Centennial Park was awash with teeming rain which didn’t stop the droves of metalheads searching for a Good Thing. The sold-out, Sydney edition of the iconic Alternative music festival went ahead rain, hail or shine on the 7th of December, bringing some of the biggest international and local acts across the five carefully curated stages. Good Things 2024 backed up for its 4th non-consecutive year with a lineup that tugged at both nostalgic strings and some of the biggest names in modern-day alternative music.

Dragon rocked out on stage 4 amassing a solid crowd of Aussie Pub Rock fans while Melbourne Punk Rock band The Living End showcased their relevancy after 30 years to a large loyal following. There is something more than special about Scott Owen’s double bass on a main stage, banging out tracks like ‘White Noise’ and ‘Prisoner of Society’.

Once again taking to a main festival stage at Centennial Park in their home city, Northlane brought with them ‘4D’, ‘Talking Heads’ and ‘Bloodline’ to a deluge of fans slugging it out in the mosh pit mud. All female punk rockers L7 went to town on stage 3 with a timeless, grimy set spanning a near 40 years in the industry. Proving power amongst a heavily male-dominated bill, the California girls punched out ‘Andres’, ‘Everglade’, ‘Shove’ and ‘Pretend We’re Dead’.

With the break in the rain and as if on cue, Violent Femmes dropped straight into Blister in the Sun to an audience that seemed to span the decades of their career. The change in pace and weather was welcomed by their adorning fans who swayed to the blues lines of ‘Kiss Off’, ‘Please Do Not Go’, ‘Add it Up’ and ‘Confessions’, as the band played their self-titled album in its entirety to celebrate the iconic body of work’s 42nd Birthday.

Cape Cod Rock band Highly Suspect was confirmed by a loyal following on Stage 5. Johnny Stevens directed the “world’s smallest circle” with fans quickly succumbing to his command. As darkness began to fall, and with it dropped ‘Bath Salts’, ‘Claudeland’, ‘Mexico’, ‘Lydia’ and ‘My Name is Human’.

Electric Callboy proved to be a massive crowd-puller as they unleashed tracks like ‘My Dreamer’ and ‘We Got The Moves’ with the help of Sum 41’s drummer Frank Zummo who joined the German band without any rehearsal time. The group added to the visual dynamic on the main stage with multiple costume changes that included their Trademark silver helmets, a fluoro and neon theme and then matching bowl-cut hair pieces, topped off with a double dip of the confetti canons.

Nu-metal pioneers Korn have remained one of the most anticipated acts of Good Things 2024, and testament was the amassing audience waiting for one of the most influential bands of the 90’s Nu-Metal scene. Lead Singer Jonathan Davis showed no signs of growing years, with a belting setlist to make any 90’s teen weep. Screaming out a 14-track setlist including ‘Dead Bodies Everywhere’, ‘Got the Life’, ‘ADIDAS’, ‘Blind’ and ‘Shoots and Ladders’ in a shiny red tracksuit, Korn delivered a performance that faultless.

The Good Things Festival has once again proved a formidable touring event, and with each year is also proving better and better. So much more than just a music event with its careful curation from layout and planning right on through to the spectacular back-to-back artist billing, we can only imagine where Good Things will take us again in 2025.

Big thanks go to Destroy All Lines and Dallas Does PR for looking after us.