Good Things Festival - Review & Gallery 5th December @ Flemington Racecourse, Melb VIC

Good Things Festival
Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne VIC
December 5, 2025

Melbourne turned on perfect festival weather for our traditional Good Things Festival opener: overcast but sunny with no chance of rain. Between myself and fellow WoS writer Tyler, we managed to get pretty close to seeing almost everything across this six stage extravaganza. 

Also joining us was my wife, Mel, a music teacher who doesn't normally listen to heavy or alternative music and I'll be throwing in her commentary of the day from a newcomers perspective, given her favourite acts are the likes of The Killers, Cat Empire and Bon Jovi, you'll be surprised by some of her reactions.

The merch lines were better managed this year, with more lines direct to the service staff, rather than snaking around like the bar cues. 

Yours Truly

The main stage kicked off with Sydney pop punkers Yours Truly putting on a mad show for the early crowd. They finished with ‘Call My Name’ and got a great response.  

Scene Queen 

Straight from California, Scene Queen captured the hearts and minds (and privates) of the punters who migrated to Stage 2 after Yours Truly. She seemed convinced it was early morning (it was almost 1pm) but it dampened none of the enthusiasm.

Mel’s immediate reaction: “Yeah she’s cool”. 

She declared her show a pride month celebration, even though Australia doesn’t celebrate until early next year. At the end of ‘Pink Panther’, Mel says,“I don’t think this will be topped,” while Scene Queen dedicated ‘Mutual Masterbation’ to the two men in her life, her guitarist and drummer, and then brought out special guest Cody Carson (Set It Off) for ‘Barbie and Ken’. ‘18+’ included the censored mentions of the song’s target (also on this year's GTF lineup!), which added to the theatre without losing any of its sharpness.

Mel’s take: “Our kids would listen to this. Might not be ready for the lyrics but they would dance to it.” 

South Arcade

The young Brits had a ton of energy in the early afternoon sun, climaxing with ‘stone cold summer’ and ‘2005’. They seemed pretty rapped with the response and promised to be back again. 

Windwaker 

There was a massive crowd ready to go for Windwaker, who opened with ‘Sirens’ and ‘Fractured State of Mind’. Talk about firing your guns early but the fans went ballistic. There was one guy crowd surfing in his wheelchair which is never not wholesome to witness.

Halfway through their set, the news came through the Good Things app that Alpha Wolf were out and Thornhill were in, more on them soon.

Refused 

The legends graced Melbourne for the final time; a day after their headliner at the Northcote Theatre. A couple of times Dennis Lyxzén stopped to lecture the crowd about the decline of Western Democracy, calling out bands for being mere entertainment while the whole world goes to shit, and that artists should be speaking out on trans rights, Palestine and fighting fascism. 

Mel: “He [Dennis] has very Swedish hair. I think he wakes up like that.”

They threw in a snippet of Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood’, which caught the attention of the metalheads lining up for merch nearby, but otherwise stuck to the post-hardcore guns for their last show in Melbourne.

Stand Atlantic 

Considering they were a late call up after The All American Rejects had to stay home, Stand Atlantic came out swinging. They opened with bangers like ‘Kissing Killer Cobras’ and ‘GIRL$’ to get the crowd jumping. It was a different crowd to Refused. They acknowledged their late placement but performed part of AAR’s hit ‘Gives You Hell’, which was fine given the short rehearsal time. They threw out beach balls for ‘Sex on the Beach’, probably not realising the consequences it would have for a later artist...

Dayseeker

Over on stage 4 we got to Dayseeker for the end of their set. It was a bit of a shakeup as Rory Rodriguez sang along to a song that was almost entirely pre-taped. Maybe that over reliance of technology bit them though because their gear shut down, so they finished a song early with apologies to the crowd. I did see one of the fans who nabbed the setlist which revealed ‘Neon Grave’ as the scheduled set closer. 

GWAR

Mel: ‘What are they called? War? Like ‘war what is it good for?’ With a G? Like G-War?”

You either get GWAR or you don’t.  There were thrash riffs, solos and a guy spewing fake blood at the front rows. There was a story line with a train crash and a baby dinosaur that they shot up with crack. It might have been during ‘Fuck This Place’ but I’m not sure. What I am sure of is that they brought out a caricature of Trump for ‘El Presidente’. The actor opened his shirt to reveal his obese belly and then his insides and also squirt blood across the audience. 

Mel: “No. Just no.”

Thornhill 

Back at the main stage there were more technical problems with Thornhill suffering from a delayed start. The last minute addition admitted they wrote the setlist on the way over which they managed to put together with only three hours notice when Alpha Wolf had to pull out. Absolute insanity.

‍Ocean Grove’s Dale Tanner came out to help on heavier new track ‘Diesel’. For the finisher, ‘Nerv’, Jacob Charlton jumped down to the barricade. He couldn’t get back up on stage so performed the whole song for the front row. 

Many fans commented about how great the Aussie scene is that a band can be called upon to step up last second and leave a lasting impact like Thornhill did.

Machine Head 

Despite it only being 18 months since they were here, this is the set of the day I was waiting for. Performing as a power trio this tour, they nevertheless brought it all to the main stage. Pyro, flames and CO2 cannons. There’s still 3 mic stands set up so Jared and Robb could move between them to excite different parts of the crowd. The first half of the set was just epic ‘Imperium’, ‘Ten Ton Hammer’, the thrash-tastic ‘CHOKE ON THE ASHES OF YOUR HATE’, and the nu-metal bounce of ‘The Blood, The Sweat’, The Tears’ (a beer drinking anthem in festival mode). Things got a little more serious on ‘Crashing Around You’ and mental health singalong ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’

Flynn shouted out Thornhill for playing a rocking set on a few hours notice.

They dedicated the new Unatoned song ‘NOT LONG FOR THIS WORLD’ to the ladies. Boy did the crowd die. People came streaming out of the pit and the casual fans looked at their phones. Flynn revealed he wrote ‘OUTSIDER’ in Australia last year because he knew people were dragging his name through the mud and he didn’t want to respond publicly so wrote this song. Anyway it got a better reception than the one before it but not by much. Flynn did the old sit down bit which brought the enthusiasm up but it was hard on the knees of anyone over 40.

Mel: “Are these their songs? They sound like a different band to the other ones they’ve played.”

They won the crowd back with ‘Locust’, their reclaim rap-metal single ‘From This Day’ and an almighty version of ‘Davidian’. It felt like a big time performance and they were the first band to really own the main stage. 

Mel: “So many bands have great hair today.”

Fever 333

Tyler: Fever 333 were the most energetic band I saw at Good Things. The band championed equality for all through bouncy and angry metalcore that sticks a middle finger up at the power hungry grubs at the top of the food chain. The band played through powerful anthems including 'Only One', 'Made An America', 'One Of Us', 'Burn It' and '$wing', a cover of Blur's 'Song 2', and a powerful conclusion featuring classic Jason Butler antics. He clambered to the top of Stage 5 to scream "you can't keep us under your thumb" in pure rebellion, rousing the crowd to for some final cheers.

All Time Low

Not my thing but the beauty of Good Things is there’s something for everyone. So the pop punk rockers got their fix here, filling stage 2 as the Machine Head fans moved on. All Time Low played their collab with I Prevail, ‘Hate This Song’, and closing track ‘Dear Maria, Count Me In’ gave the punters a final chance to mosh and jump. 

Witnessing the band for the first time, I couldn't help but wonder: “Do they always dress like the Wiggles?”

Kublai Khan TX

Tyler’s Take: Kublai Khan's crowd grabbing presence was matched only by their earth shattering sub drops. The tough Texan Matt Honeycut took control of the audience, which formed at least 4 circle pits simultaneously. His encouraging humorous callouts and remarks about the "Australian education system" coincided with a level of pure strength that emanates from the stank face inducing beats of their set.

Garbage

The veterans showed everyone they still got it. Shirley Manson appeared radiant in Palestine colours and the entire band wore cool as fuck sunglasses. They started with a couple of new songs before ‘I Think I’m Paranoid’ got the crowd shaking. ‘Vow’ gave them even more reason to sing along. ‘#1 Crush’ was also awesome.

Manson noted it had been 10 years since their last tour here, before ordering a beach ball to be destroyed. Apparently she finds it disrespectful to be playing with beach balls while musicians are performing their art. She admitted she was being a killjoy, at which point the band appropriately launched into ‘Shut Your Mouth’. For ‘Wicked Way’ they threw in a bit of Depeche Mode’s ‘Personal Jesus’, which was pretty groovy. 

Manson paused to chat about Michael Gudinski and paid tribute to his belief in Garbage and influence on the Australian scene. From there it was more bangers ‘Stupid Girl’, ‘Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)’, and ‘When I Grow Up’. Manson sounded incredible, clearly a woman who looks after voice. 

She gave shout outs to Weezer, Tool and Goldfinger, and said she was glad to be part of the musical community where no one means anyone else harm. 

She went after the beach ball guy again. To be fair he kept waiving it at her, clearly trying to get her attention and certainly not willing to put it away. She gave him both barrels for a couple of minutes, stopping just short of setting the crowd upon him but mocking his dick size. It wasn’t until after that I realised there was a backlash. 

Man what a set from a band of pros. Beach ball rants aside, she followed Refused in calling for freedom in Palestine and the band rocked the paddock with ‘Push It’ and ‘Only Happy When It Rains’. 

After this, we headed over to Stage 4 for the metal and deathcore headliners. 

Make Them Suffer

This was pure adrenaline. Coming straight off their American tour with Fit For A King, they had all the pyro, their LED screen and were road tested and sharp. Watching Alex Reade headbanging is its own special moment. Nick McLernon was shredding and the crowd loved everything that Sean Harmanis threw at them, whether it was older tracks, ‘Ether’ and ‘Bones’, or newer hits like ‘Mana God’ and ‘Oscillator’. It will be only main stages from here on our for them.

Weezer

Back on the main stage, the crowd built as they waited for Tool. But Weezer were still going. They played the songs I knew: ‘Say It Ain’t So’ and ‘Buddy Holly’. That’s fine.

KJ: “Hey that’s Josh Freese on drums!”

Mel: “Who?” 

KJ: “Ex-Foo Fighters, ex-NIN but NIN again. Devo. Sting. The Vandals.”

Mel: “Oh him. What’s he doing with Weezer?”

C'mon, you were thinking it too.

Tool

Here we are with the sun setting, packed like sardines, listening to a profanity laden horse race call. Tool took the stage and broke straight into ‘Stinkfist’. That allayed any fears of the long songs kicking things off as they have at the Perth and Adelaide shows. But that was a little misleading. Cue: the 11-minute ‘Rosetta Stoned’, the 10-minute ‘Fear Inoculum’. Some fans weren’t up for it, but the Tool hardcores were in heaven. Bring on ‘The Grudge’ and ÆNIMA album track ‘H.’, which got a massive reception. 

Mel: “This song sounds different after the others sounded the same.” 

They slogged through ‘Pneuma’, with an epic Danny Carey performance, fitting in more accessible tunes like ‘Jambi’ and ‘Crawl Away’ around it. The light show is otherworldly, accompanied by layers of animated videos, rather than any images of the band themselves. With the crowd packed in, it was difficult for anyone under six feet to see much of the musicians putting on this epic performance.  

Mel: “This is not what I thought Tool sounded like. I don’t think I’ve heard them before.”

We decided to head out of the crowd during ‘Invincible’ (which runs 12+ minutes) but stuck around for a crowd-pleasing rendition of ‘Vicarious’. It was a difficult set to be honest. Undeniably brilliant but for a festival it lacked the crowd pleasing singalongs that many would’ve been expecting. Tool gonna Tool I guess. 

Mel: “As a first time listener there was nothing memorable to make me want to listen a second time. The 1pm bands had way more energy than Tool. They’re not a festival band.” 

Lorna Shore

Tyler: Lorna Shore's debut on an Australian festival was nothing short of world class. From the moment they started playing 'Oblivion', surges of crowd surfers and packed circle pits emerged amongst the flames. The deathcore giants smashed the emotional anthems in 'Glenwood', and ripped in to what Will Ramos described as the "ass beaters" in 'Prison of Flesh' and 'Into The Earth'. The virality inducing demonic animal noises of 'To The Hellfire' rang out across Stage 3, signalling a satisfying end of the night for deathcore lovers.

All in all, Good Things Festival remains a must for the early summer calendar. No one else brings together so many divisions of the rock brigade, from overseas and around the country. Come for your favourites, find something new and get yourself a neat new hat from the stalls. 

But even when it is overcast, bring some sunscreen and leave the beachballs at home next time.

Review by KJ Draven @kjdraven

Additional commentary by Mel D and Tyler Lubke @huntsman421

Photo Gallery by Clinton Hatfield. Insta: @ampd.agency. Please credit Wall of Sound and Clinton Hatfield if you repost photos.