Madou is timeless and cult. A vanished band that remains sharp after 40 years. The 1981 debut single Witte Nachten is pure Belpop gold, followed by the fantastic Niets is voor altijd, that this year stranded at 39th spot in Radio 1’s Belpop 100 chart. Their self-titled debut was released in 1982. Anyone not touched by the voice of Vera Coomans, is dead inside. “She is the Marianne Faithfull of Flanders", according to walking Belpop-encyclopedia Jan Delvaux.

Madou is now totally back, with more of what was already good but in a current context. Pretty much everyone is there again: Jan Devos with both resurrected and new lyrics, Wiet Van de Leest with keyboard, violin and string arrangements, and Vera Coomans with a voice that has only gained patina over the years.

But, not insignificantly, Madou has been resurrected thanks to the next generation. The motor is Thomas Devos, Jan & Vera’s son and known musically from Rumplestitchkin and Tommigun. He brought in fresh material that rekindled the flame, and made new arrangements for old songs. Wiet’s son, Louis Van de Leest, is involved too. Mattijs Vanderleen (Marble Sounds and Tommigun, amongst others) provide the rhythm section and recently one of the country’s best saxophonists, Marc De Maeseneer, joined them on stage. So, after more than four decades, Madou finally goes further.

Exactly forty years after the debut single, in September 2021, Madou presented second album Is er iets? – which included the hit Ronquières. It was showered with stars by the press. In September 2022, the legendary debut album from 1982 finally reappeared on vinyl via BLP Records, followed by a one-off REWIND show at AB. That clearly left Vera and Wiet wanting more and they brooded on new songs... Those plans have become solid, as a new EP will be out in autumn 2024. Forerunner will be the single Mooie Dag. It will be just that on this December day at AB Club.