Good Things Festival swept through Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane this past weekend and Tone Deaf was there to capture every major moment. From interviews to secret sets and standout performances, here’s a full roundup of everything we covered across the country.
Six years in, and Good Things has become the go-to destination for heavy music fans across the country. Launched in 2018 with clear echoes of Soundwave, the festival has grown into something entirely its own – a mix of nostalgia and new blood, providing a haven from metalheads and alt-rock fans.
This year’s edition came with some slight hiccups – including the last-minute losses of The All-American Rejects and Knocked Loose, as well as Alpha Wolf. However, “there was a palpable buzz on the commute and early whispers about challenging schedule clashes that punters were painfully navigating”, Rolling Stone AU/NZ‘s 3.5-star review noted.
Notable performances included Scene Queen, who jolted the main stage to life early, calling out everyone from Donald Trump to scummy predators in the punk scene, and 15-year-old Newcastle prodigy Maple’s Pet Dinosaur, who was one of the day’s revelations. Granted an exception to bypass the festival’s 16+ rule, she immediately justified the paperwork.
Meanwhile, Garbage’s long awaited return to Melbourne was somewhat overshadowed by frontwoman Shirley Manson’s beach ball-related grievances. First she implored fans to puncture a solitary ball bouncing around the crowd. Later, after a miniature soccer ball rolled across the stage, she unleashed a volley of insults at an audience member: “Big guy with your big fucking beach ball! Ooh, I’m so scared of you, so thrilled by you! What a fucking douchebag!” she shouted.
Never one to be deterred by public opinion, Manson doubled down on her crowd comments on social media after their set, posting on Threads she would make “NO APOLOGIES” for the beach ball incident. She later used a wry apology at the Brisbane stop to remind the crowd about the serious humanitarian crisis currently happening in Palestine.
@pieta_nancy Garbage apology #beachball #garbage #brisbane #goodthings
But it was headliner Tool’s set that stood out – it felt like “stepping into a completely different dimension,” the review reads. “It was darker, stranger, heavier, and so improbably massive that its very existence as a festival closer felt surreal. You could feel it in the turnover: a jitter of anticipation, a hush folding over a clustering moshpit as faux horse-race commentary blared overhead, narrating a chaotic photo finish between runners named ‘Prick’ and ‘Vagina’.”
Check out the full review here.
Away from the main stages, the action kept going. In Brisbane, New Found Glory performed a secret set, alongside Australian singer-songwriter Amy Shark. Teased by Good Things on social media with an image of a garage door with a banner that said “Who found Amy? Good Things Garage – 5pm”, the three-song set saw Shark join the pop-punk stalwarts to perform their 1999 classic “Hit or Miss”, off Nothing Gold Can Stay. She also helped the band with their 2002 pop-punk anthem “My Friends Over You”, as well as a cover of Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me”.
Renowned photographer Michelle Grace Hunder was backstage, taking portraits of the artists performing at the festival, including All Time Low, Scene Queen, South Arcade, and Refused – check out the full gallery here.
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We also caught up with a stack of artists on the bill backstage in Melbourne. Garage’s Manson and Butch Vig were enthusiastic about where their latest album, Let All That We Imagine Be the Light, has been able to take them since its release back in May.
“It always feels like a privilege to make and release a record into the world, and have people like yourself listen to it. It’s never gotten old for us.” Manson told us. “I think we’re all very grateful. We’re very proud of this record and it’s been given a fighting reception, which is always exciting! The songs also really fit into our set — a lot of people have commented on how the new songs sit well with the older songs too, which is a huge compliment.”
Make Them Suffer’s Nick McLernon and Alex Reade teased new music is on the way, evolved to have more input from all members of the band. “As to what we’re trying to go for, I don’t think there’s a predetermined goal, we just want to write music that we are continuously happy with and have fun playing. Music that keeps us together as a band,” McLernon said.
Meanwhile, Machine Head’s Robb Flynn was open about a very real reality where the band might call time on their career. “I don’t want this to go on forever, it shouldn’t go on forever,” he told us. “It needs to end. Things end. I don’t know when that is for us… I’m always thinking in the back of my head like, ‘It should probably end soon…?’ Just so we can have an exclamation point on it. You don’t want to be the old guys still hanging around at the party when the party ends. Like Stranger Things! It’s a phenomenon, right? But it’s ending. I hope I reach the point where, when the time comes, we step away gracefully.”
