words & photos: Nathan Goldsworthy @odin.imaging

Review

*“..****Bring Me The Horizon*** *brought one of the most amazing productions I have seen. From the visuals to the stage design, it was next level.”*

Sell out crowds and stunning weather, the metal gods were looking over Melbourne with the return of good thing festival after a 2 year hiatus.

35 bands, five stages, 3 cameras and a handful of energy bars. I needed a plan of attack. Of course, their were clashes, but I made it out alive, catching 19 bands and almost 5k images!

Rocking up to stage 2 for the proud Ukrainians Jinjer. Tati has a reputation for being one of the most powerful front women in metal, together Jinjer put on an incredible performance. Tati took the time to thank the audience and Australia for their support of Ukraine, and the crowd roared in solidarity.

Swedish skate punk icons Millencolin brought back some vivid memories of late nights slamming Tony Hawks Pro Skater (damn that soundtrack was perfection). I must admit, I hadn’t listened to them in a long time but I remembered every track they played. Digging up long forgotten lyrics and singing along with the rest of the crowd!

The Swedish invasion wasn’t over. One of my major drawcards was up next. The mighty Sabaton! Tales of war throughout the ages were told over some of the best power metal you’ll ever hear.

The award for the most underestimated band by the organisers goes to Electric Callboy. Stage 4 had amassed a massive crowd, with people in 80’s style work out wear stretching as far as the eye could see.

For those of us who were lucky enough, today was the second day in a row to see the Italian gothic metallers, Lacuna Coil. Coming out way over dressed for the heat in their white jumpsuits. They had the crowd bouncing, so in sync in fact I could feel the ground moving from nearly 50 meters away!

Absolute titans in the metal world, up next were the mighty GOJIRA! Managing to perfectly tie together beautiful melodies with back breaking heaviness. Mario leaving his throne behind the kit to come down to front of stage to part the mammoth crowd at the beginning of Flying whales… absolute chaos. i loved every second

The beauty of festivals is walking away falling in love with a new band, Paledusk was the band for me this festival. Have you every seen someone play guitar whilst doing Capoeira? No? yeah, me either! And, to be honest… I think that’s the best way to describe their music!

As the crowd thickened at the main stage, you knew the headliners of Good Things Festival 2022 were about to arrive. The British Kings of the Metalcore Bring Me The Horizon brought one of the most amazing productions I have seen. From the visuals to the stage design, it was next level.

Frontman Oliver Sykes emerged as a big cloud of confetti blasted into the air. Bring Me The Horizon somehow manage to fuse the party element of an EDM r with the aggression of metalcore. At a festival the further you are from the stage the harder it is to connect with a band. It takes something truly special to reach every corner of the crowd and Bring Me The Horizon has that something special in spades.