Qulture Magazine

Words & Photos: Heather Souter

2000 Trees festival returned this year to the fields and forests of Upcote Farm in Cheltenham with an outstanding lineup including headliners Neck Deep, Funeral for a Friend and Don Broco. With a carefully maintained capacity of 15,000, the festival continues to hold onto its independent and community focused roots while still creating a space where there truly is a party for everyone! Whether it’s the unique atmosphere in the forest, the diverse lineup of bands or the rave friends you make at the silent disco, it’s hard to leave 2000 trees without feeling like you were warmly welcomed into a new family.

Public transport travel on and off site was covered by the Big Green Coach which offered pick ups from London, Reading and Swindon. After travelling by sleeper train from Scotland to London, I was able to board the Wednesday coach from Victoria which took me straight to site. Although the coach ended up being two hours late, nothing beats the energy of a bus full of festival-goers all meeting each other and chatting about what they’re most excited for over the days to come.

Although the main site opens and the festival begins on Thursday, 2000 Trees offers an extra Wednesday ticket for those who would like to arrive a day early and catch the first bands that play on the two smaller stages that are closest to the campsite, The Word stage and The Forest stage. This year’s Wednesday bands included Soapbox, Lake Malice, SPRINTS and PUP, who headlined The Forest stage before they took to the main stage on Thursday. One of the main aspects of the festival that originally drew me to 2000 Trees was the forest setting of one of its 6 stages. After seeing Soapbox bring their unbeatable, punk energy to an absolutely packed tent I went straight to see the Forest Stage. SPRINTS were the perfect band to introduce me to my new favourite stage. Surrounded by the birch trees of the iconic 2000 Trees forest, SPRINTS got the crowd moving with some real, raw punk rock.

Thursday started off strong with bands on from 10:30am, and some yoga at the Forest Stage at 9am if you need to stretch off your hangover! With the main site fully open and every stage packed with a brilliant lineup of punk, alternative, rock and metal bands, The Word stage became the hub for live comedy, podcasts, drag shows and family friendly shows. As it was on the way to the Forest Stage, it gave me an opportunity to come across some great acts as well as acting as a good spot to hide from the relentless heat of the mid-thirty degree sun.

While exploring the site I discovered the Actual Reality Arcade next to the kids play area which offered a range of real arcade machines for everyone to use! It was clear that care and consideration went into making the site more than just somewhere to stand while watching music and instead almost a little town to explore with lots of food, shops and even free beer pong!

After watching Cowboy Hunters bring their rowdy rave rock to The Axiom stage and catching Delilah Bon’s brat-punk filled set at The Cave, I headed to see Don Broco’s headline set. Coming in as a last minute replacement for Alkaline Trio, Don Broco took the challenge on and performed an explosive alt-rock set that got the moshpits started, Trees couldn’t have picked a better band to come in and save the day.

Halfway through the headline set I decided to take a trip to The Forest stage and find out what the hype for Hyro The Hero was all about. It takes a lot of bravery to play a set against a headliner but Hyro did not find any issues there. With disco balls lighting the trees, a forest-wide moshpit and non-stop rap-metal energy, Hyro The Hero became instant 2000 Trees legends. It’s not easy to keep a crowd moving while still making the show feel intimate and unique but Hyro blazed through what I would consider, one of the best sets of the weekend.

I started my Friday by having a look at the new Marshall store on site. As well as selling all sorts of Marshall amps and speakers, they also offered free tote bags and screen prints, while displaying videos and photos of some of the best up and coming bands live performances on screens around the tent. It always makes me love a festival that much more when it is obvious to fans that they not only consider new artists but push them to the forefront of the festival. I headed down to the Main Stage to see The Scratch, which beautifully mixed heavy metal with traditional Irish folk music. The whole crowd energy felt like a pub party where everyone is standing on the tables! Headliner Funeral For a Friend filled the field all the way to the back bringing post-hardcore 2000’s nostalgia that got the crowd singing along.

The silent disco at 2000 Trees is one of the features that make the festival so unique. Trees offers headphone rental for the full weekend for £10 (and a £25 deposit), you can tune in from 11pm and hear a huge variety of DJ sets of different genres from anywhere on site. If you fancy being in the heart of the rave, right in front of the DJ deck or back at your tent, you can get a signal from anywhere. If you’d rather some late night live music, you can use your headphones to catch a daily live band play at The Forest stage after the headliner that can only be heard if you’re wearing your headphones. This was something I absolutely couldn’t miss out on so I headed to see Australian, heavy metal band Battlesnake play their silent set. With the headphones off you can only hear some light electric drums and a few people in costume shuffling around on stage but after putting my headphones on I joined the crowd in some heavy prog, fantasy mayhem. I didn’t know that a silent disco moshpit was something I needed in my life before this wonderfully insane set.

I had a slower Saturday morning. I headed along to find some shade by The Forest stage where I had an elderflower soft drink and sat next to a congregation of strung up hammocks with people relaxing and sipping drinks. Vinnie Caruana’s laid back acoustic style set was perfect for the crowd with a lot of people lying down on rugs and hiding their face from the sun with their sunhats. Truly nothing beats sitting in the shade of the forest listening to live music on one of the hottest days of the year.

Later in the day, Gallus brought all their energy to the Marshall stage and we all felt the heat. The band instantly got the crowd moshing and the tent full, lead singer Barry Dolan came along the front barrier and sang with the crowd. This was one my most anticipated sets for the weekend and it didn’t fail to do what a Gallus set always does, blow your face off! After a seven year hiatus, Marmozets began their live shows again this year, one of which being on the main stage at 2000 Trees. Their punk-rock riffs have only gotten heavier and lead singer Becca Bottomley’s vocals have only gotten more powerful, the set was back to front, aggressive, mosh-pit-inducing chaos.

There’s something about the heat of a 2000 Trees moshpit that really restores your faith in humanity, of course if someone falls down they are picked straight back up but more than that, if a pit breaks out any member of the crowd with a water gun, be it a small shop-bought pistol or a pre-prepared super soaker, gather forces and head to the edges of the pit getting ready to keep everyone cool. I especially loved watching the security take water guns backstage and refill them with more water for the crowd. I saw some Point Break style water gun fights mid-crowsurf and cowboy showdowns before walls of death. 2000 Trees proves that water guns and festivals definitely go hand in hand.

I headed into The Axiom stage early to get a good spot before Leeds legends Dinosaur Pile-Up and I’m glad I did as I caught one of the famous dinosaur gatherings! How this many people managed to survive in the heat with full inflatable dinosaur costumes I will never know, but watching the crowd cheer as each dino appeared (seemingly out of thin air) and joined the rest of the herd was one of my highlights of the weekend. By the time the gig started the tent was a back-to-front, full on dino pit and it was the perfect kind of chaos for Dinosaur Pile-Up’s upbeat and classic high energy rock show. Neck Deep played the last headline slot and had me feeling very nostalgic. Whether you were in the bouncing moshpits at the front or sitting at the back on a haybale drinking one last beer, the crowd turned the show into a full on sing along and it was the perfect way to close off the main stage…

Except there was one last thing 2000 Trees had promised its fans and that was the rest of the England v Norway football match! Neck Deep even laughed to themselves while on stage saying they want to get through their set as fast as possible so we can all grab our headphones and catch the second half of the match. The field was just as full to celebrate England’s triumphant win as they were for the festival’s headliners. The match was projected to the side of the main stage and the commentary was played through the silent disco headphones, it was a great way to have a last party before the end of the festival. After England’s win I joined the crowd for the silent disco and saw the field light up with the colours of all the different channels. 2000 Trees definitely offers the best silent disco experience a festival can.

The facilities at Trees kept to a good standard all weekend and there were definitely enough toilets for the size of the festival which meant not missing out on your favourite bands to a portaloo queue! There was a well manned and spacious accessibility platform as well as carers tickets available. 2000 Trees worked with Attitude Is Everything to improve their accessibility and it seemed to really pay off. However, the heat of 2000 Trees is not to be underestimated, although weather isn’t easy to predict the festival falls in the same time of year as heatwaves often do. Although the Forest Stage makes for perfect shade in this kind of weather, shaded areas with space for everyone were hard to come by in the main arena. When asking festival-goers what they would like Trees to add almost every answer was more water, more shade and free showers!

One of the biggest parts of what makes 2000 Trees such an important festival is their unwavering support of upcoming artists. Clear care and consideration is going into booking choices and no matter what tent you step into, at any given moment throughout the festival you could walk into finding your new favourite band. It’s definitely worth making a playlist of all the bands you found during the festival that you loved, it really does act as a great way to discover new music. The togetherness and friendliness that the festival radiates is something that is quite hard to come by and it’s what keeps people returning year after year. Both the staff and festival-goers contribute to an atmosphere that feels genuinely welcoming rather than manufactured. Whether you spend your festival throwing yourself into the mosh pits or chilling under a tree in the forest, 2000 Trees manages to make everyone feel at home there. In times where many festivals grow to be bigger and more commercialised, Trees continually proves that community and true love of the live music scene is what really makes an unforgettable weekend.