Image Credit: Travis Shinn

Good Things Festival in Melbourne was more than a beach ball outburst

In a week where another heavy music festival in Australia was cancelled, let's not forget to celebrate the good at Good Things Festival.

The weather gods blessed Melbourne on Friday 5 December, providing the perfect weather for a summer music festival – the sun kissing skin, some cloud coverage to balance the heat impact and a light breeze to offer bursts of reprieve. Walking down towards the gates at Flemington Racecourse, floods of festival memories flashed before me – from Big Day Out to Soundwave, Laneway and Good Things past adding to the anticipation of the day. We entered to the sound of New Found Glory starting their set – a late start to the day for this reviewer, missing the sets of Yours Truly, Inertia and a few other acts who no doubt set the energy for a day of world-class heavy music.

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As we rounded Stage 666 to get to stage 1, we noticed the absence of New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert from the stage, understandably staying home to undergo another round of cancer treatment, something lead vocalist Jordan Pundik would address midway through the set. The Florida punk rockers made their way through a huge set include nostalgia drawcards ‘All Downhill From Here’, ‘Truth of my Youth’, ‘Failure’s Not Flattering’, and their iconic cover of Sixpence None The Richer’s ‘Kiss Me’, before slamming into ‘My Friends Over You’.

Swedish hardcore punks Refused jumped up across on stage 2 for a bittersweet set. The band announced their departure earlier this year with their final performance happening on 21 December. A treat for Australian fans, the band played truly like it was their last. From the slaughter of ‘The Shape of Punk To Come’ through to the final chord of ‘New Noise’ the band delivered a brutal performance with the pit making sure to show their appreciation with neck-breaking headbanging and moshing.

Stepping up last minute were Stand Atlantic, sitting perfectly at home on the big stage like they were always meant to be on the bill. We caught half an energetic set, leaving following the mighty ‘Gives You Hell’ dedication to their slot-takers All-American Rejects, to catch the second half of Dayseeker’s set. The melodic prog-metal makers from California were the ambient touch the festival needed. ‘Crying While You’re Dancing’ went down a treat, whilst newer offering ‘Creature In The Black Night’ had a dedicated mosh moving along. The set finished on fog-jet enhanced ‘Sleeptalk’, missing ‘Neon Grave’ which suffered from technical difficulties. Still a stellar set from a band beloved by Aussie audiences.

Their set was a major juxtaposition to the follow-up on the partnered stage, none other than the banished Scumdog shock rockers Gwar. Remembering from my last encounter with the band to keep a distance from the stage unless I wanted to look like a victim of a murder scene for the remainder of the day, we watched the band cut of heads, squirt blood from every orifice from a slain Donald Trump onto the accepting crowd, and lead chants of “Fuck This Place”. They easily won the title of band with the most crowd-surfing for the day and, as always, the most fun!

 

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Heading back to the main stages, thankfully unscathed, we headed into the mosh for Machine Head. The Oakland, Robb Flynn fronted metallers showcased their catalogue with everything from ‘Imperium’, to ‘The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears’, ‘From This Day’, and ‘Davidian’, segwayed with heartfelt messages of gratitude, and mental health acknowledgements. Who said heart and heavy metal didn’t go hand in hand?

All Time Low were perhaps the most vibrant of the day in both attitude and dress. Donning their colourful new album colours – red, blue, green and yellow, the pop punks delivered a lively mix of their beloved hits and a tasting of their 2025 album Everyone’s Talking. You had ‘SUCKERPUNCH’ with ‘Weighless’, ‘Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t)’, ‘Lost In Stereo’ and the I Prevail collaboration ‘Hate This Song’ in the middle, and ‘The Weather’ met ‘Dear Maria, Count Me In’ to close things off. Jumping, scissor kicks and of course Jack and Alex’s back and forth consisting of bad jokes shaped the uplifting set.

By now, you’ve already heard about this set from Garbage – one that is for the history books with a footnote *Beach Balls. This was the set I was most excited about for the day and sure it was dampened by Shirley’s display towards a fan with a beach ball but the music itself was incredible. Butch Vig carried the band with his steady drumming while Shirley Manson’s vocal delivery of the singing kind was unmatched. The 90’s and early 00’s staples sounded just as relevant in the live setting today as they did over 20 years ago. ‘Push It’, ‘I Think I’m Paranoid’, ‘Cherry Lip’s (Go Baby)’, ‘Shut Your Mouth’, ‘#1 Crush’, ‘Vow’, ‘Stupid Girl’, ‘Only Happy When It Rains’ – honesty the setlist was solid gold! Outside of beach balls, Manson addressed their relationship with Michael Gudinski, Palestine, and the uplifting music community. Whilst lost by the end, I hope Manson upholds those beliefs moving forward.

The 90’s rolled through with an impact heavy set from Weezer, sharing their alternative magic. ‘My Name Is Jonas’ kicked things off with their set tailored lyrically to the Australian audience. ‘Beverly Hills’ had a with “Living in Melbourne, Australia” lyric change, ‘El Scorcho’ provided “God damn you half-Australian girls”, and ‘Pork and Beans’ came with an “AC/DC knows the way to reach the top of the chart” lyric change. They also gave up hits ‘Undone – The Sweater Song’, ‘Island In The Sun’, a cover of Hole’s ‘Celebrity Skin’, ‘Say It Ain’t So’ and then did a fake out before belting through the bubbly ‘Buddy Holly’. All of this whilst the sun was setting – bliss!

Time for the big guns – 8 minute songs, fully immersive listening and viewing experience and an uncharacteristically engaged Maynard James Keenan. Yep – that’s TOOL! ‘Stinkfist’ started the sonic takeover, followed by the masterful ‘Rosetta Stoned’ and ‘Fear Inoculum’. Fans were treated to ‘The Grudge’ as the darkness took over Flemington Raceway with the light show adding to the pounding prog number. ‘H.’, ‘Jambi’, and ‘Pneuma’ were a triple threat in the middle whilst ‘Crawl Away’ and ‘Invincible’ built on the visual and light show fuel. The height of the festival day hit with ‘Vicarious’ – a huge send off to a diverse day of heavy music.

Forget the rants – Good Things Festival represented the heavily eclectic, highly skilled and seriously loved heavy music scene in Australia, with the international acts all recognising our country as integral champions of their careers. That’s what it is all about after all!

Reviewed by Tammy Walters