The Surprise Inclusions At Good Things Festival 2023

The 2023 Good Things Festival line-up arrived this morning (16 August) to immeasurable hype.

As always, the country’s premier heavy metal, punk rock and alternative music festival doesn’t let us down, featuring headliners Fall Out Boy and Limp Bizkit, alternative outfit PVRIS, heavy metallers like Bullet For My Valentine and Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor down under for a solo outing to name a few.

Elsewhere on the line-up, Good Things has brought out metalcore outfit I Prevail, whose success has hugely grown in recent years, Enter Shikari, Behemoth, Sepultura, Taking Back Sunday and more.

On the local front, the festival has delivered Aussie bands on a massive upward trajectory, including Make Them Suffer, Slowly Slowly, Frenzal Rhomb, Luca Brasi, Stand Atlantic, and stacks more. Also on the local front are the surprise additions of Eskimo Joe, Boom Crash Opera and Jebediah, while another surprise arrives in the form of third headliners Devo on their Farewell Tour Celebrating 50 Years. But why are they surprising?

Devo

Devo - the band behind Whip It.

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The inclusion of Devo as headliners at an often heavy music festival does make sense the more you think about it – with metalcore acts infusing elements of electronic music into their songs, why wouldn’t “The ultimate meeting point for rock and electronic fusion” that is Devo feature on a line-up like Good Things?

We can’t be too surprised at their appearance, as Devo also appear in NOFX vocalist Mike "Fat Mike" Burkett’s inaugural Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas.

Devo’s energy dome helmets feature alongside Debbie Harry's infamous Vultures shirt and the fluorescent green chainsaw Sum 41 brought on stage during their bonkers Does This Look Infected? era.

Boom Crash Opera

Make no mistake about it: Boom Crash Opera are Aussie pub rock legends, so they’re not exactly the group you expect in between bands that shred and scream. You’re more likely to see Boom Crash Opera at theatres in 2023, or teaming up with Bachelor Girl for a double-header tour.

The Best Thing rockers Boom Crash Opera are also a surprise group for Good Things, but I guess we all need some “fun and punk-tastic earworms” between intense sets from Behemoth and Sepultura.

Eskimo Joe

Are you after a trip down memory lane? Eskimo Joe have got you covered. Eskimo Joe have dominated the Australian radio landscape since 2001, delivering deliriously catchy, ambitious indie rock tunes that connected with triple j and Triple M listeners alike.

If you want to relive some of the band’s tunes before Good Things festival, beyond nostalgia, The Music tracked down the ten most popular Eskimo Joe songs, from Black Fingernails, Red Wine to Foreign Land. Check out that list here.

Jebediah

Like Eskimo Joe, Jebediah are another 90s and 2000s Aussie alternative rock band that don’t totally scream Good Things festival, but put on a great show wherever they go, so it’s not like their set will be a let down.

Known for catchy songs delivered in an Australian accent (Leaving Home, anyone?), Jebediah’s brand of grunge-filled alternative rock is sure to bring some fans who were previously unsure of attending Good Things through its hallowed grounds.

We never imagined Eskimo Joe or Jebediah performing at a festival like this one, but after last year’s Good Things hosted Regurgitator and TISM and Kisschasy playing United Paper People in its entirety, maybe nothing is all that shocking with this diverse heavy music festival.

Let’s face it - Good Things simultaneously fills the void Soundwave and Big Day Out left behind. It has a tricky balancing act to find, pleasing heavy metal, metalcore, punk, rock and alternative music fans in one day. With a line-up like this year’s event, they’ve certainly succeeded in delighting numerous crowds.

Good Things Festival runs in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane from 1-3 December.

Tickets go on sale at 10 am AEST next Thursday (24 August), with a presale running from the same time next Tuesday (22 August) – head here to sign up for access, or bookmark this link for the general sale. Check out the full line-up below.