Sydney gets rocked as Korn, Loathe, Sleeping With Sirens and more take a noisy pre-Christmas trip down under…
Santa Claus isn’t the only fella flying around the world for work right now: some of rock’s most notorious names are putting in overtime ahead of the holidays for Good Things Festival 2024, Australia’s annual alt.rock assembly, attracting 20,000-odd metallers to the heart of Sydney.
Amped-up Aussies arrive for day two of the festivities, with one line-up touring three cities across consecutive dates. After six years of trial and error, Good Things is finally finding its groove. Alongside the 2023 introduction of Knotfest, it fills the rock festival void left behind by Big Day Out and Soundwave since 2014 and 2015 respectively. And with Korn, Electric Callboy and Loathe propping up this year’s line-up, Good Things sort of doubles as an unofficial prelude to Download 2025.
It’s not all sunburn and beers down at Sydney’s Centennial Park, though there is plenty of both once the rain lets up. Maybe it’s all that Bondi Beach air, but there’s a summer holiday spirit that sweeps through the setlists, spurring on some of metal and punk’s biggest names to sprinkle fan-favourites and rarely-played album cuts into their unusually intimate festival sets. Often, these are signalled by mid-set spiel about the eight or 10-year timespan between Australian tours.
So, forget Christmas for a minute, as we head outside for a completely different kind of festivity…
Liverpool’s Loathe haven’t waited long between visits. Clearly, they left a lasting impression on locals in 2022, first touring Australia alongside fellow Northerners While She Sleeps. Anticipation about the British openers has been swirling, and Sydney shows up early to see what all the fuss is about.
From the first fuzz of guitarist Erik Bickerstaffe’s feedback, there’s no ignoring that they've brought the Blighty weather with them. Kadeem France’s vocals offer a welcome distraction, his shoegazey tones warming the crowd’s soggy shoulders, bolstered by the weapons-grade beats of drummer Sean Radcliffe and bassist Feisal El-Khazragi.
With the clouds holding firm, we also get our first glimpse of Good Things’ two onstage signers. There’s no question: the pair put in the toughest sets of the day, commanding their own corner of the main stage screens with headliner energy from start to finish.
Loathe make light work of getting the day in gear, leaving with a hint that their return journey may already be booked. Hopefully soon.
"What you’re experiencing here today is the greatest band in the world," declares Bowling For Soup’s head honcho Jaret Reddick. "We’re playing Sydney for the first time in 10 fucking years," the vocalist and guitarist beams with genuine bewilderment between Almost’s lyrics.
We suspect it’s the absence of guitarist Chris Burney that has the Texan pop-punks feeling a little flat, but they’re far from deterred. High School Never Ends unfolds like a lacklustre game of Guitar Hero, but quite honestly, watching Bowling For Soup play video games at 1pm on a Saturday isn’t the worst weekend we’ve had this year.
There's some great banter, not least when they point out one guy on the barrier who's done a convincing job of dressing up like Moses. But in all, the band’s crowd–play lingers a little too long between songs.
Spotting a human-sized platypus at the heart of the pit provides the perfect segue into their 2009 Disney hit Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day from the Phineas And Ferb soundtrack, receiving the loudest cheer of the set. It's a reaction they rightly reward with a string of hits, bookended by Punk Rock 101 and 1985.
Not their greatest day, but there's still plenty left in the Bowl' yet.
Mastodon take the literal approach to firing through their first four songs, and it's as their 10-foot flames line the stage that the sun makes its first appearance of the day. We’re familiar with the face-melting effects of their huge riffs, but the Sydney heat adds a few new shades to the quartet’s kaleidoscopic melting pot of metal, psychedelia and prog rock.
Pausing temporarily with a grin, bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders declares, "This is João’s first time in Australia," throwing the mic (albeit briefly) over to touring member João Nogueira on keys.
There's something spiritual about soaking under the weight of Mastodon’s sludgy-yet-soothing soundscapes in 90 per cent humidity. The sun-drenched crowd grunt and sway through the pace of Iron Tusk and Steambreather, arriving euphorically at the onslaught of Blood And Thunder.
"It's a beautiful thing," Troy declares, turning his attention to the signers, bringing his mountain-rage vocals to the masses. He does not lie.
Rain returns just in time for the spritely Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls. With the weather proving unpredictable, it seems all that Sydney humidity has gone and shrunk Stage 3; one of two modest ones tucked away in the far corner of Good Things’ site.
Given that Hampshire lad Frank has made his home on arena stages, fans who’ve rocked up early are transported back to a time when he needed to soundcheck his own gear. The folk-punk pioneer appears to be embracing the moment’s modesty, bopping away to the metalcore roars of Alpha Wolf from the neighbouring stage.
"This here is called an acoustic guitar," he confesses to the few hundred folks who’ve staggered over, "I don't want you to panic – it can be used for great evil, but today I plan to use it for good," he vows, attracting more curious revellers to his cause. "For a punk rock show!"
It’s 2011 "anti-fascist song" and firm fan-favourite I Still Believe that whips up the set’s first circle-pit. Polaroid Picture keeps the sing-alongs flowing, though clearly it’s been too much for the guy dressed as Batman, who exits the bouncing crowd to the poignant beat of the song’s signature folk-punk serenade. The movie soundtrack no-one saw coming.
We’re sticking in 2011 as Sleeping With Sirens bound on. Today, the Florida foursome look dressed for the ’Gram, and coincidentally, content capturing becomes the crowd’s side-hustle, with singer Kellin Quinn briefing them to co-create throughout the set.
At least it’s a hometown show worth capturing for drummer Matty Best, well-loved by locals as the beloved beatmaker in Tonight Alive. He’s got the best seat in the house to celebrate, his drum riser notched on the highest setting. Well, we assume that’s how it works. Kellin seems buzzed about it, too, his shoulder-length mane doing laps of the stage with the kind of sugar rush that suggests he came fresh from the adjacent funfair.
Decorating their afternoon set in nostalgic anthems works a treat, pulling in a decent-sized crowd that can be dated by the variation of black and grey ink. It’s safe to say they’re here for the old stuff. Better yet, it’s an acoustic cover of Goo Goo Dolls' Iris that actually cranks up the volume, with fans holding strong for emo anthem If You Can’t Hang to confidently close out the set.
There’s a mini dust storm forming as Kerry King fans step into the ring. Uh, we mean mosh-pit. Sleeping With Sirens’ crowd may have had plenty of face tattoos, but this lot have air guitars and they aren’t afraid to use them.
"We've reached the dark part of the evening," vocalist Mark Osegueda growls with the Slayer legend to his left. "Thank you for your passion, your inspiration, and for staying, for knowing what kind of show you're here to see."
As if on cue, a cloud of bats circle above, being sure not to miss the storm that’s brewing over here. Bewilderingly, the stage doesn’t buckle under the pressure of propping up legends Kerry and Mark, Phil Demmel (ex-Machine Head), Paul Bostaph (Slayer) and Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah).
Last minute line-up changes mean the synthcore hiss of Germany’s Electric Callboy shakes through the trees. It’s merely a match for the iconic axeman who barely pauses for breath as he carves a Flying V into the soil. Metaphorically, of course.
With Sum 41 forced to abandon ship (and what were set to be their last-ever shows down under) after Deryck Whibley was diagnosed with pneumonia, Electric Callboy have now been tasked with warming up the crowd for Korn.
Weirdly, Sum 41 drummer Frank Zummo is also stepping up to the seat after EC’s own David Friedrich was also forced to fly home before the festival. Beaming from the back, he's clearly having a blast as the blistering beat behind Electric Callboy’s wild brand of Euro-rave-rock.
Part fashion parade, part electromania, the set takes a gazillion gear changes, with Spaceman jolting the tiring crowd back to full power. The line for the porta-loos practically vanishes as they descend into a metalcore cover of Cascada’s Every Time We Touch. As if by magic, the place is swarming with groups of Hawaiian shirts, including dual vocalists Nico Sallach and Kevin Ratajczak.
While the band’s neon backdrop feels like it was shoplifted from Ibiza, the crowd’s footy chants have K! feeling right at home. If you like football, that is. Confetti rains down, wigs fly – their BABYMETAL collab, Ratatata is where the set very nearly peaks, topped only by the bittersweet rendition of the intro to Sum 41’s Still Waiting. They're not what we expected, but Electric Callboy help party away the disappointment.
"Tonight’s a very special night. We came all this way to celebrate with y’all," Jonathan Davis declares. "Tonight we are celebrating 30 motherfucking years of Korn!"
The sky glows deep navy and grey for the nu-metal titans as they kickstart their headlining set with 2002’s Here To Stay. Never ones for waffling, the California heroes play things as cool as their home state, and Dead Bodies Everywhere ensures headline duty looks and sounds effortless.
There’s a brief pause in play during Ball Tongue as lightning flashes over the city hills. Unperturbed, Jonathan marches back to his custom mic stand after five-or-so minutes. De-layering down to his vest, he’s raring to go, maybe more so than when they first hit the stage some 30-odd minutes ago.
"We're gonna play a song we haven't played in a long-ass time," he yells, launching into the lesser-played Good God. Harking back to 1994's self-titled debut, Blind and bagpipe anthem Shoots And Ladders follow, the latter sweetened with a slice of Metallica’s One for good measure.
An encore of Falling Away From Me overpowers the looming lightning. You’d be forgiven for thinking Korn had organised the light show in the sky themselves, cracking out the confetti canons as the final swears of Freak On a Leash finish things off.
If tonight is anything to go by, Korn will be on top form for Download next summer. Let’s hope they don’t bring that wild weather back with them.
