Good Things Festival @ Showgrounds, Brisbane 3/12/2023

Red baseball caps mingle with Energy Dome caps. Black and white face paint match those decked in sunscreen. Black metal shirts complemented by geezers dressed as Cheezels and watermelons. Extreme European metal plays alongside alternative Australian rock. This is Good Things Festival 2023.

Brisbane is a beautiful sunny, and extremely warm, day yet unbeknownst to many, last nights dramatic events in Sydney when headliners Fall Out Boy’s show was cut short during an electrical storm, the knock on effect was that many of today’s bands were left stranded in the harbour city with nowhere to stay only arriving a short while before appearing on stage.

Did that affect those bands performances? Judging by how Sepultura ripped through their set with the force of a tornado landing, the answer is only in the most positive way.

Hours beforehand the streets around the venue are beginning to teem with expectant metalheads, with many desperate for a good spot to either bunker down for later day heroes or to check out the early acts.

Of those early acts, PVRIS go down an absolute storm on the main stage with the bands mix of styles including pop atmospherics, dance rhythms and crunchy metal riffs before the ray of sunshine that is Enter Shikari arrive full of vibrancy, effervescence and a big dollop of bright colour as they promote new album A Kiss For The Whole World.

Taking the short walk to stage 5, the layout is different this year from last and stage 5 is opposite where 3 and 4 were last December, to check out Bloom, who despite having the sun right on them, are a whirl of energy in a act of solidarity with their fans in the 1pm heat.

Talking of the layout change is important, last year, while stage 3 and 4 were undercover, this year that area is used for food and beverage. Areas around it for toilets. Which means that while the stage is in the sun the space around it is actually less congested and lots more shade for the punters. This is a great thing as the queues for food are non-existent this year as lessons learned which makes for a more enjoyable experience.

Stage 3 and 4 themselves have migrated to the other side of the venue under an enormous dome that lovingly traps in the heat and the sweat levels increase as Perth’s Make Them Suffer lay a serious marker down for most energetic performance of the day as vocalist Sean Harmanis literally sweats it all out on stage and keyboardist Alex Reade is windmill of constant headbanging throughout songs like Contraband and Doomswitch.

Following that though is Brazilian giants Sepultura whose set list is like a perfectly crafted movie complete with a catchy beginning to hook you in with Isolation and Territory. The contextually heavy middle is Kairos before the showstoppers at the end of Arise and Roots Bloody Roots which has everyone dancing, chanting, waving Brazilian flags and blowing the band away with the ferocity of energy.

Talking of ferocity of energy, While She Sleeps step up after that as the buildings heat levels continue to increase heavily, and other than the red faces and sweat drenched clothes, the energy of the crowd rises to match the heat.

While She Sleeps bring out meteorite landing belter after another in Anti-Social, You Are We, Self Hell and Systematic. Every song sung like an anthem, as circle pits and wall of deaths are breaking out everywhere. Vocalist Loz Taylor is in the crowd twice singing away however the second time takes a turn when Loz calls out the behaviour of some ‘fans’ before the band launch into old favourite Four Walls.

Even this late in the day, getting around is fairly straightforward, food and drinks easy to get and merchandise queues are managed with extreme efficiency. The opening of the concrete steps means more seating areas and the venue just seems so much more manageable and less congested than last year despite a bigger attendance. Good work Good Things organisers.

Back on the main stage, I catch Slipknot legend Corey Taylor belt out his number Bother, which has everyone to a person in the Showgrounds crowd all sing word for word before finishing with a cover of INXS Don’t Change as we look for a good spot for Bullet For My Valentine.

It’s at this stage of the day, nearing 5pm, that finding a decent spot in a respectful manner becomes a bit of a challenge as the sheer quality of the main stage bill means the numbers waiting to see Bullet For My Valentine, and those after, are deep in number so positioning puts you at a disadvantage. However one criticism of past festivals is the level of sound and I can confirm the sound this year was exceptional and travelled to all corners of this corner less venue.

Bullet For My Valentine open with Knives, with its cracking heavy riff before switching it to the hook laden Over It and the epic Your Betrayal.

Another food and beverage stop – for a festival anyway – reasonably priced burger and beer, and therefore was chance to catch Royal & The Serpent do a cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit to an awe inspired crowd loving the energy that vocalist Ryan Santiago pulls out of themself for them.

I, Prevail have dropped two albums fairly quickly that are chock full of fire and that’s how they start their main stage performance with pyrotechnics during Bow Down and Body Bag with the heads bobbing as far as they eye can see justifying why they are a main stage evening band.

Good Things do like to add a bit of spice each year to the line up and this year it’s German new wave punks Devo on their 50 year anniversary tour who have the sun setting time slot.

Yes they play Whip It, as well as Mongoloid, and it’s refreshing to see how many young people are dancing and actually know the words to so many of the veterans songs. With more costumes changes than Axl Rose, – including those red hats – the energy around the band and their quirkiness extends far beyond their music and into the good feeling the crowd has for them.

Talking of headwear that is red, it’s red baseball caps galore for the infamous but never bettered Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit.

Break Stuff has everyone eating out of Durst’s hands, Show Me What You Got has empty drink containers flying and at this stage we still have no idea what Wes Borland was dressed as.

A Limp Bizkit show is one big party, in between their own songs you get snippets of Fade To Black, Song 2, Seven Nation Army and a ‘granny’ being pulled up on stage for a hug.

Durst is a great frontman and even wanders across stages as Fall Out Boy set themselves up for a chat with fans on that side of the venue. But what of the music?

Rollin’, Take A Look Around and Nookie tell you that the party atmosphere is in full swing so much so that the band finish with Break Stuff – yes again – which is even more incendiary than previous as spot pits break out all around us.

Which leaves the headliners Fall Out Boy who start with Love From The Other Side and some jazzy fireworks.

Uma Thurman has quite a pretty underwater display behind the band as vocalist Patrick Stump has the crowd singing in a lovely blue hue. A quick backdrop change brings out a giant Doberman head as This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race compete with a jam sing a log with the audience which is always fun, as the night draws in and the specialty stage production of the bands illuminates the venue.

Good Things is always a great time. People of all styles and desires are equally welcome and free to be who they want, the set up conducive to make sure you never waited long for food, drink or the toilet, however ultimately the effort the crew put in to make sure the bands all turned up and sounded great, is really where the punter got their value. Good work to Good Things!

Live Review By Iain McCallum