Sydney is melting again. Good Things Festival rolls into Olympic Park like some sun-scorched caravan of noise pilgrims, and the faithful show up early because this thing has become an annual test of endurance. Last year it was storms, this year it’s the kind of heat that makes you wonder if guitars can actually warp mid-riff. Rumours of rain flicker through the day—Shirley Manson even spies lightning and drags “I’m Only Happy When It Rains” earlier in Garbage’s set like a talisman—but mostly it’s just sweat, hope, and thousands of people bargaining with the weather gods.
I walk in early enough to catch Yours Truly, Sydney locals jumping headfirst into one of the arena stages like they’re powering up the entire festival by hand.
Then Scene Queen arrives—Hannah Collins in full Barbie apocalypse pink—and her crowd looks like they’ve been waiting for this neon sermon all year.
South Arcade, all the way from Oxford, refuse to wilt in the heat; they rip through Stage 3 like they’ve been sunbathing in distortion pedals.
Over at Stage 5, Maple’s Pet Dinosaur prove exactly why their name has been everywhere in 2025, the old warehouse around them turning their set into something between industrial rave and prehistoric furnace.
New Found Glory hit Stage 1 and remind everyone why they’ve been at it since ’97—pure pop-punk muscle memory.
Melbourne’s Windwaker tear open Stage 4, six-million streams’ worth of promise exploding into the air.
Bad Nerves—beloved by Stone Gossard and Billie Joe Armstrong for a reason—take the warehouse stage and turn it into a garage-punk inferno.
Then Refused, Sweden’s eternal revolutionaries, give one of the sets of the day. They preach inclusivity, torch culture wars, and make you mourn their upcoming final US tour because bands willing to agitate the world awake are in short supply.
Sydney heroes Tonight Alive return from four years away like they never left, and the crowd greets them like overdue family.
Then I sprint to Stage 1 where Stand Atlantic deliver a set as hot as the pavement outside, blistering and bright.
On Stage 5, Wargasm hit like a cruise missile—Milkie Way channelling Marilyn Monroe’s glamour and Iggy Pop’s recklessness, flinging herself across the stage like physics is optional.
Then comes GWAR, the only band who can make a heatwave feel like a hallucination. Blood everywhere—photographers, punters, security—nobody safe, everyone laughing as if fever dreams are the whole point.
For a cleanse, Closure deliver emo serenity back on Stage 5; no theatrics, no goo, just melody as salvation.
Machine Head roll in next, one of metal’s great institutions, and the pit becomes a battleground of inflatable hammers and a rogue shark sailing overhead.
Fever 333 detonate Stage 5—Jason Aalon a full-body manifesto, sweat soaking through every syllable of social justice fury.
All Time Low stampede through a chart-stacked, crowd-hugging set.
Melbourne’s Civic follow with a raw, blown-out barrage led by Jim McCullough, sweat flinging like shrapnel.
Kublai Khan TX nearly level the joint—cold drinks fly like missiles and honestly, on a day like this, wasting hydration should be a crime.
And then: Garbage. Shirley Manson strides out waving a gigantic fan that screams C*NT, then drops it to reveal a shirt that reads “Stop Killing Children.” The crowd roars. This is why she’s a legend. The band leap between old favourites and new tracks, Butch Vig reminding everyone why his name is printed on the spine of rock history.
Weezer slide in with golden-hour goofball charm, rolling out classics and even covering Hole’s “Celebrity Skin” just because they can. As the sun dips, it feels like the first deep exhale of the day.
Finally, Tool. A band that doesn’t just play songs—they construct architecture. Maynard lurks at the rear of the stage, letting the visuals—vast, hypnotic, alien—swallow everything. The heat finally loosens its grip. The crowd behind me goes still in that rare festival silence that only a truly transportive band can conjure.
And that’s Good Things 2025: sweat, noise, chaos, communion, blood (thanks GWAR), and one last transcendent lullaby from Tool as Sydney finally cools down enough to breathe.
Images and Words Deb Pelser
Good Things visits Brisbane today.
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