Following on from the obviously successful first run of Good Things Festivals last year, Good Things returns in 2019 to the digs at Flemington Racecourse. Having attended last year, I could be forgiven for my most vivid memory being the extreme heat that dominated the entire day. Thankfully, at least down here in Melbourne in 2019, it was perfect festival weather for the thousands of punters who came along for a Friday festival.
Disclaimer up front, doing double duties today of photographing and reviewing, meant most bands in this wide ranging lineup of rock, metal and pop were seen through the lens of the first three songs, no flash of course… But this just offered the perfect drive to get to catch as many bands and get to as many of the 5 stages as possible.
Stage 5 surrounded by hedges was where I kicked off the day with Melbourne’s band comp winners Sisters Doll. As close to my own personal taste in rock as any band on the lineup, with their 80’s Hard Rock stylings, they enticed a crowd to their hedge party with an inspired medley of some of Queen’s guitar fuelled anthems, before hitting them with their latest single Black Mirror.
In what was the theme of musical diversity, from Kiss and Motley Crue inspired stage moves, to the horns and ska of Reel Big Fish on the main stage. Good vibes indeed to kick off the day, with the crowd totally not Pissed Off, whilst these Orange County ska legends opened up with one of their finest.
The beauty of festivals and one with a lineup as diverse as this is discovering bands you otherwise wouldn’t. One of my highlights of the day was Ice Nine Kills who brought a visual and musical experience using props and costumes inspired by the great American Horror films. A Nightmare On Elm Street, IT, Friday The 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and SAW and even Mickey Mouse all featured. Testimony to the bands songs which were some of the catchiest metalcore you’ll hear, having never heard them before, I’m still singing the choruses to the likes of The American Nightmare, Thank God It’s Friday and Savages as I type this. A band clearly with a dedicated and big following out here.
Dance Gavin Dance had the tough task of following on from Ice Nine Kills, their funky, poppy, post-hardcore not my personal cup of tea. Mid-afternoon and with the sunny rays holding strong, the crowd had certainly swelled and heading past the hedges, it was packed for Aussie metal band Gravemind who were delivering a no compromise set of heaviness.
The band I was most curious to see and the standout wildcard of the line-up was The Veronicas. Aussie ratbags Skeggs on the tail end of their set were building the anticipation by telling the crowd to get ready for the wall of death during The Veronicas set. The sisters actually have proved one of the popular bands of the day. Everything I’m Not and Hook Me Up got the crowd singing early and you betcha they got the crowd going with the wall of death during their closer Untouched which was introduced as their “national anthem”.
The Butterfly Effect who are back together after 6 years apart had a smaller than they deserved following, but what a loyal following it was. Great to see these Aussie legends back and how awesome is the song Reach, which closed their set. With new music recently being released, no doubt there will be more opportunities for The Butterfly Effect fans not at Good Things to get to experience what many did today. Trivium brought the shred heralded by crowd chants of Trivium, Trivium as they entered the stage, with a commanding performance, but what a contrast that was out in the main stages following on from the euphoric set by The Veronicas!
Back to the hedges to catch Perth based progressive band Voyager who blitzed with their self proclaimed synth metal pop, with recent single Brightstar popular with the crowd. Instant winner of the day for the keytar action as well and so pleasing to see a healthy crowd watching on. Enter Shikari over on Stage 4 traded synth sounds with Voyager, their set dedicated to us “carbon based life forms who they control with pitch, sound and light”. Definitely one of the busier crowds down by stage 3 and 4 so far and a manic closing to their set. Falling In Reverse led by Ronnie Radke took their name quite literally by starting and then restarting their set after some backing track glitches…but soon got back in the zone.
Punk legends Bad Religion I sadly only caught the tail of American Jesus, with the classic punk the opposite end of the spectrum to Canadian pop punk legends Simple Plan. Whilst not a hot day, it was time for a rest after a fast and furious first 6 hours or so and the slew of greatest hits from Simple Plan was the perfect soundtrack to soak up this perfect sunny day. Now maybe I’m missing something here, but it was around this time that rolls of toilet paper started getting thrown towards the stage. Some impressive throws from the crowd were matched by some classic catches from Plan lead singer Pierre Bouviere. Simple Plan show no signs of slowing down anytime soon with new songs such as Where I Belong and a massive crowd watching them, this was a super fun, high energy set closed off by mega-hit Perfect….good things indeed!!
Violent Soho in contrast were musically the polar opposite with their 90’s grunge meandering alt rock. Photos done and with these guys just not my bag – but clearly the bag of others – I was off to catch Sydney pop punk upstarts Yours Truly on Stage 5. Now this is a band we’ll likely be hearing more of on the horizon, super impressed with their energy and songs!
Karnivool were perfect under the brooding setting sun and their epic closing of New Day one of the song highlights for the day. Great to see these guys along with The Butterfly Effect getting a spot on this lineup, with a very healthy Aussie representation all round. With the crowd once again noticeably growing bigger over near the main stages, it was a fight to get through the masses to the front for the photo pit for A Day to Remember. Launching into The Downfall Of Us All and All I Want, it was a frenetic opening double shot met with a deafening response from the crowd.
Simple Creatures is what you get when you pair a Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 with an Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low. “You do know A Day To Remember are playing right now, don’t you?” was the sarcastic response from Hoppus to the Simple Creatures taking the stage over one Stage 3. A crowd of die hard fans of both their respective bands were soaking up every minute of this set littered with their hooky synth pop, at times sugarily coated musically, but with their darker lyrical undertones. Adrenaline was a kick-start opening and a cover of Depeche Modes Personal Jesus, appeared early in the set.
The only time I had experienced Parkway Drive live was back in 2012 at the Big Day Out Festival, when these Byron Bay lads were just a wave on the national scene. Now in 2019 on the back of headlining major festivals around Europe, the guys are headline status here at Good Things for what is their only Aussie shows for 2019. With a stage set-up and production befitting their headline status, the entrance of the band through the crowd led by masked torch bearers only set to raise the already fever pitch levels of excitement I could sense building.
The spoken word intro to Wishing Wells from Winston McCall was haunting, backed up with the full band on individual risers in the shadows of the back of the stage. Prey and the mighty Carrion followed which judging by clearly the most amount of crowd surfers I was getting kicked by in the photo pit all day, this was a performance and band that deserved that headline status. This was a mighty set complete with spinning drumkits, plenty of pyro, delivered by a band that has grown into one of the most in demand metal bands in the world today.
For rock and heavy music fans of Australia it’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride over the past decade with festivals coming and going and new ones forging their own identity. Based on today’s crowd and obvious enjoyment, one can only anticipate Good Things will return again in 2020. With a wide ranging line-up, brings a wide-ranging crowd of music lovers. But when it comes down to it, we can never have enough good things in our lives and for some of us, that is simply a day spent in the summer sun, soaking up the good times with a soundtrack of live music and a healthy support of Aussie live music!
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Scott Smith: Lens Of Rock
