Live Review: Melbourne Good Things Festival: The Big Review

The first ever Melbourne Good Things was a success. But let's ditch all of the introductory BS; check out our full review of the day below! 

Following local stage 2 openers, Melbourne pop-punks Stuck Out - who forever have the honour of playing the first ever note of the first ever Good Things - Void Of Vision brought some tight 'n' heavy metalcore to punters early on. The Melbourne four-piece played admirably, offering up a tight set that ran into the issue of no one really wanting to do any moshing in high 30 degree weather before 1:00pm. (Except for a couple of mad fans who threw-down to build up buckets of sweat). Other than that, this set also highlighted to us just how interchangeable Void's music has become now. Whether playing older songs like 'Nightmare' or newies like 'Kill All My Friends', it's all incredibly samey; like one long song to kick off one long day. Though it's also quite clear that they're writing music solely for the stage, perhaps why they've been such a well-rounded live unit for some years now. All in all, not too bad.

Over on stage 3, we caught Queensland's finest punk rockers WAAX sounding downright wild but never once weak. Following on from Ecca Vandal's punchy set beforehand, the charismatic Maz DeVita and her four bandmates energetically rocked out cuts like 'This Everything', 'Same Same', 'Nothing Is Always', 'Wild & Weak', 'I For An Eye', and 'Labrador'. All guided along by Maz's powerful vocals, as she slipped between primal yelling and intimate, well-controlled vibrato flourishes showing off her awesome mezzo-soprano range; something that makes her one of the best vocalists in Australian rock right now. However, some of her harsher screams did sound like they hurt her to pull off and we really do hope she doesn't damage her voice doing these if that's actually the case.

Quite simply, this sharply-growing Aussie act really are going places lately, even being a man down with drummer Tom absent due the birth of his child (congratulations mate!) couldn't stop 'em. With this slight line-up reshuffling in mind, Michael Richards from Violent Soho was kindly filling in for the Brisbane crew. This personnel change also lead to a decent cover of the 'Hungry Ghost' tune, 'In The Aisle', in the late-game of their set. Although, Michael's rough backing vocals parts during the end of this rendition did let things down a bit. They were punk as fuck, sure, but they were also not polished or good sounding either. Regardless, we do have one key takeaway from this set: WAAX are fuckin' sick, listen to them!

[caption id="attachment_1105066" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Maz DeVita, WAAX.[/caption]

Whilst some of us loathe Waterparks (Alex), some of us actually love them (Matty). Despite half of the sounds coming from Waterparks' set being apart of a synth-heavy backing track, they made up for it with some real big dick energy, wrapped up by an engaging stage presence too. Most notably from frontman Awsten Knight, who exudes confidence and a likeable bravado that maintains your attention. (He announced the band as The Offspring when they came on-stage and even declared how excited he was to see Babymetal at one point, which is an added win). The band's solid blend of hooky pop and fiery rock satisfied a variety of fans in attendance. For instance, ending with ‘Tantrum’ was an awesome choice as its the trio's loudest, fastest and heaviest song; proving that, at the very least, Waterparks do know what they’re doing when it comes to playing a music festival like this.

Taking things right back to the prog-metalcore of 2013 with the one-two opening punch of 'Genesis' and 'Scarab', Northlane brought some well-added pyro to the main stage proceedings. Because as if this day wasn't hot enough already! Racing through latest single 'Vultures' and 2014 smasher, 'Rot', as well as a dark and groovy new song by the name of 'Talking Heads' that'll no doubt see a release soon in 2019, Northlane sounded fierce, strong but also comfortable too. Namely from frontman Marcus Bridge, whose screaming just gets better and better live, as well as newly joined bassist/backing screamer Brendon Padjasek fitting right in with his enthusiastic stage moves. (His vocal back and forth with Marcus really improved the band's live sound too). This full-band confidence was on clear display during the monstrous 'Worldeater', which we're so happy to see coming back into their live sets lately, and when the metalcore act dowsed their fans with purple confetti during mammoth closer, 'Quantum Flux'. This was a far better showing then their Download Melbourne set from earlier in the year, that's for sure.

[caption id="attachment_1105042" align="aligncenter" width="507"] Northlane's Josh Smith dropping riffs so hot that the stage had to follow suit too.[/caption]

While we were still suffering from heat-stroke PTSD due to The Wonder Years' Melbourne headliner the night before ("Stay Gold? More like Stay Fucking Hydrated"), the Philly alternative/pop-punk group brought the energy and good vibes hard. Whether it's 'Suburbia' or 'The Greatest Generation' material, to newer songs from 'No Closer To Heaven' and this year's fantastic 'Sister Cities' LP, this band were always passionate and talented about what they did. And all those in attendance lapped it up lovingly, finger-pointing to every chorus and belting back every single lyric with real gusto. (Though the expected and total lack of 'Upsides' cuts still hurts us deeply). 'Raining In Kyoto' brought a tear out from our eyes; 'Cigarettes & Saints' was beautiful; 'Local Man Ruins Everything' arose some damned high-emotions; whilst 'I Don’t Like Who I was Then' was as amazing, fast-paced, and as catchy live as it is on-record. Truly, our love for this band is never-ending.

[caption id="attachment_1105069" align="aligncenter" width="760"] The Wonder Years.[/caption]

From the endearing charm and uplifting quality of The Wonder Years to some dark, raw and dense story-telling, La Dispute broke our hearts in the best way possible. With an incredible setlist spanning all three of their wonderful and poetic records, the Michigan band put on one of the finest 45 minutes showings of Good Things overall. From the wind chime/riff combo of set opener 'New Storms For Older Lovers' to the catchy, bouncy guitar-work of 'The Castle Builders', we were screaming along to these two throwback 'Somewhere at the Bottom of the River' tunes like we were angsty teenagers once again. It was a nostalgia trip that was one so worth taking; showing that even ten years later, La Dispute still made something special with their debut record. Spliced in between these resounding older songs were solid tracks from 2014's 'Rooms Of The House'. Such as the family/divorce-themed 'For Mayor In Splitsville', as well as the jaw-dropping 'HUDSONVILLE, MI 1956'; a massive moment that pulled figurative storm clouds over a sweltering sunny Melbourne day and is still one of the best songs ever written about a mid-20th century high pressure system.

In this regard, we're actually thankful that La Dispute left out their newest dual single, 'Rose Quartz / Fulton Street I', as that's a late night drive experience that would work so much better at an in-doors venue during a headline show. But played just before 3pm on a bright, boiling day where they're just one of many bands playing a festival? Nah, that would just feel out of place. Punctuating this brilliantly balanced set were the two dynamic sister tracks of 'Woman (Reading)' and 'Woman (In Mirror)', as well as the 'Wildlife' (2011) staple, 'King Park'. Of course, this particular lengthy fan-fave is always a given nowadays at their shows, yet it's still one of the most defining songs of the American band's illustrious career. A heart-wrenching story of gun violence and grief, it was a moving and grim lyrical experience that also sounded fucking HUGE as the group tore through it up on stage 2. You can bet the "CAN I STILL GET INTO HEAVEN IF I KILL MYSELF?" section was loud. All before the short, minimal and Tumblr-adored 'Such Small Hands' closed out their mighty performance with heartfelt calls of "I thought I saw you in my sleep!" alongside frontman Jordan Dreyer from the dedicated fanbase in attendance.

La Dispute, most definitely a band where the term 'GOAT' accurately applies.

[caption id="attachment_1105039" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Jordan Dreyer, La Dispute. What a fucking band![/caption]

Hands down, Babymetal were the most entertaining band of the whole day. To say that we were stoked on their set would be a gross understatement. This was pure fun - pure musical spectacle - and their set just flew by it was that engaging. The Japanese idol metal group's inclusion at Good Things also showed us something else: no one is bringing out bands like them to Australia right now. Unify Gathering 2019 has Crossfaith, but that's not a good comparison other than both acts hailing from Japan and their love of synths, and unless Download Australia is about to announce Dir En Grey for their 2019 fests, our comment still stands. This was evident in Babymetal easily drawing one of the biggest crowds of the day with many eagerly watching on, also scoring a crowd chant before they took the stage no less. We also feel this was the ace up Good Things' sleeve - real musical variety. To go from Waterparks, to Northlane, to La Dispute, to... this on the two main stages is just sheer insanity. Yet it works, recalling the glory days of Soundwave where you'd make wild jumps from polar opposite genres in a matter of hours, sometimes within even mere minutes.

And now, for the band themselves - the entire act didn't miss a beat. Emblazoned with their bronze and black outfits of their current post-kawaii era, Su-metal, Moametal and with touring vocalist/dancer Saya Hirai completing the vocalist/dancer line-up, Babymetal kicked their set off with their two biggest singles: the djenty 'Megitsune' and the relatively memey 'Gimme Chocolate!!'. From there, we heard a new, yet-to-be-officially-announced song by the supposed name of 'Elevator Girl' (it was okay, we need to hear the recorded version before we dish out any final thoughts), as well as the slower, marching militarily vibe of 'META! Meta Taro'. While we would've loved to see most recent single 'Starlight' get a mention, as well as 'Awadama Fever', beggars cannot be choosers. So the powerful 'Distortion' will just have to do, and by god it was sick live! Ending with the wild, power and speed metal sounds of 'Road Of Resistance' (which is basically a Dragonforce song in all but name), Babymetal brought to a close their epic Australian live debut. Even our very own Matty Sievers was won over by their set, and up until that point, he had no love for them whatsoever. Something tells us that was also a feeling had by many others on the day as well.

The choreographed dancing of Babymetal's main stars were all on-point, seeing the trio recreate their music video performances live. The three young ladies also genuinely looked like they were having real fun playing to us Aussies at numerous points across their 30-minute set too. As for the backing instrumentalists, the talented and notable Kami Band, they were superb. For instance, guitarists Leda Cygnus and Isao Fujita nailed every solo, which is an impressive feat given some of the really complex runs within these songs. The backing band's playing was extremely clean and tight, with the only slight hiccup we noticed being some of Hideki Aoyama's drum work struggling very early on, but who soon enough found his footing and remained a force thereafter.

Since this kick-ass set however, we've seen some comments that the band lip-synced everything, and we genuinely have to wonder if these people watched and heard the same set that we did. (We also sincerely hope these same people hold other backing-track loving bands like Bring Me The Horizon up to the same standard for consistency, as well as one other Good Things act we'll get to shortly). In talking with others on the day, we soon realised most weren't aware that Moametal and Saya both had wireless headset mics on, and while there was no doubt tracked vocals added - from some highly EQ'd parts that no human could naturally recreate, to tracked vocal layers that extend the "hugeness" of certain choruses - lead vocalist Su-metal was indeed singing live. The only actual lip-synced moment we noticed from her was during some sections of 'Elevator Girl', so that all three could focus solely on the dancing. Do we wish that this wasn't the case and that there were no backing track parts at all for Babymetal? Yes, of course. But that's not what we got nor what we were ever going to get from this set. And again, this was still the most entertaining part of the whole damn day by a large margin. And we can't wait until these Fox God missionaries return to Australia once more!

With the mid-afternoon now topping at 39 degrees following Babymetal, it was time for The Used to damn well bring it. And for the most part, they did; sounding confident in each song performance. However, while we utterly love this band, goddamnit do they make me us cringe hard sometimes. Whilst going through a benign set of old bangers ('Take It Away', 'Taste Of Ink', 'Bird and the Worm', and 'Pretty Handsome Awkward'), frontman Bert McCracken couldn’t help but spout empty platitudes. Moments like “Rest in Fucking Peace, Donald Trump” uttered during 'Listening', a statement the singer had to repeat twice to receive even a semi-decent cheer from the crowd. Honestly, who the hell cares? Trump is a wanker but he has no sway on us out here. We're Australians living under the ScoMo government with a soon-to-be-lead Labor Victoria coming up after their recent election bloodbath against the Liberals - The Donald means very little here. Plus, unless we're mistaken, Bert still lives up Sydney with his family and has been an Australian citizen for some time. So his comment was just odd; an empty statement made simply for the sake of netting brownie points.

As too was his other statement that rock music is now back from the dead and here to stay. Yet where did it go? Did he and The Used break up? Nope. Did any of these rock bands of late die off? Hardly. While we here at KYS have zero care for Greta Van Fleet and Five Finger Death Punch's music, bands like them and their successes lately prove otherwise that rock isn't dead. The fact that The Offspring were headlining this very festival, a fest that also included bands like Stone Sour, WAAX, Bullet For My Valentine, Mayday Parade, and Tonight Alive also kinda makes this statement void. Just because you stop paying attention to something and just because it's not topping the charts anymore doesn't mean that it's suddenly dead. And doing a quick cover of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' to cap-off your set also doesn't mean that rock music is alive either. So enough with the bullshit, just play 'Blood On My Hands'. Which The Used did, and it kicked all manner of ass!

[caption id="attachment_1105058" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Bert McCracken, The Used.[/caption]

While we're glad the people down the front of stage 4 were having a proper blast, standing just outside of that fray, we felt that Scarlxrd's set was one of the worst sets all-day. Scarlxrd, real name Marius Listhrop, is a swiftly-rising British rapper who is apart of the latest  crop of bass-boosted Soundcloud rappers coming through lately. His music plays directly into that aggro, bottom-feeding rage musically and lyrically speaking, hence his sudden boom in popularity. And he has indeed been getting some massive attention lately too - 40+ million views on 'Heart Attack' is a huge accomplishment, to his very real credit.

Yet while Marius himself brings the aggression in his physicality and in his consistently raw screams (he'd make for a decent hardcore/metalcore vocalist), it was a rough set to stomach. With no other live vocalist or instrumentalists, not even a live DJ, and just a random hype man running around the stage awkwardly, the set was embarrassing to watch. Couple this with the fact that he just had the MP3s of his full songs running straight through the PA and was merely yelling over the top of them randomly, we felt some real second hand cringe experiencing this. Also, if we wanted to see a bunch of white people scream the n-word back to someone up on-stage, we'd just attend a rural town's weekend club night instead. Thanks, we hate it.

[caption id="attachment_1105051" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Scarlxrd. [/caption]

Y'know, Bullet For My Valentine are such a tight live act nowadays. Matt Tuck's singing is so controlled and well-maintained, the riffs are all razor sharp, and more recent member additions like bassist/screamer Jamie Mathias and drummer Jason Bowld fill their roles expertly so. And yet, watching their set on stage 1 felt so... dull. Almost as if we had missed it, we wouldn't have missed anything special or that interesting; nothing where we'd be raving about it hours or even days later. Considering that we have a lot of love for BFMV's first few releases, that really pains us to write.

Starting with 'Don't Need You' and 'Over It' (the latter culled from this year's disastrous 'Gravity' LP), the band mixed a bit of everything from their career into their Good Things performance. From the hammering 'Your Last Betrayal', to 'The Poison' era throwback of '4 (Words To Choke Upon)' and some more recent content like 'Letting You Go'. However, by the halfway point of their show, we were relatively bored out of our damn minds. There was just nothing to it. Which is ironic as Matt was in  music media headlines earlier this year for saying that metal has now "gone a bit stale".

[caption id="attachment_1105033" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Michael "Padge" Paget, Bullet For My Valentine.[/caption]

So what did we do to combat this boredom? Well, we actually went on The Beast! One of two rides available at the Melbourne event, The Beast (reminiscent in design to that of Dreamworld's The Claw) sees you getting a complete view of the festival's layout and has you hitting some real g-force once it reaches its full, surprisingly high swinging rotation. Even at $15 per ticket, and even as we heard Bullet rip through 'Tears Don't Fall' and 'Waking The Demon', this was a hell of a lot more enjoyable than actively watching their set. Of all the music festivals we've been to over the years, we've never once tried out the function rides on-site, and this was a good first experience in that sense. Plus, we didn't puke afterwards, so that's a big positive right there.

[caption id="attachment_1105074" align="aligncenter" width="760"] The Beast: this was actually a lot of fun.[/caption]

Not long after this, Tonight Alive impressed us by playing a series of newer, better cuts like the divine feminine energy behind 'Crack My Heart' and the depression-detailing set-ender 'Temple', along with deeper cuts from 'What Are You So Scared Of?' and 'The Other Side'. The Sydney rock act overall played with a strong energy and with real skill, also thankfully forgoing their fake-deep, "woke" ramblings in-between songs. Instead, focusing on the actual music and letting these deeply personally and catchy songs do the real talking.

Around this same time, stage 2 was getting lit up with a Celtic folk-punk fire from Dropkick Murphys. It's been a few years of waiting for fans to see these boys again live and the band didn't disappoint. Here, we saw the long-running punk rock band race through a sped-up take on 'Going Out In Style', as well as the sextet getting into the spirit of the December season with their Christmas jingle, 'The Season's Upon Us', before the usual suspect of 'Shippin' Up To Boston' took the group and their fans on home in fine fashion. Not too shabby at all.

[caption id="attachment_1105064" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Jenna McDougall, Tonight Alive. [/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1105036" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Ken Casey, Dropkick Murphys. [/caption]

Mayday Parade cop a lot of heat for not being the best live band in the world, but we felt that their new stuff, such as opener 'Never Sure', sounded bloody great. And of course, the classic barn-burners in their catalogue were also killer too. Hell, even their cover of Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used To Know' was to die for as well. However, we reckon that ending with 'Stay' and 'Oh Well Oh Well' have become such obligatory closer's that it's now lost all meaning. We get it, guys: you peaked at your 2011 self-titled record and have only just come back to form now with an amazing new record, this year's 'Sunnyland', but this is all wearing itself out a little now. Still, a solid set despite the obvious.

Moving from alternative rock over to hard-hitting metalcore, we went from Florida's Mayday Parade to New York's Emmure. If La Dispute had the setlist of the day, and Babymetal were the most entertaining act overall, than Emmure were well and truly the tightest and toughest sounding band thus far. Getting plenty of motherfuckers moving with 'You Asked For It' and 'Shinjuku Masterlord, the four-piece ran through awesome new cuts from 2017's stellar 'Look At Yourself'; the savage 'Russian Hotel Aftermath', 'Ice Man Confessions', 'Torch', 'Gucci Prison', the punishing 'Natural Born Killers' and the violent-as-hell 'Flag Of The Beast' (which was ridiculous live, and Phil Lockett's heavy bass slappin' gave us real life). The band also pulled out older songs like 'Children Of Cybertron', 'Most Hated', and 'Solar Flare Homicide', amongst some other odd classics for the older fans who had come out in passionate force to represent the E-crew. Shit went down super well as a result, what with the crowd size growing larger as their set moved on and with more moshers getting right into it with each passing track. In a word: HEAVY.

[caption id="attachment_1105037" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Emmure's Josh Travis rocking that thick as fuck 9-string.[/caption]

Guitarist Josh Travis moved around in animated fashion, his demeanour showing he was having a blast performing. Vocalist Frankie Palmeri was actually exceptional live too. Whether it was his rapped sections, his low growls, or those signature, throaty mid-high screams he drops, he sounded collected yet deadly at any given point; grooving along to the songs as well. And we all couldn't stop from bobbing our heads to these infectious beats either. Speaking of the beats, we felt drummer Josh Miller was too hard on himself - he was pumpin' out some of the best neck-breaking breakdowns and foot work of the day. Yet he'd noticeably shake his head and look annoyed when his live reverb and snare triggers bunged out a bit, whether due to whatever triggers he was running or where he was striking the snare drum and with what level of velocity. Either way, we think he did a wicked job - shit was hard as nails regardless! Straight up, this brutal set was an unadulterated mosh time for all involved, and it was great. As they left the stage, Frankie stated that they'd be back real soon, and we cannot wait for an Emmure headline tour in 2019 if it's indeed on the cards.

[caption id="attachment_1105038" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Frankie Palmeri, Emmure. [/caption]

A few things we love hearing in an All Time Low set these days are the older 'Nothing Personal' songs, yet the back and forth between said songs and newer tracks does break the band's set flow a little bit. Also, we're personally tired of bands fuelling the raging alcoholic culture we have in this country. What with guitarist Jack Barakat and frontman Alex Gaskarth laughing about their photographer recounting stories of drunk people in gutters to the applause of their Good Things crowd, making us then feel very weird as not two songs later, they launched into 'Life of the Party', a song written about drowning your anxiety and sorrow in litres of booze. Ironic, strange and not cool, honestly. But goddamnit, the hooky pop-punk songs they had here were still good!

While The Smith St. Band got a lovely weather change by the time they hit the stage during a nice 28 degrees, we were left disappointed. For one, frontman Wil Wagner was just... weird. He was stoned out of his mind, and his forced stage banter sucked; feeling awkward and unfunny, namely the line about how their keyboardist was actually pregnant thus now making them a seven-piece. Ah yes, the peak of comedy right there (sarcasm). Anyway, we've seen this band many times live and they often sound great and put on an enthralling show. This was not one of those times, sadly, despite all the usual hits like 'Death To The Lads' getting dusted off.

Thankfully, some big guns were brought out by Stone Sour over on stage 2. With loud-mouthed frontman Corey Taylor being a non-stop ball of energy, even firing off confetti guns at one point under a dazzling light show, and with some mental riffage and solid picking techniques, the Iowa hard rockers put on a grand show. Wasting no time after the taped intro of 'YSIF' announced their arrival, the band slammed through 'Taipei Person / Allah Tea Play' and 'Do Me a Favor', before eventually taking it old-school with 'Get Inside' and the mesmerising ballad of 'Through Glass' much later on. Stone Sour as a band may pre-date Slipknot, and while there's no way that they'd be as big now without the wide success of Slipknot and Corey's fame in said other band, these guys all know damn well how to put on a solid live showcasing for all.

[caption id="attachment_1105053" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Corey Taylor, Stone Sour. [/caption]

Dashboard Confessional closing out stage 3 by first opening up with 'Vindicated' was, quite literally, the shit. That was it chief, this was fucking it! Following it up with 'Don’t Wait' was an emotional roller coaster and then some. Then seeing Chris Carrabba and friends playing right through 2001's 'The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most' in it's entirety was an absolute treat. Whilst this meant that we missed out on gems like 'Belle of the Boulevard' and 'Belong', it was an iconic performance to witness. Then ending with their two of their greatest hits, 'Stolen' and 'Hands Down', was simply mind-blowing. These songs are so emotional and resonating in their sound and delivery, even now in 2018; bigger and deeper than the rancid hole from which Scott Morrison crawled out from when he took over the LNP. (See that, The Used? That’s how you make a relevant political reference). It was truly an honour to see Dashboard Confessional and to be apart of something special. Just as it was for the event's other main draw-card...

'Smash' is an important 90s punk rock album that is older than us both, yet it's remained a staple release of not just The Offspring's career but also of that specific time period in punk rock history. It's an album that put the Californian group right on the map, and through its massive commercial success, helped to make Epitaph Records the house-hold name that the label is today. It's an album that's up there with 'Dookie' and 'Nevermind' for one of the biggest rock albums of that particular decade. So to see it performed in full was something quite special. Of course, while the band have taken this bad-boy out in-full during past tours, this was a great kick-off for the record's 25th anniversary celebrations coming up next year, and the fans came out in full force to show it some love. With massive cheers rising up as the opening speech of 'Time To Relax' - "Ahhhhh, it's time to relax/And you know what that means" - rung out. Than the band came right in 'Nitro (Youth Energy)' and it was 1994 all over again!

While we aren't the biggest Offspring fans, seeing many older punters in the crowd shouting along to every single line, and some even exclaiming how "this was the best day of their lives" was heart-warming in many ways. It was wholesome to see people who most likely lived through the 90s, heard this record in their youth at the time, now getting to relive it. And for a band who are in their late 40's and early 50's respectively, Dexter Holland and co. played through their second LP's 13 fast and furious tracks more than well enough without breaking a sweat, obviously saving standout 'Self Esteem' for the satisfying, deafening closer of the first half of their headlining set. As a mate put it to us on the night, "I feel like I'm living in a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game". Yeah, sick.

[caption id="attachment_1105048" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Kevin John Wasserman, AKA Noodles. [/caption]

As for the band's encore, it was all about the hits, baby! So this meant banger after banger with: 'You're Gonna Go Far, Kid', 'All I Want', 'Why Don't You Get A Job', '(Can't Get My) Head Around You', a surprise yet rockin' AC/DC cover of 'Whole Lotta Rosie' with an Offspring twist, 'Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)', and lastly, 'The Kids Aren't Alright' to cap the whole night off. We believe that a headliner band needs to show off why they deserved that "top spot" as the night's main closer, and after 34 years as a band, The Offspring proved exactly why they had been given that coveted placement: legacy status with some great songs.

[caption id="attachment_1105046" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Dexter Holland, still smashing it in 2018. [/caption]

All up, we found that the first ever Melbourne Good Things was a real success - something we've since seen echoed about the following two dates of the fest as well. The event had this smaller, boutique feeling to it all; meaning you didn't have to make any lengthy trek to get between stage areas, and it seemed that organisers had thankfully over-catered for bins and bathrooms too. The food stalls were all quite solid in quality and ranged in options too, so there was at least something for everyone. And there were some interesting market stalls set up - Nintendo Switch chill-out area anybody? And the security did a great job too, keeping people cool and hydrated with water and hoses the best they could in the blistering heat; catching any and all crowd-surfers safely as well. We even saw one security guard bounce his head and water-hose sprays in time with Emmure's breakdowns at one point too. (We also send out our deepest condolences to the friends and family of the security team member who sadly lost his life during the Sydney Good Things. RIP Eddie Silvio.)

Despite the intense heat, many punters were in good and high spirits across the day. Even some strong wind gusts moving over Flemington didn't scoop out the live mixes of the bands playing either. And somehow we survived all of this skin-peeling heat (in no short thanks to the life-saving misting tent); somehow that person wearing the red Slipknot jumpsuit all damn day didn't melt, and somehow our phones made it right to the end of the night for a final rendezvous before catching public transport home. Lately, we've noticed that Australia seems to be re-entering a "golden age" of music festivals, and it seems that this one right here may be sticking around for quite some time yet. So... Good Things 2019, anyone?

[caption id="attachment_1105047" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Tony Kanal of No Doubt, filling in for The Offspring and looking like he was having a lot of fun doing so. [/caption]

All PC: Owen Jones (Digital Beard Photography).