Good Things Festival 'A Damn Good Thing' For Australia: All The Action From Its Debut

After following Good Things Festival around the country this past weekend, we can indeed confirm it lived up to the hype, with headliners The Offspring, Stone Sour and more surpassing expectations, while Babymetal stole the show and local acts won a stack of new fans.

Here's what you missed at Good Things 2018.

FLEMINGTON RACECOURSE

Dec 7

• “This is the festival Melbourne didn’t know it needed, stepping into the void left by Soundwave and Big Day Out.”
• The Wonder Years give a shout out to The Smith Street Band, while Mayday Parade offer up an excellent cover of Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know.
• “Singer Jordan Dreyer of Michigan band La Dispute wields a tambourine in a Godflesh shirt while punters can’t take off their own clothes quickly enough – one dude’s Slipknot patch sticking to his sunscreen.”
• "People may have come for the likes of All Time Low, Stone Sour and Offspring but by day’s end, everyone is a fan of Babymetal."
• “The Used lack the more distinctive melodies of Babymetal or La Dispute, but they turn everything up to 11.”
• “Australian band Tonight Alive deserve more coverage than they’ll get. They're ones to watch.”
• “Stone Sour are anything but Tired or old with a rip-roaring set.”

Read the full review here.

Stone Sour. Photo by Clinton Hatfield.

PARRAMATTA PARK

Dec 8

• “The Australian summer festival circuit could certainly use a rock festival a la Good Things. Hopefully it continues and flourishes beyond its first year.”
• “Exuding an infectious energy boosted by a collision of abrasive guitars and screams with plenty of melody, [WAAX] previewed new material that's reportedly due next year.”
• “Bullet For My Valentine are old hands at this main stage festival caper by now. The Welsh act play accessible, major label melodic metal and their live show was suitably slick to match, even if frontman Matthew Tuck admitted his voice was affected somewhat by recent travel.”
• “Exceptional as a party-starting band, especially for any fan who's idea of a balanced meal is a beer in each hand, [Dropkick Murphys] performed their brand of Celtic punk with a level of enthusiasm impossible to measure in any tangible manner.”
• The Offspring (joined by very special guest bassist No Doubt’s Tony Kanal on this tour): “This was a night of nostalgia where the actual performance matched the expectation. Bonafide, scream-a-long bangers like Bad Habit and Come Out And Play, or Self Esteem eliciting perhaps the loudest reaction of the entire festival are proof that trends come and go, but great songs endure.”

Read the full review here.

The Offspring. Photo by Hayden Nixon

BRISBANE SHOWGROUNDS

Dec 9

• "Opening the smaller stages, we escape the heat with blistering sets from Ecca Vandal and Brissie locals WAAX. There’s long hair, thrashing guitars and Maz DeVita pacing around the stage delivering a now trademark punk ferocity that quickly fills festival tents. New music is teased and with an album promised in the near future, we think it’s nothing but good things to come for WAAX in 2019."
• “Dress code is band tees, fishnet stockings, OG dad sneakers and one guy in a Slipknot mask.”
• “Sydney metalcore band Northlane deliver the first sizeable mosh over on the main stages, punters braving the afternoon sun after a mandatory pit stop at the sunscreen tent.”
• “The Used have just started. It’s all bulk singalongs and hearts bleeding onto the ground here, frontman Bert McCracken conducting the nostalgia-fest from centre stage.”
• Dropkick Murphys: “Bagpipes, accordions and banjos: just ship us up to Boston.”
• “The sun is down and legions of fans are out for All Time Low for more nostalgia. With their radio-friendly brand of rock, it’s damn hooky and they give the people what they came for.”
• “It seems everyone in the grounds has packed in to bear witness to punk legends The Offspring play Smash front to back. “Ahhhhh, it's time to relax...” blasts through the speakers and the mosh pit is heaving in anticipation, seemingly about to burst.”
• “There’s been many a Good Things review plagued with catchy idioms and proverbial phrases featuring the word good. Truth be told we tried really hard not to fall victim but after a day like today you need to call it for what it is. A damn good thing.”

Read the full review here.

WAAX. Photo by Terry Soo