Parramatta Park, Sydney
Saturday December 8, 2018 :
Good Things Festival, Parramatta promised a return to the golden summers of Soundwave and Big Day Out. With both of those festivals now long gone in the past, and while Download caters to a specific audience, SW and BDO always catered broadly. Good Things did just that by dishing up bands from newcomers WAAX to old cronies The Offspring.
The venue was perfect for the size of the festival and there were never any bottlenecks or long lines for toilets, however the usual long lines at food trucks around midday and sundown were present. Despite an extensive police presence there was no disruption to our swift entry. My only complaint would be the lack of shade. The Saturday proved to be 30+ degrees and hundreds of punters gathered behind food trucks, trees and fencing just to find a reprieve from the blistering heat. The more established festivals of yesteryear had methods to deal with this like spray tunnels and hoses directed by security from the barrier, but none of that was present, just a few simple water stations. Shame that the thought wasn’t there for this Summer festival.
I started my day with the alternative female fronted Waax who have broken through the indie scene with hundreds of rotations on Triple J of late. The five piece genuinely seemed stoked to be there and energy was surely felt by the growing crowd with everyone joining in for their largest singles ‘Wild & Weak’ and ‘Labrador’.
Babymetal pulled a huge crowd for a middle billing slot with a crowd made up of curious onlookers and rusted on fans. The Japanese act had a fantastic stage presence and theatrical performance that the obvious miming and backing track for the vocals could be overlooked. A highlight of the day for me.
The Used knew what the crowd wanted and mostly stuck to their back catalogue of classics from yesteryear including ‘Pretty Handsome Awkward’ and ‘The Taste of Ink’. This was taken to the next step with Bert McCracken raising his young daughter onto his shoulders to join with the crowd in singing the theme tune to Play School. It was a feel good set filled with monologues by McCracken about drinking and mental health and acknowledging that he lives only minutes away from Parramatta Park, so it was no wonder he brought the whole family along for the day..
Tonight Alive frontwoman Jenna McDougall started their set by acknowledging the return of an alternative rock festival to Western Sydney. The last one (that wasn’t cancelled like Soundwave Revolution) would be Soundwave 2010 held at Eastern Creek Raceway. Their set was fiery, with tracks spanning their back catalogue all through to their recent singles, but the crowd knew them all. Sadly, their set was cut short due to a medical emergency involving a security guard.
Mayday Parade’s set was pushed back due to the above incident as well, however (most of) the crowd waited patiently for the five piece to grace the stage. Playing a shorter set, Mayday stuck to the classics from singalong bus trips in high school like ‘Miserable At Best’ and ‘Jamie All Over’. Most of the crowd knew every word and were eating out Derek Sanders’ hand.
The Smith Street Band polished off an excellent day as the sun started to set. Front man Will Wagner revved up the crowd to push through their lengthy set with happiness and laughter and the irony of belting out ‘Death to the Lads’ at the top of his lungs in the middle of Parramatta was certainly not lost on him, or the audience.
Overall, Good Things was a fantastic event and represented a leaner, smarter version of Soundwave. Tickets felt slightly exorbitant, but since seeing your favourite band recently has cost $80+, it’s not a bad deal to see many more for just double that. More of this please.
Reviewer : Andrew Scott
Photographer : Emma Visman
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