FESTIVAL REVIEW: GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL 2022 Live at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne

It’s been one hell of a long wait for heavy/alt-music fans Downunder, but it finally happened! And it was GOOD!

The 2022 GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL took place in Australia over the past weekend (December 2nd, 3rd, and 4th), with Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane rock fans coming out in their tens of thousands to welcome live music festivals back after three long years in the COVID wilderness.

The Melbourne festival was once again held at the iconic Flemington Racecourse, home of the Melbourne Cup, with glorious early summer weather and another welcome return to our town.

Whether your jam is metal, punk, post-punk, metal-core, post-metal, alt-metal, alt-rock, or old blokes with giant inflatable goon bags on their heads, there was something for everyone. All in all, there were 32 acts playing across 5 stages, with headliners BRING ME THE HORIZON providing the finale to what was a pretty damn good day!

The full list of bands includes:

BRING ME THE HORIZON
DEFTONES
NOFX
TISM
THE AMITY AFFLICTION
GOJIRA
ONE OK ROCK
MILLENCOLIN
POLARIS
SABATON
AMONG THE RESTLESS
BLOOD COMMAND
CHASING GHOSTS
COSMIC PSYCHOS
ELECTRIC CALLBOY

JINJER
KISSCHASY
LACUNA COIL
NOVA TWINS
OCEAN GROVE
PALEDUSK
REDHOOK
REGURGITATOR
SLEEPING WITH SIRENS
SOULFLY
TEENAGE JOANS
THE STORY SO FAR
THE GLOOM IN THE CORNER
THORNHILL
TO THE GRAVE
THOSE WHO DREAM
YOU AM I

Among my highlights was the winner of the Melbourne ‘Battle of the Bands’ lead-up comp AMONG THE RESTLESS, who proved that they have what it takes to play off against the bigger bands! If you’re into melodic heavy rock then you must keep an eye out for these guys.

Other highlights included GOJIRA, SABATON, JINJER, and of course BRING ME THE HORIZON. Other notables though, were the Norwegian punk band BLOOD COMMAND who are now fronted by Melbourne’s very own ‘pocket rocket’ Nikki Brumen (ex-PAGAN).

Of course, many punters were in attendance to see Melbourne’s seminal masked marauders from the nineties, the reformed TISM. For those not familiar with TISM and the band’s dark humor and sarcastic delivery, I’m not about to explain them to you. Just like Morpheus says of the Matrix – “Unfortunately, no one can be told what TISM is. You have to see it for yourself”.

In keeping true to TISM’s anonymous style though, the band’s set featured the seven members sporting seriously bizarre costumes (remember the inflatable goon bags I mentioned earlier? Yeah, them). And the band’s set included stage antics way too weird to describe accurately here. But, those who witnessed the band’s performance certainly got what they expected!

BRING ME THE HORIZON brought their incredible Post-Human production Downunder for the GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL and it was a mesmerizing and futuristic backdrop for the band to play against. With a mix of tracks from the latter stage of the band’s career, BMTH delivered a performance that easily demonstrated their musical cohesion but also a clear ability to keep an audience’s attention with a dazzling visual feast.

If the energy-filled performances of the bands and the jubilant mood of the 25,000-strong crowd are any indication, the 2022 GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL in Melbourne was a massive success. After a depressing couple of years of interruption due to the pandemic, music festivals in Australia are well and truly back! And you’d better believe… that’s a GOOD THING!

Photos by Paul Tadday