in which music is the supreme divinity.

© Telma Mota/Mondo Bizarre Magazine

You almost feel a cool breeze on your skin that gives you goose bumps, a constant throughout the concert. In Move With the Seasons I almost levitated, in The Guesser I dreamt and in Fragment’s Light I almost cried. What more could I ask for?

As the songs flowed, bodies moved to the rhythm of the band’s sound, applause was effusive and appropriate for the marvellous setting. The band felt that the audience was with them and James Bagshaw, the band’s singer, ended up saying that this was thee crowd of the tour. I bet it was.

© Telma Mota/Mondo Bizarre Magazine

I dare say that Temples are one of the best bands of the last 20 years, for its originality and musical creativity, and that Sun Structures is a masterpiece of musical art.Outside, the city is perfectly suited to what was experienced and witnessed indoors. Perhaps because its the city of temples. I still feel it all very much alive and present in me. Thank you, James, Tom, Adam and Rens. Don’t make us wait another 10 years for your return to Portugal and, in particular, to Porto.

© Telma Mota/Mondo Bizarre Magazine
Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concert Reviews, Concerts

Sereias | Sleaford Mods, Casa da Música, 13.04.2024.

Sereias © Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Daniela Tedim

words: Paulo Carmona (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Daniela Tendim

Sereias opened the evening with their frantic, vocally agressive rock. Abundantly shouted in despair, among foul language, demands and political and social criticism. They’re very solid and original instrumentalists in the way they mix styles and impose tempos. But always very together. An interesting band, no doubt.

Sleaford Mods © Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Daniela Tedim

I could say punk bastards are back or that the good old fashioned rebels would have returned in na electro punk rap and spoken word version, but I will not do it, even because I just did it. I’ll center myself in what is worthy about British duo Sleaford Mods. Obviously punk’s stigma is present on the fast intense vocalizations of the sarcastic speech, at times comical, and electronic samples minimalism everyone. But, in reality, do Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn Bing us or intend to put across?

To me, it seems they have a lot to say and to uncover not only Great Britain concerning, but regarding the world at large in its hypocrisy and aggressive capitalist economy. Sleaford Mods music is to be danced to, felt, grooved. It is also to be reflected upon and internalised. Although the communication channel is minimalist electronic music, their message is anything but minimalistic. In line with social and political criticism “in your face” bands like The Clash, Public Enemy, Rage Against, this duo shots towards their chosen targets with genuine haughtiness.

Sleaford Mods © Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Daniela Tedim

The concert at Casa da Música justified all that. Jason’s voice on his East Midlands Accent among psychedelic strobe lights, vociferações that resembled seagulls overing above any coastal town, his balancing water bottles on his head artist posture like a cocky rooster trying to moonwalk and footloose, tracks like TCR, BHS, and the cover of Pet Shop Boys’ West End Girls keep coming out entertaining the hordes attendees and Sleaford Mods fans.Oh Captain! My Captain! They follow us everywhere and I go west.

Sleaford Mods © Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Daniela Tedim