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Good Things Festival – Review & Gallery 6th December @ Flemington Racecourse, Melb VIC

Adam 'Ricey' Rice

Dec 9, 2024

7 min read

The Bureau had predicted a quintessential Melbourne summer day: 35 degrees Celsius with a high chance of showers and maybe a thunderstorm in the afternoon. We packed sunscreen and ponchos and headed into Flemington Racecourse for Good Things Festival’s annual Melbourne kick off.

KJ’s Day!

Violin-core made its Aussie festival debut. The midday heat didn’t stop Imminence wearing black head to toe as they ripped through tracks from latest album The Black and their back catalogue. ‘Erase’ slowed it down for a singalong. ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts’ was damn near epic and ‘Desolation’ got a massive roar and circle pit. They went for a wall of death on ‘Temptation’. Closing out with the prog title track ‘The Black’ was a master stroke. The band showed off their theatrical side and the BREAKDOWN caused tremors beneath my feet. Hell Eddie Berg even sang into the violin mic. Like Jinjer in 2022, the early placement didn’t hurt them and they left with more fans than when they arrived.

Headed with the punk pop kids to check out Bowling For Soup, who were half way through ‘High School Never Ends’. They joked they wouldn’t be the only band of 50 year old’s singing about high school. The funnies kept coming as the crowd did spirit fingers and jazz hands. Calls for a shooey went unanswered, though Jaret Reddick claimed Jonathon Davis would be doing one later. There were songs too with a bit of skanking to ‘Punk Rock 101’, which was interrupted with a Rick Roll and a BFS photo opportunity. They closed with their big Aussie hit ‘1985’ and hit the mark for fans missing Sum 41.

311 were up on the main stage, back here for the first time since 1998. I was interested to see who would stick around to see them and it was… not many. They’ve got a big following in the US but their reggae/hip hop/metal hasn’t quite taken the big brown land by storm. Hopefully they turned a few heads but their 90s fusion approach felt oddly dated.

Alex Lahey however brought the indie energy to stage 5. She got them dancing with ‘Love You Like a Brother’. She expressed her excitement for seeing KoRn later and was pretty stoked she pulled a good crowd considering she was only announced last week. The bloke with the battle vest and death metal tattoos rocking out was my fav punter of the day.

Back on the main stage, The Living End went balls to the wall rockabilly with hits like ‘All Torn Down’. They broke into guitar, bass and drum solos, with Chris Chaney using a VB stubbie as a slide piece on his solo. It went up a level with the band busing out ‘TNT’ in a moment of national pride. They tore through ‘West End Riot’ and ‘White Noise’. Considering I was standing among the Northlane fans, they certainly played a fan favourite set that had even the hard kids dancing and singing. Cheney called for the loudest crowd of the day and they might have delivered it thanks to ‘Prisoner of Society’. Far out what a set.

Northlane brought the sci-fi vibes by opening with ‘Carbonised’. The quartet clearly came to shake the stage as they smashed through a trio of Alien anthems: ‘4D’, ‘Talking Heads’ with the BREAKDOWN, and a massive rendition of ‘Bloodlines’. As has been the case for a while now, their visual presentation is world class and the addition of newer stuff from Mirror’s Edge, like ‘Dante’, gave a nice electro edge (pun intended). New song ‘Welcome to the Industry’ was very heavy with lots of screaming and a fired up moshpit. Then it was old shit, with a big circle pit opening up. They slowed down with Marcus and Jon performing ‘Mirror’s Edge’ before they busted out ‘Afterimage’.

Dragon attracted a lot of curious punters, not all of them in their 50s. It was pretty cruisey at that stage of the afternoon but when the hits came man did the crowd come alive. ‘April Sun in Cuba’ is an anthem on both sides of the Tasman Sea. Equal parts daggy and wonderful they got the singalongs for ‘Are You Old Enough’ as the drops started to fall from the sky. They noted they wouldn’t forget the day they supported KoRn. It was always meant to be, the rain increased just as they launched into ‘Rain’ and fans old and new gave The Living End’s loudest crowd claim a serious challenge with this pinnacle music festival moment unlocked.

The grey sky made for a suitably moody backdrop for Mastodon back on the main stage. Pulling in material from across their career, rather than the full Leviathan set of their side shows (our Sydney review here), fans got a full experience with plenty of pyro during the riff fest too. The solos remained note perfect as did the stellar drum work of Brann Dailor. It was a highlight for the metal heads as they finished with a rawkus version of ‘Blood and Thunder’.

Shout out to the AusLan interpreters who had to not only translate lyrics but rocked out during the solos too.

Adam’s Day

UK shoegaze metalcore act Loathe lost their Australian music festival virginity as they kick started the event on the main stage by opening with ‘Gored‘ which saw vocalist Kadeem France shine in the moment, dancing and singing simultaneously, in front of the thousands already present. The ebb and flow between soft spoken melodic sections and hard-hitting breakdowns was well received by the sizable crowd. Performing predominantly old tracks, mainly because they haven’t released an album or EP in nearly five years, each of the eight songs played washed over the crowd beautifully which set punters up for an exhilarating day ahead.

Next, I headed over to stage 3 to catch Aussie prog rock kings The Butterfly Effect perform. The group garnered the attention of a noticeably older fanbase as they ripped through tracks from 2008’s Final Conversation Of Kings and 2003’s Begins Here albums. The energetic set was a masterful representation of the group’s successful career. Vocalist Clint Boge‘s delicately high pitched voice, particularly in tracks ‘Window And The Watcher‘ and ‘A Slow Descent‘ mix beautifully with the heavy prog instrumentals to produce a sound that is uniquely theirs. Despite long gaps between releases, this group have enjoyed a successful 25 year long career and are well on their way to being titled an Australian legacy act within the world of alternative music.

Arguably the heaviest band to perform at this years festival, Alpha Wolf proved that perhaps they deserved a slot on the main stage as thousands crammed into the stage four area to catch a glimpse of the home town heroes in action. As vocalist Lochie Keogh screamed the opening lyrics to their first track ‘Haunter‘, a violent slew of bodies were thrown to and fro each side of the mosh pit, which continued for the entire duration of their set. Keogh took the time to announce “I don’t care who you came here to see. You are at an Alpha Wolf show, so you will act accordingly”, which only added fuel to the fiery bellies of moshers. Playing only new tunes from their latest album Half Living Things, with the exception of tracks ‘Akudama‘ and ‘Sub Zero‘, singalongs from punters were abundant and the live debut of title track ‘Half Living Things‘ made the set a little more special.

After watching Northlane and Dragon, I had some time to get something to eat before watching Floridian emo icons Sleeping With Sirens take to the stage. The sight of vocalist Kellin Quinn was enough for shrieking screams to emerge from within the crowd. After a strong start of performing tracks from the latter half of the group’s career, including ‘Break Me Down‘, ‘Kick Me‘ and ‘Leave It All Behind‘, the show was momentarily paused due the a concertgoer hurting themselves and thus shortened the set by one or two songs. As the show recommenced, Quinn and guitarist Nick Martin appeared and performed an acoustic rendition of ‘Iris‘ by The Goo Goo Dolls before closing with fan favourites ‘Do It Now, Remember It Later‘, ‘If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn‘ and ‘If You Can’t Hang‘, all of which punters gave their approval of in the form of deafening cheers and singalongs.

As the sun was setting and the rain easing, the time had come for German electro metalcore heavyweights Electric Callboy to show us why they are worthy of replacing Sum 41 as the secondary headliner. With the group’s drummer David Friedrich having to withdraw from the performance due to illness, Sum 41‘s drummer Frank Zummo stepped in to perform in his place with mere hours of learning the setlist. Even after a big day of live music, the thousands in attendance were yet to be tired out. From the opening riff of ‘Tekkno Train‘, through to the final moments of the set, I could barely hear my friend talk (who was only standing beside me) due to the ferocious singalongs. The thirteen song setlist included fan favourites ‘Hypa Hypa‘, ‘RATATATA‘, ‘Pump It‘ and ‘We Got The Moves‘, and more. Also making their way into the se were covers of ‘Everytime We Touch‘, as well as Sum 41‘s ‘Still Waiting‘, as a respectful nod to the group who were unable to perform. Topped off with confetti, pyrotechnics, synchronized dance moved and various outfit changes, this Electric Callboy set was like a fun party that you wished never ended.

Shortly before the event’s conclusion began to rear its ugly head, the world renowned KoRn came to deliver a headline slot that thousands had been anticipatingly waiting for. Seemingly, hoards of attendees arrived very late in the day, presumably only for this performance, and after a quick toilet break, I found myself stuck at the back of the pack, with no room to catch a closer glimpse of the action. I remained at the back, singing along to all my favourite KoRn hits such as ‘Blind‘, ‘Got The Life‘ and ‘Start The Healing‘. A surprise cover of Metallica‘s ‘One‘ followed the alluring sounds of bagpipes as it made its way into the outro of ‘Shoots and Ladders‘ which was delightfully welcomed by the crowd of metal fans. As I fought to get closer to catch a better glimpse of Jonathan Davis and co, I discovered that I wasn’t able to safely make it much further in, which left me mildly disappointed. However, the sweet sounds of ‘Twist‘, ‘Y’all Want A Single‘, and EPIC closer ‘Freak On A Leash‘ worked to cure that unsettling feeling.

All in all, another successful year building from the foundations of the festival that came before and a final celebration on the heavy music calendar to wrap up 2024 in style. Just wait for our wrap up and backstage interviews incoming…

Review by KJ Draven @kjdraven and Adam Rice @riceyadam

Photo Gallery by Ophelia Symons. Insta: @opheliavictoria
Please credit Wall of Sound and Ophelia Symons if you repost photos.