Project Description

GOOD THINGS Festival

(Parramatta Park, Sydney)

8 December 2018

(Live Review)

Reviewer: Benjamin Smith

Photographer: Wendy Robinson

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The inaugural Good Things, filling a gap left by a previous, now defunct heavy music festival, was always going to be met with big expectations. On just about every measure possible to apply, it managed to meet and exceed those.

The line up was slightly skewed towards an emo/pop punk bent with some notable exceptions. For most people, the headliners, Offspring, playing the 1994 megahit Smash in its entirety was an extraordinary moment, never before witnessed and probably never to be repeated.

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Like with all festivals of this size, it’s impossible to see everything and choices have to be made. Make Them Suffer, the West Australian act, played with a savagery seldom seen while the sun’s still up. Other notable highlights were crowd favourites The Smith Street Band, All Time Low and Stone Sour but nothing could quite reach the heights of the knock down, drag out drunken Irish lullabies of the inimitable Dropkick Murphys. Ken Casey and his offsider Al Barr were in rare form and smashed out a bunch of their most popular numbers with a few more obscure covers thrown in including the olde traditional, I Had a Hat.

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In terms of the practical aspects of the day, the organisers could not have done a better job. The usual pitfalls associated with big day like this had all but been eradicated. There were no endless queues for toilets, the food was high quality, varied and for the most part pretty well priced, there were plenty of water stations and there were dedicated crews constantly skirting the barriers with cups of fresh water, which was a godsend because when the sun got going it turned out to be a fucking hot Sydney summer day and the sun was relentless. The organisers has also made accessibility a priority with elevated viewing platforms for punters with mobility issues. Oh, and the sound quality was exemplary, unheard of with such open spaces. Essentially, the organisers fucking nailed it, almost every aspect of the day was considered and near-perfectly executed.

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When it came time for Offspring to do their set the crowd, having be so well catered for, were primed. After a few minor technical complications Dexter Holland and Co came out and crushed it. They played every track from Smash (though not in order) with Come Out and Play and Self Esteem whipping the audience into a frenzy. After a short break they returned to the stage to play a bunch of stuff from other records including Get a Job and Pretty Fly For a White Guy, but the zenith of their performance was probably when a candlelit grand piano was wheeled on stage and Holland gave a very stripped back, sombre rendition of Gone Away, the band’s 1997 hit from Ixnay on the Hombre. The band are, of course, a little older a little heavier and not quire as frantic but this performance was something special and for the older members of the crowd a unique way to relive some memories.

Good Things #1 can be considered a resounding success and it’ll be exciting to see it develop its own unique place in the summerfest market.

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Tim Doig’s Gallery of the Melbourne event HERE

Jahmiele Hicks’ Review of the Melbourne event HERE

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Wendy Robinson’s Gallery of the Sydney event is HERE

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Katherine O’Malley’s Gallery of the Brisbane event is HERE

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Follow GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Website

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AMNPLIFY – DB