pix by Mitchell O’Rourke
December 2nd, 2022 @ Flemington Racecourse – Melbourne could not have put on a better day of it both weather and festival production wise for yesterday’s excellent 2022 edition of Good Things Festival.
Entry gained, straight to the no waiting bar for delicious beers close to stages One and Two then headed on over to see band number one for me; the amazing JINJER. This was my first experience seeing them live – thankfully Tatiana, Roman, Eugene, & Vladislav failed to disappoint in their all too short forty minute set. Theoretically not the opening act for Good Things, they were for me (and that’s all that matters 🤘 😆) and they were perfect way to kick off a sensational day, damn Tati can work a crowd; her charisma, energy and all round perfection is faultless ensuring that this my first date with Jinjer was a memorable one indeed.
Having to rush around prior to making my entrance to Good Things I absolutely needed a bit of a break after Jinjer, so it was food (and of course more bevvies!) next before catching Electric Callboy from Germany next. Even though they’ve been around for over a decade I only discovered them courtesy of my wandering down the neverending bottomless rabbit hole that is YouTube. Electric Callboy are a little bit Metalcore, a little bit techno but a whole lot of fun (imagine Steel Panther in Hammerpants Trackies at a Blue Light Disco and you’re close), classic tunes are Pump It, We Got The Moves, Hypa Hypa and cracking new single Mindreader, these awesome Germans most definitely got Melbourne on their feet and bouncing collectively to beats and grooves that were superbly hypnotic. Love ‘em. At this point unfortunately the heat was starting to berate me somewhat so I had to find some shade, soak in water and chill for a bit. Being so early in the day Metal V’s body was most definitely insisting and screaming at him to take it easy as there were the final five bands in a row to consume on the main stages.
Go-FUCKING-Jira…!!! Releasing one of the most sought after and revered metal albums of last year FORTITUDE, plus knowing (or imagining) that they’ve never played a bad gig in their existence those of us with pure mercurial metal flowing through our veins were all too aware of the performance that we were about to be pummelled with. Regardless of whether one sees them at one of the few sideshows they’ll play or saving it for the Gojira Good Things appearance, know that witnessing these beautifully brutal ballistic Frenchmen, you will both see and hear a show is unforgettable, baring witness as to why Gojira are one of the most respected and beloved metal bands of this century. Highlights – Born For One Thing, Backbone, Silvera, New Found, Amazonia and the truly perfect L’Enfant Sauvage thanks to Joe and Mario, Christian and Jean-Michel Melbourne were showing signs of awakening this afternoon.
Now I will go into a bit of a backstory with the next band following Gojira – TISM (This Is Serious Mum for the uninitiated!). I was always going to go to Good Things whether media passes came through or not! And let’s face it, with the state of our country’s financial state, the asking price of $200 is a bit of coin to part with, but…when I saw TISM named on the Good Things lineup, I swore I would pay they two hundred dollar asking price to see TISM live again (not having seen ‘em live since 1993’s Big Day Out.) They were actually a really important musical phase in my musical life, a welcome relief and comfort aside from the incredible demand of metal. TISM’s humor, wit, social commentary and unwillingness to be silenced and cancelled (a very important point in the 2020’s for those that feel entitled or hard done by plus are easily offended and living by their ridiculous cancel culture lifestyle!) whilst also making their art truly Australian and in particularly Melbourne-ised, TISM FUCKING RULE OK! Every show they do is a truly magnificent musical artwork full of theme, relevance and honesty with tongues piercingly stabbing at the cheek of societies politically motivated moraless ethics. They played classics such as Everyone Else Has Had More Sex More Sex Than Me, I’m Interested In Apathy, Saturday Night Palsy, Defecate On My Face Greg, The Stop Sign, (He’ll Never Be An) Ol’ Man River my expectations of preparedness to fork out $200 just to see one hour of This Is Serious Mum was clearly warranted, for me to shock those of you that know me well TISM were easily Melbourne’s Good Things’ Best On Ground. Side note, as a collector of merch, the only tee’s I bought on the day were two TISM one’s and I gave ‘em a hundy of my hard earned. “TISM = SO FUCKIN’ METAL RIGHT? “🤘 🤣 Do I need to say anymore really?
Next was NOFX, playing their classic album Punk In Drublic in full; now, I understand that this is a classic proper punk release, which I enjoyed from the comfort of shade with beers in hand. NOFX aren’t really my thing but the crowd were clearly entertained and loved the experience of hearing a classic album in full so my words pertaining to it are wothless…LOL
Nearing the end of our day together with two bands to go Deftones were next on the ‘must see of the day’ page. But…(here he goes again!)…their front of house mix was just awful. I went to various vantage points of stage two and nothing made their live sound improve which was upsetting because of how relevant and truly incredible Deftones are sonically. Overall though, another cracking set from Deftones playing every perfect release you could imagine. Short and sweet I guess.
Which brings us to the headliners, Bring Me The Horizon who have just never been on my listening radar. Honestly readers, I am finicky and particular about the metalcore I listen to, the rationale, how or why ways I can’t explain yet. With the desk and all options open BMTH set was, simply put, incredible and without question clear to see why these Briton lads are so worshiped. Bring Me The Horizon’s show was a perfectly crafted arena / festival headliner spectacular that I promise even if they aren’t or obviously are, you will be moving and moved by the show they give you.
For those of you that are sitting on their wallets considering purchasing Sydney or Brisvegas Good Things tix, I promise you that if you do it you won’t be left disappointed and feeling out of pocket. The full line up is worth cost of admission alone, plus what’s not to love about being amongst like minded heavy music lovers, drinking beers, ‘rona free and trying to put behind us the current state of catastrophe and agony getting in the way of our no worries easy going Aussie way of life.
