Project Description

GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL

@Brisbane Showgrounds

08/12/19

(Live Review)

Reviewer: Connor Gutteridge

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On a thirty something degree day in a little town called Brisbane on December 8 something took place that changed the outlook of the festival scene in Australia forever. This event was titled Good Things Festival 2019, headlined by the boys from Byron Parkway Drive and the United States living Aussie citizens A Day to Remember. The day was an epic adventure through the different styles of rock and metal music, and here is how it went down:

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Started off the stinking hot day stuck in traffic and having to miss the first couple of bands that played unfortunately, however kicked off the day with the Japanese alternative rock outfit MAN WITH A MISSION. Personally, I had never heard of this band before the festival and was very blown away by how incredible they were. Their sound was uniquely familiar in that they were in a sense like the alt. rock I had heard in the past, however they had their own style while keeping the genre true. The melodic rhythmic section was what sold it for me, the tone on the guitars while playing those beautiful full chords to sit along side the clean vocals. Their stage show was very….different. They were all wearing wolf masks on stage which I found unexpected but a cool mix up in the outlook of the day. There was so much energy put in to the show and the crowd really seemed to love it.

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The next up on the stage directly to the left of where I was, something special was about to happen for the first time in Brisbane, Ice Nine Kills were on their way. Opening the set with their first release off their latest album ‘The Silver Scream’ was the track written about Freddy Kruger called ‘The American Nightmare’. The crowd filled out within a matter of seconds as the band took the stage and the whole tent was completely full of punters wanting to see the theatrical performance of the band. They did not disappoint, the use of different props for each song depending on the theme of the track written. They also had a girl who popped up on stage a few times to fit the theatrics of the performance and to imitate the female lines in their newest track ‘Your Number’s Up’. Absolutely incredible show to watch and on point musically to, deserved to be on the main stage 100%.

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After a small break it was over to the main stage to watch the unexpected addition to the lineup, The Veronica’s, and THEY ROCKED! Right from the word go you could tell that the band had been working on making their music heavier to suit the festival. They opened the set with ‘Take me on the Floor‘ and the tone on the palm muting guitars, the screams from their voices, wait did the Veronicas go metal? In my travels of the day I was noticing a heap of people wearing shirts that on the back said, “I survived the wall of death”, wasn’t until later I noticed that they were Veronica’s shirts. Was so awesome to see they adapting to fit the bill and putting on an awesome show for the punters. I was unfortunately not there for the Wall of Death during ‘Untouched‘, however, have been informed that it was incredible and one of the biggest walls of death from not only the day but the whole tour. They had a mixture of rocked up new tracks and older tracks that brought out the inner girl in all us big metal heads, yeah, I SAW YOU SINGING ALONG!! It was a fun time watching the girls smash it up there and I really hope they come back to Good Things one day.

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Next up for me was the young boys all the way from Melbourne, Windwaker. I have been a fan of these guys for a while now but never seen them live before, what a show they put on! Its unfortunate that they were put on at the same time as the Veronica’s, so the crowd was a little bit thinner than most other bands of the day, but they did not care for one second. They did their job and made it their own but imploring all punters to get up the front and move around. Playing tracks from their latest E.P they had people singing along which is always a good feeling for an up and comer. They absolutely nailed a cover of Freak by Silverchair I which the singer jumped down off the stage to jump on the barrier. It was an awesome show and a fitting send off for guitarist Liam Guinane as it was his last show with the band. This was one of the highlights of my day, for a young band who really are only just starting they have such a bright future ahead of them with so many big things coming their way. Keep an eye out for them, they will be in Parkway’s position before too long.

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After leaving Windwaker a little bit early I raced over to the main stage to catch all of Trivium tear it up. Awesome set absolutely killed it, however, the sound wasn’t great for Trivium. I felt that it really needed to be louder to be able to get the full effect of the band. They had a lot of depth in their set with having a nice mix of new music and old classics so there was something for everyone. After a lot of video watching of these guys live it was a nice surprise to see Matt Heafy screaming a lot more than I expected. To get the crowd involved Matt mentioned many times that we were only almost as good as Sydney, which brought out the ego in our Brisbane hearts to go harder. The Chants of “F&%K Sydney” rang through the crowd more than once and was met with laughter and amusement from the band, they had us in the palm of their hand, hook line and sinker. Awesome set from the boys in Trivium, always welcome here in Australia. Highlight for this set for me with the huge circle pit during their track ‘Pull harder on the Strings of your Martyr‘, almost went over onto the other side of the stage and was quite a sight to see.

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Next up on the agenda for the day, hosting the biggest crowd I saw all day in the tent of stage 3 and 4 was Falling in Reverse. Opening with their fun energetic track called ‘I’m Not a Vampire‘, the band have been through a lot over the years and its good to see since the last time I saw them that they have just got even better. The set had a great number of tracks from each different album and had a varying feel between the rap/edm material and the metal/punk material which was fun for long time fans but also good for people that may not know the band at all. At no point during the set did anyone in the tent look like they weren’t having a good time with front man Ronnie Radke keeping everyone entertained between songs with his gratitude for the fans. Towards the end of the set Ronnie made a speech about how much all their fans mean to them and how you can be whatever you want to be in this life, this was a special moment. There was a genuine love for the fans from the band and you could visibly see it, not to mention a genuine love from the fans to the band as well. Very fun and entertaining set from the band.

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The next band felt like I was walking back into the early 2000’s with the last bit of Simple Plan’s set on the main stage. This was one big singalong with everybody getting that nostalgic feeling while listening out. The set was spaced out between new and old tunes with an acoustic cover of Wonderwall as well for people to enjoy. You could tell that band and fans were all having so much fun playing on this hot summers day and musically they were spot on. I remember during their last track ‘Perfect’ thinking to myself, wow this guy has not missed a single note the entire time I’ve been here. Even though the punk rock legends are getting on in age they have not at all dropped the ball with holding the same energy and crowd response that they had back in the early 2000’s. This was a fun blast from the past that really got the vocal cords going, 10/10.

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Then on to the next which was the returning Violent Soho on the other main stage directly after Simple Plan. Opening the set with their smash hit ‘Like Soda’, it was great to see the Aussie boys back in the country even if it was only for a weekend. However, Violent Soho were another victim of poor sound mixing as the mix was all over the place with parts of the set being quite uncomfortable to listen to. I would say this wasn’t the fault of anyone, was just one of those things that happens sometimes in the industry. But this did not take away from how good the boys were, with a laid back ‘who cares’ sort of approach to their set, this was a definite highlight for me. I love it when you can see that bands aren’t taking themselves to seriously and its obvious that the crowd can notice that to and respond accordingly. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we need these guys back in the country again soon.

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With the day almost ending, the best was yet to come with 2 of the 3 final acts being on my top 3 highlights of the day. Karnivool holds the title of being in my top 3 of the day, they absolutely killed it in every single way. Their song choices were incredible with it almost rising in popularity as the songs progressed, ending the set with their three most successful songs in ‘Roquefort‘, ‘Themata‘ and ‘New Day‘. The crowd took a little while to wake up with this set as that is the problem with playing later in the day, everyone is tired, and it requires something truly amazing to wake people up. By the end of the set every set of feet was jumping of the ground and every head was banging. It was truly amazing to see the sudden shift in the crowd response after they began to play Roquefort from everyone looking half dead to everyone re-energized. Karnivool are known far and wide for being one of the most amazing talents to come out of Australia and having an incredible live show, there is literally nothing more I can say other than if you haven’t seen them yet, do it soon.

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Now we have come to the final part of the night and the last move for my long and tiring day. Its incredible how much stamina a day like Good things requires to make it to the end alive and well. If you make it to the end, your in for a treat. Good Things 2019 was absolutely no exception with the two headlining acts taking the stage with to send off the festival for 2019.

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First up was A Day to Remember, these guys come here so often that they have been adopted by Australia with many people titling them the US living Australian citizens, and they love coming here to tear it up. A Day to remember are known for having an incredible live presence and today was no exception to that. Playing a range of tracks from their career including two brand new tracks off their new record that they announced is set to come out next year called ‘You’re Welcome’. Full of energy and gratitude to the crowd for keeping the intensity and allowing them to keep coming back, A Day to Remember put on yet another set to remember here in Australia. With beach balls bouncing around the crowd, steam cannons and fire balls on stage, these boys showed Brisbane that they have still got it even after the little delay in shows for the delayed new record. As per usual the crowd was digging everything, they were putting out there and rightfully so. Front man Jeremy McKinnon told a story about how Parkway Drive brought them over to Australia for the first time for a tour with them and showed much appreciation to the band and the fans for their ever-going support. Its always a touching feeling when bands are genuinely thankful for your mere presence at heir show, we love you to guys!

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Then last but not least, we have the Boys from Byron, the future of the metal all around the world, Parkway Drive. The intro video starts, and the explosions begin, with three very loud bangs going off on stage to fit in with the tone of their introduction video before they came out. Entering to the stage through the crowd from the back, escorted by four guys holding fire torches, this was truly amazing to see. To see the sea of people waiting for them split in half to allow them past to the stage was like it was choreographed. Their music intensifies as they are all standing on stage before it comes to a halt and the fire torches go out. Then in the midst of the crowd cheering widely in excitement for what they were about to witness, the acoustic guitar intro to ‘Wishing Wells’ came over the speakers and the scary eerie vocals of Winston McCall begin. It was at this moment that the crowd knew they had to turn it up a notch and give them everything they had left in the gas tanks as a sudden outbreak of moshing began with the thousands of people standing in front of Parkway.

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There are way too many highlights for this show to pin them down as the entire show was incredible, truly like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The light show was the focus of the first half of the set with the introduction of dry sparks and fire not coming until mid-set. The amazing sight of the dry spark rain during the guitar solo of ‘The Void’ was truly amazing.

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While we are on the subject of amazing stage show, ‘Crushed’ played during the encore of their set was without a doubt one of the most amazing displays of pyro I’ve ever seen in my life. With the stage looking like it was engulfed in flames for the verses of the song, the fire balls shooting out life right and center during the choruses and the grand finale of the mega fire cannons shooting towers of fire 50ft into the air. This left me speechless to think I was witnessing something so epic from a little band from Byron Bay, only 45 minutes away from where I live. This band is next level and an absolutely mind-blowing addition to the growing Good Things Festival, what a way to cap the day off and my final main highlight of the day.

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In Conclusion, Good things was absolutely incredible. In the face of some sound issues and maybe some bands being put on the wrong stages, the whole day was amazing. Took me right back to the days of Soundwave Festival and makes me excited to see what the next level is for this amazing festival.

 

Check out Wezzy Cruze‘s gallery of the festival here

 

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