Festivals

‘twas the week before 2000 Trees and all across the nation, the ground was being soaked by loads of precipitation!

After one of the wettest starts to the year in recent memory, hearts were sinking among ticket holders as yet more torrential rain hit the site in the days leading up to kick off – however fears were soon allayed as arrival day saw a sunny start and mostly dry conditions underfoot, even if there was a bit of mud about.

2000 Trees is a much-loved music festival that has lost none of its independent spirit since it was formed by a group of like-minded friends in 2007. The passion felt for the festival is such that multiple attendees referred to its arrival as “like Christmas” – although the weather in the build-up was more akin to monsoon season!

There are a number of ways to get to Upcote Farm, which is about six miles from Cheltenham, including a shuttle bus running on Wednesday and Thursday from Cheltenham Spa railway station direct to site and bringing you back on Sunday for £15 return. The Big Green Coach company also offered coach travel to the festival from further afield.

A taxi to site with a local company (Cheltenham hasn’t really embraced Uber yet) cost £24 which wasn’t altogether unreasonable considering my pre-festival faffing in the build-up and being keen to catch the first band on stage at 3pm.

Many drove, with car sharing encouraged – particularly given the nature of the small B road leading into site – while Campervans were again situated near the entry at the top of the site.

WEDNESDAY

The site itself is within Upcote Farm, a working farm which also hosts a five-mile trail run in Autumn called Run Upcote. The entrance to site involves a few uphill and downhill bits, as well as a narrow bridge, which made my having packed so much a bit of a rookie error, but entry into the festival itself was smooth and volunteers greeted arriving revellers with smiles and cheerful dispositions.

After meeting up with friends, checking in with the Trees team and setting up my tent it was on to the matter at hand – a weekend of brilliant music!

All of the performances on day one were split between The Word stage and The Forest with the main stage area cordoned off until the next day. This made it easy to quickly slip from set to set and not miss too much of anyone. As a matter of fact, Trees’ relatively small size is REALLY helpful in that respect. The organisers produced a super handy clashfinder to help make those difficult decisions but you’re never more than a five/ten-minute walk from one stage to the next – meaning the sort of cross site marathon you’d expect from Glastonbury are not an issue here.

There have been some changes made to the Forest area for 2024, creating more space and with an accessibility viewing platform to allow viewing from further back and its own bar the Forest proved a real favourite over the week.

Kicking off the weekend were Exit Child in the Forest. Continuing with the festive theme, singer and guitarist Anya Pulver proudly stated “This is my family’s Christmas – it’s the best time of the year!” before firing through their half hour set with the bit between their teeth, despite a few initial sound issues. Earlier in the year the band announced that they were calling it a day after Trees and gave this last show their absolute all – leaving the crowd wanting much, much more.

Following the end of the set I headed to The Word tent but it was already overflowing with enthusiastic fans watching Kite Thief so I took a wander to the merch tent to see what was on offer and the answer was A LOT! From limited edition prints to Trees football shirts and band t-shirts there was something for everyone – including a corner selling vinyl. Picking up a Manchester Orchestra print (which handily came pre-tubed) I dropped back to the tent before getting myself back into the Forest for the frankly excellent Pet Needs.

The Colchester four-piecebrought huge amounts of energy and a heck of a lot of fans tree-lined Forest, encouraging them to make the most of fresh voices to set the bar for the rest of the festival. With earworm singalongs ‘Punk Isn’t Dead; It’s Just Up For Sale’ and ‘Tracy Emin’s Bed’ they duly delivered and teed up Lambrini Girls for their own raucous showing.

Frontwoman Phoebe Lunny kicked off proceedings by asking the assembled throng “Who’s ready to fuck?” and the punk rockers duly set about showing us the time of our lives. One of the themes of the festival was support for minority groups, and Lambrini Girls led from the front. Their set covered issues of sexual assault, calling on the crowd to “Believe victims” before ‘Boys in the Band’, shouting “Fuck TERFs” before ‘Terf Wars’ and calling for a Free Palestine. Their set was a highlight of the weekend and judging by the number of T-Shirts on show over the weekend they’ve a load of new fans on board.

The crowd was simmering nicely before Glasgow’s Dead Pony arrived with the first of two sets of the weekend and was soon at boiling point. Entering to The Prodigy’s ‘Voodoo People (Pendulum Remix)’, the band started casting a spell over the crowd from the off with an urgent ‘Ignore This’ from the new album of the same name. A blistering half hour set followed, including the frankly epic ‘MK Nothing’ and ‘MANA’ before a brief cover of Nirvana’s ‘Teen Spirit’ gave way to a thumping ‘Zero’. Honestly, the band’s electro-rock sound wouldn’t be out of place in a mid-2000’s Zombie thriller with Milla Jovovich kicking the arse of the undead and I’m here for it!

Keeping things north of the border, Scottish three-piece The Xcerts returned to 2000 Trees once again. Described by the organisers as “bona fide Trees royalty”, the band have a fanatical following and the Forest was packed out for the band’s set. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of their third album, ‘There Is Only You’, the band played the record in its entirety – ending on a beautiful piano-led rendition of the album’s title track and teeing up Thursday’s mainstage set by assuring the crowd they’ll be playing eight songs they know well. “It’ll be flawless!” they promised.

In a bit of a departure from the festival’s usual position on sporting events, and following a whole lot of requests, the Trees organisers arranged to show the England vs Netherlands Euro 2024 semi-final clash in Axiom. This was my cue to check out the bar.

There are several around site, including a very swish Arbor tent and a Westons Cider bar with hay bales beneath a large oak tree near to the main stage. The bars offered lager, ale and cider on tap – as well as a non-alcoholic beer. Spirits, mixers, cocktails, wine and shots were all available – with White Russians proving particularly popular in the Forest.

Dream State were grateful for the crowd members making the choice to come and see them, describing it as a battle between “festival purists and football fans”. To help accommodate all comers, the band had set up a small screen on the stage, as well as a football net and lead singer Jessie donned an England shirt while guitarist Aled rocked a Netherlands kit and Wales bucket hat. While there may have been split loyalties on stage, the band’s heavy set unified all into a maelstrom of energy as Jessie’s vocals veered from melodic radio friendly tones into stirring the pit of your stomach growls – no more so than on 2019 single ‘Hand in Hand’.

Closing out Wednesday’s schedule before the Silent Disco took over were Lancashire rockers Boston Manor and what a close to the day it was! The Forest was packed out and vocal cords that had been warmed up all day were given a beasting akin to a sociopathic PT screaming at you in the gym by a powerhouse performance.

Kicking the set off with recent releases ‘Sliding Doors’ and ‘Container’ and adding some older hits such as ‘Laika’ the five-piece ploughed through a breathless show, rammed with heavy guitars and soaring vocals – especially during a massive singalong version of ‘Passenger’. Unfortunately, technical challenges during their set the next day cut the show short but with an eight-date headline tour across the UK in September to support the release of new album ‘Sundiver’ there will be plenty more chance for fans to see them in action in 2024.

With that, and darkness well and truly upon us it was time for the Silent Disco. In a first for me there was a channel allowing headset holders to listen in to a live performance from an act performing in the Forest creating a bit of a surreal scenario where the drummer’s tapping could be heard but no vocals unless you were on the right channel during Cody Frost’s performance. You can pre-order the headsets for £26 (£20 of which is refunded after the event) and then collect using a barcode or buy them on site for £28.

In classic “going too hard too soon” conduct, my friends and I threw ourselves into Silent Disco HARD and had a total blast. Seeing so many people with their headsets glowing, including members of staff who had worked so hard to get the festival set up in time, was a real grin inducer – as was the elder emo friendly playlist!

THURSDAY

Emerging into another beaut of a day and with the remains of several of the best French fries I have ever eaten courtesy of Smoking Buns underfoot, I headed into the now fully opened site to have a look around at the main arena.

The main stage sits between rows of food vendors creating a large bowl and allowing a decent view from the sound stage and beyond – including the VIP area’s viewing platform. During this explore I noted a few changes to the scheduling due to withdrawals – including Death Lens and Snayx – which meant some of the bands started an hour later giving me more time to check out the rest of the site.

I headed over to The Word tent to see what was on offer. On day twoit gave way to a range ofactivities for kids such as face painting, yoga and singalongs, as well as comedy in the evenings. Its proximity to the camping area and being between the main festival and Forest stages meant it felt like a bit of a bolthole from the hectic goings on of a busy site.

Further beyond there still and deeper into the woods is the Forest School where a team of experts introduced people to ways of interacting with nature, including den building and bug hunting. It was another peaceful corner of the site helping parents keep their kids entertained in between sets.

On top of these activities there are also a play area and crazy golf – meaning there was loads to do for the youngens. In fact, there were a LOT of kids at the festival, most of whom were living their best lives in fancy dress, face paint and raising their tiny devil horns to the sky saluting their favourite bands. If you’re a parent pondering a festival with a child, then you can do far worse than 2000 Trees.

The night before I’d loaned my charger to a friend which meant my phone battery was running low, but thankfully the charity, Temwa, were on site offering a phone (and vape) charging station. For £6 you can fully charge your mobile and when the charity’s profits go towards works in remote, rural areas of northern Malawi, it seems a small price to pay.

Other charities at the festival included Frank Water who offered unlimited cold, filtered water refills on site for £5 (or sparkling/flavoured for £6), Safe Gigs for Women who work with venues, promoters, artists and gig-goers to fight sexual assault and harassment at live music events and Metal For Good who use the positive values of rock, metal and other alternative subcultures to make a positive difference in communities. Seeing so many charities at the festival, with people donating and buying their merch, added even more to the feel-good factor on site.

One of the bands I was most keen on seeing during the festival was Spanish Love Songs. The LA band had two slots on Thursday, kicking off with a stripped back solo acoustic performance from frontman Dylan Slocum in the Forest just after midday.

Clearly anticipation for the performance was high, as the glade was full to the rafters. Borrowing wife and bandmate Meredith Van Woert’s guitar and with a setlist written on his phone (“No you can’t have it”) Slocum led the assembled throng through a ten-song set that delivered more than a few tears.

Brave Faces Everyone’s ‘Losers’ had fans screaming “It gets harder doesn’t it?” into the canopy above, with further leaf shaking vocals during ‘Otis/Carl’ and the always brilliant ‘Losers 2’. At one point Slocum asked the audience if they wanted to hear an “upbeat or a sad song?” and was met with a wall of noise screaming back in unison “SAD” – to next to no surprise from anyone attending – before duly delivering with ‘Exit Bags’ from 2023’s No Joy. The set ended on a – well, haunting version of ‘Haunted’ which only served to add to the anticipation for SLS’ Axiom set later that day.

While watching Dead Pony’s epic main stage set, I sampled Bunnyman’s Bunny Chow for lunch. The stall offers chilli and nachos, as well as the genuinely thrilling ‘Bunny Chow Bread Bowl’ – a hollowed out garlic bread baguette filled to the brim with delicious chilli and topped with the garlicky innards of the baguette and sour cream. It was both incredible AND portable, meaning I could watch on as Dead Pony’s singer Anna Shields made the most of the extra space on the main stage to put in another energy-laden show that had the crowd bouncing.

The next highlight was Canadian rockers NOBRO out of Montrealwhotook the Neu tent by storm during their 30-minute set. Opening with the gospel-tinged intro to the fun as all hell ‘Better Each Day’, the band’s influences Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney shine through on tracks ‘Where My Girls At’ and ‘Set That Pussy Free’. The show included bouts of crowd surfing and jumping off drum kits lending a classic rock vibe – which is probably the only time you’ll ever see that alongside bongo playing. Multi-instrumentalists, the gang switch around for “Don’t Die” by which point they were clearly showing off while having the best time of their lives – and they weren’t the only ones.

Having not yet had my fill of Spanish Love Songs I joined a packed-out Axiom tent for a set filled with anthemic, fist aloft, scream-a-long hits. Joined by the rest of the band, Dylan Slocum spoke about being due to play in 2020 but being denied by Covid. Describing 2000 Trees as being “like someone took the inside of my brain and put it in on show”, Slocum proclaimed Trees as “the best festival in the world” while delivering one of the best shows of the weekend.

Effortlessly mixing new material with old, the passion and volume of singalongs to fan favourites ‘Buffalo Buffalo’ and ‘Routine Pain’ made the hairs on my arms stand on end, with closer ‘Brave Faces, Everyone’ putting a final, resounding ‘period’ down on a day that belonged to SLS.

Kids in Glass Houses were next on the main stage and ready to give the crowd what they want, bringing a dose of nostalgia of simpler times gone by to a sunbathed stage. The set included new single, the synth-tinged banger ‘Theme from Pink Flamingo’, but it was the hits from Smart Casual that really caught the attention as ‘Easy Tiger’ slipped into the instantly recognisable intro to ‘Give Me What I Want’ and we had lift off!Acknowledging they had been away for a while and ruminating being adults, the band announced they had no plans to accept such things, defiantly stating: “Nah, fuck it! Let’s record a new album – HERE’S TO POVERTY!”

Another of the bands I had been really looking forward to was Manchester Orchestra. Despite being on the indie-rock side of the line, 2000 Trees is the only UK festival show the band is playing which shows the two-way love affair between parties is real. The Atlanta band’s opening salvo of ‘Pride’, ‘Bed Head’ and ‘I Can Barely Breathe’ saw amps turned up to 11 and any doubts as to their rock credentials were soon dispelled.

A fearsome rendition of ‘Cope’ was followed by a stunning, spine-tingling ‘The Maze’ and then Brian Fallon of Thursday night’s headliners The Gaslight Anthem joined the band on stage for ‘The Gold’. As Fallon and MO frontman Andy Hull’s voices intwined into the evening sky it felt like hearts and minds had been won over. Signing off, Hull thanked the crowd for “accepting us as we are” –

My first big clash occurred with Los Campesinos! and Hot Mulligan going head-to-head – and with it being LC!’s first grass festival ten years I opted to head to the Forest and hoped they wouldn’t be disappointed that the forest floor was covered in woodchip and not grass…

An exuberant set opened with the single ‘A Psychic Wound’ from the band’s new record All Hell before charting every chapter of the band’s almost 20 years in the game. With a limit of 50 minutes the band made no apologies for the frenetic pace as they rattled through song after song, including ‘Romance is Boring’, ‘Avocado, Baby’, ‘Straight In at 101’ and ‘Hello Sadness’ which were all greeted with top of the lungs singing. The last time the band played 2000 Trees was in 2011 and a lot has changed since then – but the band’s politics haven’t. They’re still defenders of the oppressed, with a flag hanging at the front of the stage stating ‘Freedom for Palestine. End the occupation. Stop the Genocide’ lending their voice – as so many other bands over the weekend did – to supporting those without one.

Hotfooting it back to the main stage for The Gaslight Anthem to catch the New Jersey rockers make their Trees debut, Brian Fallon and band got the ball rolling with the anthemic ‘Great Expectations’, ‘Handwritten’ and ‘American Slang’ before taking requests from members of the crowd holding up signs.

Their triumphant set spanned 20 songs in all, ranging from debut album The 59’ Sound through to 2023’s History Books and drawing from their extensive back catalogue throughout. During ‘Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts’ Fallon tweaked the lyrics to “Buy a house in England, especially how you played the game last night. It’s so expensive in London, you definitely need double income, or we could sleep on the beach all night” simultaneously drawing chuckles from the crowd and stabbing straight at the heart of some of society’s many issues.

The crowd was already at fever pitch before the band closed their set with the almighty “45” (ably supported by Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra) and a throat shredding ‘The ’59 Sound’ to draw a line under one of the most anthemic nights in Trees history. But the music didn’t stop there.

In 2018, Scott Hutchison was due to play 2000 Trees with Frightened Rabbit and his side project Mastersystem but lost his battle with depression and heartbreakingly died by suicide. From Scott’s death a legacy has emerged, with his family setting up a mental health charity Tiny Changes in his honour. Trees also pays tribute to Scott in the shape of Camp Frabbit – one of a number of stages dotted around the campsite where musicians play after hours sets.

Pet Needs returned to play a set, drawing a sizeable and enthusiastic crowd along who delighted in fulfilling the band’s desire for a Wall of Death in between the tents and guylines – even if it was carried out in the gentlest of manners by bodies already aching and fatigued after a long day. At that point it was time to retire ahead of another jam-packed day of music.

FRIDAY

Day three brought an overcast and cooler start with it, which required the addition of another couple of layers in the wee smalls of the morning, along with a few threatening clouds – but thankfully still no rain!

Over in the Forest Eighty Eight Miles capped off their set withan epic cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’, while Bex helped early risers loosen up with an energy-filled set on the Main Stage and four-piece hardcore band Fangs Out packed out the Cave tent with a super heavy portion of rock for breakfast – including ‘Get Grim’ with the call to action of “Let’s all get grim, There’s nothing to it! Savour the sorrow and rejoice in ruin!” which the crowd dutifully obliged in!

Artio were a band on a mission as theydemanded the mid-morning crowd indulge them with a mosh pit. If the vibe check was ever needed at 2000 Trees, here was another act using their platform to lend their voices to supporting the Trans community – announcing ‘Head in the Sand’ as a song about leaving Trans people alone.

The Main stage introduced Norway’s Sløtface to a crowd still jacked up from Bex’s set and kept the momentum going. The band last played Trees in 2018 and in that time there has been a lineup change but the band are still super slick, and their power punk sound led by frontwoman Haley Shea gets the crowd bouncing. Thanking them for coming out early to see them play at their “favourite festival”, Haley reflected on comments she received about how refreshing it was to see a woman in her 30’s fronting a band – a comment that came mere days after turning 30. Saying “I know they meant well, but it hurt” she offered a shoutout to any over 30’s camping at the festival as “the real heroes” before enjoying a very wholesome mosh pit at the front of the stage.

I joined a mysterious queue outside the Marshall Funhouse signing tent which led to a free t-shirt printing service offered by Marshall amps and an amplifier mascot that emerged from behind the presses to entertain both children and adults alike – even if their spatial awareness was found a little wanting…

The Rumjacks arrived on the main stage from the land down under, but their Irish folk infused set could well have pegged them as men from the Emerald Isle rather than the other side of the world. Remarking on “play between a pie shop and a sausage roll shop” and how it made them feel at home, the band got a huge amount of people dancing along to their raucous brand of Celtic punk – especially the penny whistle solos!

Lunch was calling and on recommendation from a friend at the festival I visited the Paellaria stand and for £12 got a big portion of tasty Paella with chorizo to fill the belly for the rest of the day.

Having followed one recommendation for lunch I followed another for my next act – heading into the Forest to see Katie Malco.

A lot of people were taking the opportunity to sit down for the set which offered a welcome sonic pace change, kicking off with the Phoebe Bridgers inspired ‘Fatal Attraction’. Proclaiming herself as a “miserable bitch!” Malco’s half hour set drew a reverential hush from the gathered audience before fulfilling her ambition of shouting “2000 Trees! I’ve always wanted to do that!”.

2000 Trees organisers always put together an official playlist in the build up to the event, including bands from across all stages, of all sizes and types. On listening to that I heard As December Falls and was wooed by their pop punk/early Paramore-esque sound so made sure I was in place for their Friday afternoon main stage slot.

Hailing from Nottingham, the band last played Trees a couple of years ago and clearly left a mark as the crowd was packed out. In a set filled with rocky bangers the audience moshed, crowd surfed, clapped and “woah oh’d’ along to the catchy tracks including latest single ‘Mayday’ and the call and response of ‘I Don’t Feel Like Feeling Great’ – having a frankly excellent time in the process.

Over in an incredibly busy Cave were unpeople. The crowd were clearly pumped up for a band that recently supported Metallica and they provided a set filled with heavy rock, kicking off with ‘Waste’ from their self-titled debut EP. The band clearly had a ball on stage; “We’re gonna have some fun now” they threatened – and they weren’t the only ones.

Changes to set timings, delays and technical issues are all things that occur at festivals – but having your set cut short by the wheel coming off your van is probably one of the stranger causes! And that’s exactly what happened to Crawlers. Lead singer Holly Minto said the band nearly died on their way to the festival – “One minute you’re eating your Greggs on the M6 and the next your wheel flies off!”. Despite this undoubtedly traumatic event, the band did brilliantly to play even more so to put on such an impressive performance. Hopefully they’ll be back in 2025 to play a full set – maybe staying over the night before next time…

In the Neu tent, Belgian boys Ramkot are here in the UK for only the second time, and they are here to rock! The band waste no time getting stuck into things and their bass heavy sound is a perfect whistle wetter ahead of Death from Above 1979’s set the next day. With a set mostly made up of tracks from last year’s album In Between Borderlines including ‘Exactly What You Wanted’, ‘Tied Up’ and ‘One More’ the Ghent natives are ones to catch when they return to tour in 2025.

Nova Twins are one of the biggest draws of the weekend over on the main stage. The duo takes to the stage in matching outfits and blast through a 10 track set at blistering pace. “Where all my boss bitches at?” asked singer Amy Love before ‘Cleopatra’ – the bossest bitch of them all! One of the most surprising things about their set was the age profile of some of the audience – little ones no more than 6 or 7 years old on their parents’ shoulders throwing shapes with the best of them and clearly enjoying the energetic performance from Love and bassist Georgia South. The pit was full of people losing themselves in the performance, just as well when both members went for a crowd surf – not missing a beat of set closer ‘Choose Your Fighter’ as they were held aloft by adoring fans. Saluting 2000 Trees, Amy Love declared “It takes a lot for women to play the main stage, even more to headline. Keep supporting women!”

As names befitting a festival goes Bears in Trees rather nailed it, thankfully while there are plenty of the latter at 2000 Trees we were mercifully lacking in bears. What we weren’t lacking in during the South London foursome’s performance was fun. The self-styled ‘dirtbag boyband’ had the crowd in the palm of their hands with keytar solos and dance routines during ‘Hot Chocolate’ before further engaging the crowd by getting in amongst them during ‘Heaven Sent is a Coffee Cup’. Beaming faces leave the darkness of the tent and head back out into the evening light.

In the first of two sets this evening grandson, AKA American-Canadian Jordan Edward Benjamin, emerges on stage with a backdrop of Joe Biden and Donald Trump in a passionate clinch which is still etched onto my eyeballs a week later. His 45-minute set charted an extensive, genre-hopping back catalogue of sound which splices rock, hip-hop, and electronic including ‘Drones’, ‘Something to Hide’ and ‘Despicable’. An acoustic version of ‘Bury Me Face Down’ gives a teaser of the Forest set to come, albeit this one comes with an inflatable alien held aloft.

The Neu tent was packed out for CLT DRP so I headed to the Arbor bar next door to listen in while supping on a few delicious beers and indulging in a much needed sit down. Turns out, knocking on for 40 years old, being on my feet all day and camping takes its toll more than it ever used to!

Revitalised I followed the rest of the festival to the main stage for Bob Vylan. It wasn’t just the festivalgoers making their way to see the duo, as soaring birds of prey spiralled around the main stage to catch their own glimpse of an epic set.

Bobby Vylan begins the set with some light stretching and meditation, encouraging the crowd to join in – which this achy thirtysomething duly obliged in – before renaming the festival “Vylanfest” in honour of their having appeared for three years on the trot and rising up the bill with every year. As Bobby says, “it’s unprecedented and that’s why we’re commandeering this festival”. Bob Vylan go by many names, including: The Most Important Band in Britain, Two Bobs in a Pod, The Cutest Band in Punk Rock, the Slam Dunk Mafia, The Metallica Murderers and the Fred Perry Mafia. What they stand for is to give the people watching their shows the time of their lives.

The set was filled with hits including ‘GYAG’ and ‘Ring the Alarm’ which triggered crowd surfing en masse, including Bobby and his daughter and the littlest Bob – Moonrise Vylan – with a request from the frontman that the crowd look after her (and they did!). Lending her the mic and encouraging her to address the crowd, the littlest Bob asked: “Can I swear?” and when Bobby gives her permission, she shouted: “Let’s fucking go!” followed by a cackle for the ages. Representation is important to Bob Vylan, with a Palestine flag draped on stage and chants of ‘Free, Free Palestine’ they also urged the men in the crowd to step back and allow women and non-binary people down to the front of the stage to mosh without fear of getting clobbered. Ending on Wicked & Bad, Bobby Vylan split the crowd in two and made his way to the sound stage before jumping into the crowd and being carried all the way back to the main stage “where he was supposed to be” – and judging by this performance there are many more main stages to come for this epic duo.

Hunger struck and a pizza from Pommarola Pizza Gardens was calling. I’d had an energy boosting espresso from there the day before and the sight of pizza stuck in my mind, so a ‘Garden’ pizza (the works) for £18 was my choice. It was delicious, with a crisp Neapolitan base and tasty toppings. The only downside was the wait, with everyone seemingly having the same idea – but it was worth it!

The benefit of the pizza stand’s location is that it sat directly opposite The Axiom meaning I could hear Hot Milk in action while stuffing my face. The tent was packed out and Hot Milk have headed back to the UK from touring the US supporting Blink-182 just for Trees. Kicking off with ‘HORROR SHOW’ and seamlessly segueing into a huge singalong for ‘BLOODSTREAM’ the band have the audience in raptures. Arms aloft, crowd surfing, bouncing non-stop and throwing as much into it as Hot Milk themselves the fans definitely made this feel more headline show than support – and they’ll be there before long.

I was torn at this point as to who to see. Metal supergroup Empire State Bastard held court in the Cave and Aussie garage rockers The Chats took to the mainstage for the headline slot. Having been impressed by grandson’s set earlier on I decided to tweak my plans and left The Chats shortly after their set began to head into the Forest once more for a stripped back, acoustic set that delivered the perfect antidote to the rowdy Aussie garage rockers.

After the Forest it was to one of the campsite stages and Camp Turner to bathe in the bearded delights of Sweetchunks who’s comedy songs had the crowd in stitches and singalongs to songs such as ‘Greatest Love song in the World (I Would Punch a Bear for You)’, ‘Bees’ and an ode to the accidental purchase of a submarine instead of a new van for touring in ‘Independent Nuclear Deterrent’. I’ll be honest, the chorus is seared into my psyche even now.

SATURDAY

We woke to the pitter patter of rainfall on canvas and feared the worst for the day ahead, but by the time The Meffs took to the main stage at 11am it had all but cleared giving way to another sunny day.

The Meffs asked the crowd whether they were “ready for some noise?” and the baying crowd was fully up for it. An epic cover of The Prodigy’s ‘Breathe’ was a highlight of the set, while ‘Clowns’ (an ode to the government) and ‘Wasted on Women’ were filled with furious energy.

Snake eyes brought a great backdropto the Axiom tentas well as a well-oiled indie-punk sound that the band describe as ‘grit pop’ and wouldn’t sound out of place on a FIFA (or whatever it’s called now) sound track.

Into the Forest once more and this time Tokyo Toy Company straight out of Bristol. Energetic front man Rhys Worgan led from the front as the remaining five members of the band filled up the Forest stage and played a chaotic set of ‘math rock’ that brought out the cover of the weekend – ‘A Thousand Miles’ by Vanessa Carlton!

Saturday is fancy dress day, with this year’s theme being 2000 Screams – encouraging revellers to embrace the horror and bring their most terrifying looks to this corner of Gloucestershire. This reviewer opted for Shaun of the Dead and set about finding Zombies to dispatch, via an unsuccessful hunt for a Cornetto and a much more successful search for lunch in the shape of No Fricken Chicken’s Three Piece of ‘Chicken’ and fries which came in at £10.50.

One of the weekend’s highlights was the newly formed Interlake, featuring David Jakes of Lonely the Brave (who were also performing with their new singer) and Jack Wrench of Arcane Roots. Jakes left the band due to anxiety in 2018 and while he’s still clearly not totally comfortable being on stage, hiding himself away behind his bandmates, his talent was in no doubt whatsoever. The performance brought tears from crowd members – of which there were a LOT! Closing the set with a vicious cover of Nirvana’s ‘Breed’ the band are clearly supremely talented musicians and it’ll be exciting to see where they go from here.

Sadly, Indoor Pets turned out to be a band rather than an immersive pet-fest with a load of housebound cats, dogs, hamsters and such as I had hoped – but they were a lot of fun nonetheless and didn’t require any antihistamines to be enjoyed. They’ve been around for a while but with their first new record (‘Pathethic Apathetic’) in five years released earlier in 2024 they’re on a bit of a comeback after an agreed hiatus. New songs ‘Fidget Panic Restless Static’ and ‘London (Love to Hate)’ are laden with energy and catchy hooks – it’s a breathless, fun filled set and over all too quickly.

In the first of THREE, yes THREE, appearances of the day Frank Turner has filled the Forest for a Q&A and live set as part of the Mark and Me podcast recording. Turner and Trees have history. Literal history. He was there at the first Trees in 2007, has been immortalised with an acoustic stage in the camping area and has played the festival roughly 100,000 times in the years since. While most of the hour-long slot was taken up with questions, both from the crowd and interviewer, Frank did manage five songs including ‘The Way I Tend to Be’ and ‘Somewhere Inbetween’ as well as a Million Dead song – ‘Smiling at Strangers on Trains’. Frank also teased a potential 25^th anniversary reunion for Million Dead and if it happens you can bet it’ll be at 2000 Trees.

Having laid waste to the Forest on Wednesday evening, it was the main stage that was in The Xcerts path of destruction and they were absolutely bang up for it. The crowd is packed out and bristling with excitement. Kicking off with ‘GIMME’ the boys were ready to thrill fans and win some new ones with a belter of a set. Ending on the ever anthemic ‘Feels Like Falling In Love’ the band were joined on stage by You Me At Six’s Josh Franceschi. They promised it’d be flawless, and it totally was.

I managed to catch the end of Teenage Wrist in the Axiom tent which was absolutely hoaching with bodies. Finishing their set with ‘Earth Is A Black Hole’ the two-piece know how to rock the stage! I definitely need to make sure I catch the full set next time the Los Angeles natives are back in town.

Liverpudlian alt-rockers The Mysterines hit the main stage next bringing their brooding rock sound to rural Gloucestershire. The set was over in a flash, but the time they had on stage was filled with a mix of new material from latest album Afraid of Tomorrows (‘Sink Ya Teeth’, ‘The Last Dance’) and the likes of the gigantic ‘Hung Up’ from 2022’s Reeling. It does feel like they’d maybe have been suited to a later slot, or in one of the tents so the darkness could truly allow them to thrive – but festivals are a lottery and they rolled with the punches.

Into it. Over it were a recommendation pre-festival so I went with an open mind (and ears) to hear what the Chicago-based rockers had to offer. Well, they’re bringing mid-western emo to the Axiom and that is definitely my cup of tea. Last year American Football played and I missed it, so I felt like the 2000 Trees stars had aligned and had delivered unto me the sounds my ears had been longing for all weekend. The band released a new record earlier in 2024 (Interesting Decisions: Into It. Over It. Songs (2020 – 2023) ahead of a UK tour which kicked off at Trees but none of those tracks made the setlist. Instead, the set explored the band’s extensive back catalogue and closing with ‘PROPER’ from the 2011 LP of the same name Into it. Over it gave this and many other elder emos in the crowd exactly what they wanted for an early evening show.

Strapping in for a big night ahead I manage to convene with friends (the phone signal at Trees is basically non-existent) before heading to see Canadian two-piece Death from Above 1979 at Axiom.

I last saw them in 2015 and it is seriously good to see Jesse F. Keeler and Sebastien Grainger back at it. The show at Trees is part of a 20^th anniversary tour of You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine which the band plays through from start to finish and it’s an absolute masterclass. The minute Keeler’s signature bass sound fires in along with Grainger’s frenetic drumming and yowling vocals its hard and fast ‘til the last. Having belligerently thundered through the album they close out with 2021’s ‘One + One’, Outrage! Is Now’s ‘Freeze Me’ and the sexy as hell ‘Trainwreck 1979’. It’s a brutal, heavy as hell set and it’s totally thrilling to see them going so hard. Welcome back, chaps!

And now for something entirely different, but no less brilliant. Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls are on the main stage to the delight of a considerable crowd. The set is packed with a mix of new and old – with this year’s release Undefeated taking pride of place both in terms of the song selections and the massive fabric backdrop. All eras of Frank are on show though, including ‘Worse Things Happen at Sea’ from 2007’s Sleep is for the Weak as requested by 2000 Trees founder James Scarlett on his 2 Promoters, 1 Pod podcast, ‘The Next Storm’, ‘Haven’t Been Doing So Well’ and ‘Recovery’.

The audience loved every minute of Turner’s set – singing back every word, crowd surfing and even engaging in a circle pit. It’s perhaps a surprise that Frank isn’t headlining over the weekend, but with multiple performances (more of that later) it probably suited him to come on a bit earlier.

As darkness began to take hold local legends Thrill Collins came to blow people’s minds with their whirlwind set of immaculate covers. Having played Wychwood Festival and Glastonbury already this summer, 2000 Trees was next up for the boys and they came to burn the mother down! A series of kids got their first taste of crowd surfing, although with security being a little short handed and Creeper and Holy Wars on at the same time the band had to request the crowd surfing stopped. While the crowd surfing did come to an end, the good times did not. Their now patented UK Garage mash up of ’21 Seconds’, ‘Rewind’, ‘7 Days’ and ‘Gotta Get Thru This’ to name a few triggered some confused looks from an American friend but the millennial Brits in the crowd were spitting bars back with gusto. There’ll be some saying I missed a trick not seeing the other acts on, but Thrill Collins are always box office and I regret nothing.

Don Broco were the last of the weekend’s headliners and the anticipation among the crowd was palpable before Rob Damiani and co got things started with an incendiary (well, there were fireworks!) ‘Everybody’ – launching the assembled throng into a fervour for the next hour and a half.

In a set packed with the hits including ‘Come out to LA’, ‘Bruce Willis’ and ‘Manchester Super Reds No. 1 Fan’ there was something for everyone from the band’s extensive back catalogue. They brought out Kid Brunswick for ‘ACTION’ before ending on ‘T-Shirt Song’ and another headliner worthy fireworks display. As the boys saluted the crowd with an “It’s coming home!” and sent fans off into the night, ‘Three Lions’ filled the air in anticipation of the next day’s ill-fated Euro 2024 final between England and Spain. Though the football team couldn’t deliver, Don Broco definitely did – cementing the band’s status as one of the hottest bands in Britain with a powerhouse set.

Over in the Forest, Skinny Lister were offering an altogether different kettle of fish…or rather jug of unidentifiable spirits to a boisterous audience and the energy-filled set full of sing-along folk tales was frankly mental! They’re the ultimate party band and not a soul was left behind as the good ship Skinny Lister kept the good times rolling to the sound of accordions on tracks such as ‘Rollin Over’ and ‘John Kanaka’. If I had to sum the set up (beyond mental) then life affirming would be my summary – if you get the chance to see them in action then go, and be prepared for a whale of a time!

As people started making their way back to their tents to pick up their headphones for one last Silent Disco, Frank Turner thrilled hundreds of fans with a show on Camp Turner’s stage. The congestion on the throughway did lead to a few grumbles, but it was hard to hear them over die-hard fans singing along to tracks that hadn’t made it into his main stage set or Q&A in the Forest earlier in the day – including a cover of Queen’s ‘Somebody to Love’ and

This was my first time at 2000 Trees which is a bit embarrassing considering I live down the road, but it won’t be the last. The vibe throughout was immaculate, with friendly staff and volunteers, cheerful festival goers, great music, a huge array of food and drink to sample and a frankly lovely setting.

The official Facebook group for the festival was filled with celebratory posts in the days after – all congratulating the organisers for putting on another epic weekend of rock music and sharing their memories (and sometimes lack of) with other attendees.

If you haven’t been before, check 2000 Trees out – this first timer is a total convert. All hail Trees!