It’s a beautiful sunny day in Sydney as the various tribes descend on Centennial Park for the first Good Things since Parkway Drive set the place ablaze back in 2019. Watching the punters file in, I marvel at the variety of attire … of course the sea of black t-shirts, people in their finest pyjamas, Hawaiian shirts, leathers and a plethora of costumes… bananas, and an ark load of wildlife. (I find myself wondering wonder how comfortably a full leather / PVC outfit would fare in hot & sunny conditions, but “you do you sir”).
Teenage Joans can be heard in the distance, welcoming the incoming hoards with their Power-Pop-Punk tunes. It seems like an apt greeting soundtrack (I think I hear a rendition of the Scooby Doo theme tune in there).
As we get a feel for the site, the Cosmic Psychos are blasting the bleary early risers into full consciousness. I imagine that this fairly sparse crowd is a little different from what they saw supporting Guns n’ Roses last week, but those that were keen enough to get down there early were probably plenty more receptive.
So Lycanthrope were pretty much the first band that we managed to catch properly, and after a brief intro from Slim Dusty (Looking Forward, Looking Back), they crank up the noise levels a few more notches with new single ‘Like a Ghost’. The Newcastle boys go on to make a most righteous racket, which warms the crowd up & sets the scene nicely for the rest of the day.
Next on the list, we hotfoot it over to Stage 2 for Jinjer. The Blue & Yellow peace sign logo looms behind as the band roar into action. The healthy crowd that have gathered receive ferocious pummeling courtesy of opener ‘Teacher, Teacher’. Singer Tatiana Shmailyuk is a bit of a marvel in the way that she can switch between her melodic singing & that guttural bellow that she possesses (not being that familiar with them, I started looking for the 2nd vocalist).
Their tunes swing wildly between melodic and outright brutality (and back), which definitely keeps things interesting. Judgment (& Punishment) being a perfect example, and a set highlight! The band finish with the brutal ‘Call me a symbol’, declaring, “We want our home back!” It must be a truly demanding situation that Jinjer find themselves in… touring the world playing music is something most bands would love to do, but doing it while your friends & family are under daily bombardment, must be horrific.
Next up, we have Swedish Skate Punk band Millencolin. These guys were good change of pace, steering things back in a more Rock direction. The stomping opener ‘Kemp’ heralding a mass migration toward stage one meant that Millencolin had a big crowd by the time they hit their 2nd tune. Their up-tempo songs had the crowd bouncing along in the early afternoon sun. There were clearly a lot of people here for the 90’s Punk Pop element of the bill, so there was a definite atmosphere during their set.
Continuing the Swedish element of today’s bill… “We are Sabaton! … And we play Heavy Metal!!!” Sabaton thunder on, with a huge keyboard laden sound and the singer clad in armour, I’m thinking, “it doesn’t get more Metal than this!” … And then the flames start shooting out over the crowd! Suffice it to say that it would have been mighty toasty in the first few rows!
Singer Joakim Brodén, his foot on the monitors, and his fist pumped to the sky, encouraging the crowd to sing along to their Battle Hymns, is having a great time, and the crowd along with him. I feel like Sabaton are like Iron Maiden dialed up past 11. The Red Baron, and cliffs of Gallipoli are standouts, but the whole set was a rollicking good time!
Back to Stage one we have One OK Rock from Japan. These guys are a bundle of energy! Tunes like neon & Vandalize are standouts. The combination of melodic tunes, fizzing enthusiasm and the mid afternoon sunshine has the crowd buzzing. So much so, that I see Santa Claus necking cans with the Boys and Jesus taking selfies with the faithful…. Maybe things can get a little weird with too much sun…
I saw Lacuna Coil once many years ago…. None More Black! Symphonic! Overly Dramatic! What we have here today is a completely different proposition! The band seems to have grown immeasurably! Much more colour & movement, and a LOT more groove… still dramatic, but fantastically entertaining! Andrea Ferro is a monumental presence onstage, but the rest of the band are not overshadowed either. Starting off with ‘Blood, Tears, Dust’ via a Depeche Mode cover (Enjoy the silence) and ending with Nothing Stands in our way, Lacuna Coil won plenty of friends today.
I was a bit late to see Gojira, courtesy of the massive queues for the food trucks (this is a carry over from last time…. Seriously, cater for the numbers people!), but by the time I arrive, the Frenchmen are in full flight. Steam cannons and blast beats lending for a great ambience in the afternoon sun. Gojira, like their namesake (Gojira is the original Japanese name for Godzilla) are absolutely laying waste to the massive crowd! The Cell, sounding like 500 Harley Davidsons starting at once, before the drummer gets a solo spot. He holds up a sign saying, “I Can’t Hear You!”, and once the required response is reached, the next sign says “F#ck Yeah! C#%ts!”, before they proceed to demolish the audience again. Frontman Joe Duplantieris very quietly spoken, but Gojira’s mastery of the light & shade, and their utter brutality when in top gear make them utterly compelling. Extraordinary!
While NOFX was on the big stage covering Sabaton’s catalogue in full (or something… perhaps not), over on stage 3, Soulfly were bringing the noise! The customary tribal intro leading into ‘Uno, Dos, Tres, Quatro! – ‘Back to the Primitive’. None of this loud / quiet / loud business here, Soulfly have one speed…. Full Throttle! Max Cavalera & crew are certainly more Punk Metal than a lot of the Prog overtones on display today, and I have to say that it makes a bit of a refreshing change. ‘Go on, blow it up, get off!’ Soulfly are here for a good time, not a long time. Special guest for the tour, Guest Dino Cazares from Fear Factory lends some extra grunt on guitar. Highlights include Prophecy, Bleed, and “A Banger called Downstroy”, and one that “was written while the drummer was inside his mother’s belly… his heartbeat starts the record” the drummer is Max’s Son Zyon, and the song is Refuse / Resist, from Chaos A.D. cue crowd going nuts!
Max then intro’s the Guest Guitar player before the band tear into Fear Factory’s Replica. Soulfly were a tornado of fresh air in the evening before the evenings headliners.
Over on stage 5, Red Hook were ripping it up in front of a smaller, but no less rabid crowd. They were into a cover Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit, before Shaun from Short Stack, got up to duet with Singer Emmy. Other highlights were ‘Say’ & ‘Kamikaze’. Red Hook are hyper-energetic, have some catchy songs, and a super-charismatic singer in Emmy Mack. if Pop-Metal core is a thing now, then they are definitely on the up & up!
Meanwhile, on the main stage Deftones were the first band of the day to have access to a proper lightshow, and make full use of it they did! Despite a fairly ordinary sound, the Los Angeles Nu-Metal Pioneers lightshow went a long way to making up for it. In addition to the fit inducing lightshow, the band were in tip top form, however due to them being all in black, and the backlighting, they were pretty much invisible. The only one that could be seen was singer Chino Mareno who was all in white…so I have to say that it came across as the Chino Show!
I have it on good authority (i.e. a woman watching nearby) that Deftones are what 40+ year old mothers listen to in the car on the way to & from work in order to deal with their day to day! …So make of that what you will. Having said that, the massive throng of parents lapped it up, and Deftones had probably the biggest reception of the day. They were also, clearly a lot of people’s headliner, given the mass exodus once they the final chords of ‘headup’ rang out…
Bring Me The Horizon didn’t just bring a rock show, they brought a full on multimedia presentation! The video intro and first song ‘Can you feel my heart’ was dazzling. The band silhouetted in front of the video screen brought to mind many an 80’s music video. It was like a cross between the U2 Pop-Mart Tour & a bananarama video. Singer Oliver Sykes spent more time giving Sydney shout-outs, and imploring the crowd to go nuts than singing the tunes. However, once the band settled into their stride, and the audience became acclimatized to the audio-visual onslaught, we got an approximation of a rock show! Although, after some of the shows today, it came across as a sugar laden dessert, rather than the main meal.
Review by Biggs | Photos by Adam Sivewright
Bring Me The Horizon, Red Hook, Soulfly
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Deftones, Gojira, Lacuna Coil, One Ok Rock
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Jinjer, Sabaton, Millencolin
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The Amity Affliction, Sleeping With Sirens, Lycanthrope
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