Festival Review: 2000trees Festival // July 2023
2000trees, initially a simple grassroots gathering, has grown into a sprawling, multiple-stages tapestry of music and culture, and 2023 promised to be as good as, if not better, the now 14 iterations that had come before.
Getting to Cheltenham a little late meant that our 2000trees’ experience was a little delayed — but it didn’t take long for the slew of special Wednesday bands, sprinkled between the tiny Word stage and 2000trees’ intimate arborous monument to music, the Forest stage, to make up for it.
Between losing the moustache he used to sport, having a mane of hair somehow managing to protrude almost horizontally from his head, and his never-before-seen-the-sun-skin bedecked all in black, Tigercub frontman Jamie Stephen Hall could have been Robert Smith reborn; or, perhaps, with the gorgeous and tea-light-sparkling forest that 2000trees is renowned for, maybe a scene version of Edward Cullen?
Sound wise, however, there’s nothing tween-y about Tigercub. Imagine Josh Homme and Mike ‘this is rock music’ Kerr had a grungy, blues-y love child, and that seven-ft-tall love child decided to go into the family business, with a litany of dark, oppressive, and riff-heavy tracks to back him and his band mates up. From the ethereal ‘Blue Mist In My Head’ or the fantastic ‘Swoon’, complete with pits and crowd-surfing, to the head-banging hypnotism of ‘Stop Beating On My Heart’ or the sanguine-soaked closer ‘Beauty’, Tigercub were as rowdy, raucous and riveting a rock band as the 2000trees crowd could have wanted.
As the sun began to set, and the solitary sentinels of the trees began to cast shadows over the eager crowd, it was time for the nicest guys in music to take the stage: Welsh wunderkinds Holding Absence. Bursting onstage with the stirring ‘Celebration Song’, still as emotional and poignant as it’s been any of the countless showings it’s had since Covid, both the band and the crowd were grinning profusely. And, as Lucas Woodland screamed ‘I’m Alive’, so too did the crowd — how could they not, seeing the music blending with the literal flora and fawna surrounding the stage, the literal vision of vitality.
With two shows over the weekend, the other being a late-in-the-day showing on the main stage, Lucas was quick to answer the question on everyone’s minds: what should we expect? Turns out, the answer was a pretty unique set. Promising that the night’s setlist would be (almost) completely different to Saturday’s, the adoring early-entry crowd were treated to deep-cut after deep-cut; and, although that meant that some of the bigger tracks were held in reserve for later on in the weekend, it meant that any Holding Absence fans in the crowd were ecstatic. Not to mention, with upcoming album ‘The Noble Art Of Self Destruction’, and the corresponding tour, it was likely that for a good few of the older tracks might be retired for a good while. Some of the songs had basically already disappeared — ‘You Are Everything’ in particular got its first play since 2019, according to setlist.fm anyway!
A final, resoundingly triumphant ‘Afterlife’, complete with Scott Carey’s guttural and entirely unexpected screams, saw the Cardiff group close the first of their sets in incredible style.
Holding Absence’s departure led to a decision to call it a night, wanting to rest up for the long ol’ weekend ahead — but there were plenty more days and acts to come.
First up on the Thursday, then, was the charmingly gentle Darcey Hope. Equipped with an acoustic guitar, the two accompanying her seemed there almost just for emotional support as her voice, flitting between soaring power and fading crooning, led the packs of seated punters on her emotionally vivid journeys. Even a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Landslide’, delivered in her softly quivering voice, felt like an entirely new song. And, as final track ‘maybe tomorrow’ graced the crowd, and the trio on stage’s almost whimsical harmonies whistled through the crowd, even the sounds of The Axiom and The Cave stages faded away until nothing was left but the Surrey-based singer songwriter.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record over the weekend, having such a beautiful acoustic act in the middle of a small clearing of trees felt incredibly intimate and just seemed to truly embody the spirit of 2000trees.
As everyone knows, intimate setting equals an intimate set. So, mirroring the approach that 2000trees is at this point known for, BIMM quartet Five Lines couldn’t help but be infused by the intimacy of their setting and take to the acoustics. Sitting in a row in front of the drum set — drummer Zack doing well in not wistfully looking behind him — Five Lines’ set was a perfect entry into the afternoon, the peacefully seated crowd immersed in their brand of acoustic rock.
With a lot of the songs reworked in the festival’s honour, including the recently released (and only released) track ‘Semi-Nude’, which somehow managed to keep its urgency and energy in its toned-down version, the band were perhaps a tad quiet between songs, more focussed on not messing up their new takes of their classics, but overall the set was fantastic — and likely doubly so for the band, with the set being the group’s first festival appearance all together.
It didn’t hurt either that the crowd had been steadily growing throughout the set, as people subtly tried to get to the barrier for The Wonder Years’ Dan ‘Soupy’ Campbell’s side project, Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties, meaning that Five Lines got a hell of a showing for a new band. Yet, although perhaps the first handful hadn’t read the ‘room’ of the peacefully seated crowd, it wasn’t long before the whole clearing was up and moving, ready for Soupy’s side solo set.
‘My name’s Aaron West and I’m so happy to be here between the trees with you’. As Campbell’s alter ego took to the stage, and began to serenade the now-packed clearing, an uncharacteristic hush fell over the crowd as they were entranced both by the poignant and peaceful pop-punk and the painfully rare English sunshine beaming through the trees. And, although there’s always a danger with pop-punk, particularly when made acoustic, of some sort of cloying homogeneity to the sound, but each song echoing across the copse was distinctly its own story. Even the trees were swaying — although sadly it was probably just the wind! From the crowd-immersing ‘My Apartment’ or the painful ‘Carolina Coast’ to the emotional sing-along anthem of ‘Just Sign the Papers’ and the (acoustically) acerbic ‘Cherry Red’, each light odyssey, bar featuring Soupy’s distinct hoarse screams, was entirely unique.
Unsurprisingly, then, the crowd loved every second, particularly the announcement that the band had been working on new music — spare a moment of pity for Hopeless Records’ ‘Eric Tolbin’, however, who’ll likely receive an inbox’ worth of impassioned pleas on Aaron West’s behalf after being name-dropped multiple times as the person to message to ask for it.
One crowd-led trumpet solo, and one final communal vape, and one of Danny Campbell’s superb sets had officially closed — though the bigger one was yet to come.
A short while later and it was time for the blues-y brilliance of Ayron Jones — and this time, he had a full band behind him, already a surprise given, unsurprisingly for this review, it’s the Forest Stage yet again. With the bassist displaying an almost incredulous fury as he drew the sleepy crowd in, the quickly growing crowd were treated to probably the closest thing to genuine G-D rock ‘n’ roll that Cheltenham’s seen in a hell of a while. Soulful fury combined with high-octane energy, the bassist literally bounding off of the walls, as the much-too-small crowd were treated to what can only be described as a musical masterclass. The stage presence alone was wild, the three at the front using every available surface to pose and showboat as they smashed through their way-too-short set, with closers ‘Take Me Away’ and particularly ‘Blood In The Water’, with an added short acoustic outro, a particular highlight. And, although deserving of a hell of a bigger crowd than they got, everyone there was thrilled beyond belief when Ayron came down to meet everyone after.
With the crowd doing what seemed like thousands-wide yoga at Bob Vylan’s behest, it was blatantly obvious that his brand of ferocious, metal-infused rap had won over the Chelmsford crowd long before they’d started, crowd surfers flying over the barrier even between the songs. Not to be outdone, Bob made sure to crowdsurf during, shouting and screaming down the microphone while being ferried across the throngs of fanatics during ‘I Heard You Want Your Country Back’. The cricket bat came out for ‘CSGB’, wild swings accompanying the understandable vitriol in the chorus, before strutting across the stage in the Elvis Presley-dedicated ‘Take That’ and, finally, going topless to countless cheers in the acerbic ‘We Live Here’. It was fascinating, though, to hear his speaking voice — humble, gentle, and charming as anything, a hell of a contrast to the fury emanating from the stage.
Elsewhere, we were illuminated as to the reason behind headliners’ Soft Play’s seeming soft-reboot. ‘I think Slaves is a better name’, we’re told, by a nervously chucklingly Bob; ‘but I am *wholly* responsible for the name change. It was strategic — I befriended Laurie, and said to him ‘you know that band of yours? Some people find the name quite offensive, and I’m one of them. I’d love to wear your merch, but something tells me it’s not great for a black man to be walking around with the word ‘slaves’ on his chest!’’
Really, though, the set was just insane. The energy of the crowd and the ridiculous stage presence alone was exemplary; the experience of the set, the stories, and the undoubtedly soon-to-be-viral shit stirring was off the charts. For the love of God, go see them on tour in November.
Heading off to the Axiom stage, it was time for Geoff Rickly’s No Devotion. Primarily from Cardiff, their atmospheric instrumentals and soft vocals might have felt a tad Deftones-y, but they were still distinctly *theirs* — though Geoff’s sunglasses and parka perhaps make it seem a little more like an Oasis lookalike competition than a late-afternoon set at 2000trees. With their planned tour supporting L.S.Dunes earlier in the year being cancelled at the last minute, and their own intimate headline shows being subsequently pulled too, having them at trees felt like a fitting apology for the hundreds strewn throughout the tent. And what an apology; although the vocals may have been drowned out a little by the piercing guitars and the low-throbbing bass — the set was LOUD — the band made full use of their time, with Geoff racing across the stage, near-flinging his mic stand in the process, and the rest of the band staring resolutely at the crowd, as if daring them not to have to the times of their lives. The set felt celebratory, even just at the fact that the band’s getting to play a show — but the final three tracks, ‘Permanent Sunlight’, ‘Stay’ and the self-professed bummer ‘Grand Central’ from 2015’s ‘Permanence’, were a step above for the devoted fans in the red-and-blue tent.
‘We’re not going to make anyone happy’, Geoff joked, as the band burst into ‘Repeaters’ — sure, the songs might all be oppressive and a little depressing, but with the bad luck the band’s had playing the UK in recent years even just seeing them on stage at this point was enough to put a smile on every face there.
Having seen Danny Campbell’s intimate Aaron West show earlier in the day, over on the Forest Stage, it felt fitting to race over to the Main Stage see the ‘main’ show. Flying over especially for 2000trees, the Philadelphian favourites broke into classic after classic: Came Out Swinging’, ‘I Don’t Like Who I Was Then’, ‘Cardinals’ and closer ‘We Came Out Swinging’, all to make the most of it.
It wasn’t just classics though; new album ‘The Hum Goes On Forever’ got a hell of a showing too, with ‘Low Tide’ and ‘Wyatt’s Daughter (Your Name)’ special standouts, while a collection of cuts from the rest of the back catalogue — The Greatest Generation’s ‘Passing Through A Screen Door’ and ‘There, There’ and particularly what felt like a sped-up ‘Sister Cities’ from album ‘Sister Cities’, a song we’re told is about sister cities — rounded out the rest of the frantic set. With the then-unannounced news that they’re coming back in November with Kississippi and origami Angel, for the tenth anniversary of ‘The Greatest Generation’, The Wonder Years were everything.
Coming on stage to the iconic ‘Time Warp’ from Rocky Horror, Eagles of Death Metal were icons before they even started, dancing around and singing to the musical classic — not quite doing the dance, unfortunately, but quickly exploding into their own get-moving classics, which saw the crowd bobbing along like Willy Wonka’s best.
The band were stereotypical American rock — even down to the windswept hair, rose-tinted sunglasses and copious amounts of cowbell — and the crowd loved them for it, eagerly bouncing and screaming along. Jesse Hughes was his usual showman self, dancing around the stage, swinging his *ahem* microphone around and generally living large, as the band flew through a mixture of originals and covers, grinning all the way. ‘There’s nothing wrong with coming second to a bunch of beautiful ladies’, we’re told, ever-so-slightly tongue-in-cheek, as ‘the boys’ lost the decimal war; evangelical chants of ‘can you diggit amen!’ left Hughes feeling like the crowd’s ‘60s inspired cult leader; there was even a fantastically, if a little cheesy rendition of Bowie’s ‘Moonage Daydream’. They couldn’t have been more Team American if Trey Parker and Matt Stone had been there to provide the voices.
Basically, Eagles of Death Metal put on a show: one hell of an incredible, theatrical, invigorating, electrifying show.
First headliner of the weekend, Soft Play, were nothing if not energetic. Serving somewhat as a soft-reboot for the band, having changed their name as mentioned earlier, 2000trees served as their second show under the new moniker, and in four years. It was hard to know what to expect, really, with it having been so long — would the unapologetic absurdity remain or would the years’ passed have led to some maturity? Hint: not the last one.
Getting back into the swing of things for the duo was child’s play. With drummer Isaac Holman jogging in place as he smashed the hell out of his cymbals, and Laurie Vincent spinning around the stage like one of Skindred’s Newport helicopters, the stage felt like a playground for the two of them to explore… and probably destroy. The crowd wasn’t much better — with full glasses of (hopefully) beer cascading over the pit, and raised arms seemingly launching themselves over the barrier, the entire set just held the promise of chaos incarnate. Crowd surfing hooligans, mosh-pitting animals and even the odd pit of death were barely scratching the surface of the delinquent duo, tearing through songs after song, and likely at least a few public orders too. Punk, post-punk, and near-Mighty Boosh levels of cockney-infused comedy followed, particularly with the Sasquatch-fearing ‘Where’s Your Car Debbie’, the gradually degenerating ‘Fuck The Hi-Hat’, or the blisteringly brief ‘Girl Fight’, played a good few times, as the duo inspired the crowd to let loose, before ‘Bobby and Robby’ came onstage. With Bob Vylan pretty much immediately diving into the crowd during ‘One More Day Won’t Hurt’, everything seem twisted into high gear… directly before the energy levels plunged in the souring acoustic ‘The Velvet Ditch’. One stupidly fun headliner — likely even better if you’re pissed to all hell — and just a damn good time.
A little warmer, a little deafer, and a hell of a lot more tired, but there was no time to breathe — there was a Friday to review!
First up came Telltale over on The Axiom stage. With Carteret’s long locks flowing behind him as he ran on stage in a Barbie tank top — Christ, Mattel are getting everywhere nowadays! — the foursome were a hell of a lot louder, a hell of a lot bigger, and just a hell of a lot better than the otherwise sparse tent might suggest. Blasting rocky pop-punk anthems over the tired trees turnout, the group proceeded to produce a breathless and brilliant set; even the token ‘slow’ song, ‘Lonely Me’ barely gave the crowd a chance to stop. Speaking of the crowd, particularly for the handful of already-avid Telltale fans in the crowd, being greeted by some songs that their home-crowd in the ‘States hadn’t heard yet, letting the band try out some new material in the meantime, felt a fair trade indeed.
A great start to the day, let down only by the low-reacting crowd and the much-too-loud sound mix that left the vocals and guitar alike a little garbled, an issue with the stage that seems to have persisted overnight.
Next up came the first forage into The Cave, as masked Welsh nu-metallers Blackgold took to the stage. The latest in a slew of anonymous bands, it would be easy to lump them in with the recently-exploded Sleep Token; their own distinctive brand of punky, acerbic rap-rock, however, is entirely their own.
With a bass-filled electro-track pervading the tent, the masked members of BlackGold wasted no time in invading the relative calm, as their likely-sweltering singer, with a full body suit and a helmet, reminiscent of the iconic Greek Muse masks, began screaming for the crowd to crush forward. And, as he began to drag involvement out of the otherwise unwilling crowd, and BlackGold began in earnest, you could see the mood begin to shift. Slowly but surely, the reticence of the crowd was swept into rapture, sucked into the glittering obsidian realm the band had created. The sheer length of stage crossed by the frontman over the band’s short set alone would be enough for cheers — add on what boils down to a morph suit under his clothes as he raced across the stage, spinning, kicking, swinging, dancing, and pretty much every other-ing you can think of, and suddenly the set was just the thing to re-invigorate the lagging crowd. The music — the anarchic ‘On Another Level’, the rebellious ‘Sorry’, and the fantastic ‘… I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That’, which on record is only heightened by Fever333’s feature — just made it superb.
A hectic and immersive set, though it’s a wonder none of the band collapsed from heatstroke. Touring with Skindred at the end of the year? What more could you want.
A short break led to LostAlone, over on the Main Stage. Soaring vocals over a prolific bass line, with some nice almost orchestral sounding guitar, gave way to an almost proggy, space-opera-esque vibe from the Derby four piece. Despite having a pretty sparse audience, they gave it their all as their atmospheric rock began to descend over Cheltenham. A little bit of frustration washed over, brought about by both the lethargic crowd and the beading sun, but the set they delivered was fantastic — there was the angsty, ‘evil’ ‘Punchline Punched Back’, the fist-pumping ‘Hostages (Destiny)’ and the iconic ‘Blood Is Sharp’, made even more legendary by the band pausing it so the lead singer could pose for the photographers, worried about the usual photos coming through of him with a double chin.
Having reunited last year, just in time for shows supporting MCR’s long-awaited return to Milton Keynes, it feels good to finally hear the group back in our airwaves. A fan-favourite and likely a highlight for everyone there — just a shame not too many people got to see that for themselves.
As Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ came on, so too did the Japanese Paledusk, happily flying into their own instrumental cover playing alongside, before launching into some of their own scream-heavy electronic metal tracks. Bursts of static and 8-bit video game music surrounded mumble rap, blast beats and throat-ripping screams, as giraffes, frogs, pandas and more moshed to their hearts’ content; all this while the band tore The Cave open.
It was hard to get a grasp on what was happening at any second. Rhythms shifted almost haphazardly, genres fluctuating between epic guitar soloes, what could have been a Sonic soundtrack, and the heaviest riffs and headbangs this side of Empire State Bastard almost at a whim, and even languages shifted between English and their native Japanese almost mid sentence; but the near-absurdity was entrancing. The poppy ‘I’m Ready To Die For My Friends’ almost single-handedly could have been the sound of a full band, with the group flitting between what felt like a cutesy cartoon theme tune, auto tuned soft vocals and strained screams, as they led the crowd through their new song, all happily bopping, bouncing and (head-) banging along.
Having just come off of a mini tour supporting Oceans Ate Alazka and Born Of Osiris, with Friday being their 28th and final show of their first UK and Europe tour, it felt like an honour to have their eclectic, electrifying sound blare over 2000trees.
Over to the Forest Stage now, for some much needed shade, soundtracked by a fantastic acoustic set from Birmingham-based SANTÚ. It’s been said many times already in this review alone, but there is something incredibly special about seeing exclusive acoustic acts in such a beautiful venue, and SANTÚ were no different. Acoustic acts live and die, really, on the voices on display; Zé’s voice was frankly stunning, running the gambit between phenomenal falsetto and wildly powerful. Usually a much heavier band, getting to hear the vocals so isolated, with just two acoustic guitars and a solitary beat for company, was superb. Not to mention, *close* — you know it’s intimate when you can see the veins pop.
The talent on display was incredible. The emotional, melancholy ‘What If I Told You’, the stirring, ‘Wish You Were Here’-esque ‘Silky Shut’, which even featured an acapella sax solo; even a ridiculously good cover of Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ — all transcendental as they serenaded the crowd, though the fact that no one guessed the latter until the chorus, rather than from its unforgettable riff, was criminal from the self-professed rocky crowd.
An easy, and frankly unexpected, highlight of the weekend.
Kelsy Karter & The Heroines felt a little like being in the presence of rock-royalty-to-be. Having opened for Billy Idol over in America, and selling out their own London headline show at Old Blue Last on the Tuesday just gone, hopes were high — though, with a back catalogue made up of as many acoustic ballads as rocky, even the volume to come was a mystery until the drums began
Striking a slight figure, backlit by the forest and the colourful canopy of tents behind, lead singer Kelsy doesn’t seem anything special. But as her voice — sometimes strained and scratchy, sometimes lofty and beautiful, and always fiercely, unrepentantly her own — began to cascade across the clearing, transcending the equally ferocious Heroines playing alongside on the ‘wooden, forest thing’ encompassing them, it felt like being in the eye of a storm, the timber hut the only refuge.
With only a short set of songs — some about love, some about sadness, and, as Kelsy told us with a little wink, some about sex — it was down to the band to fit a hell of a lot into only a short moment of time. And, although the instrumental piece when Kelsy went off stage to recover threatened to take a lot of that valuable allotment, it’s quick devolvement into Blondie’s ‘Call Me’, before penultimate track ‘Devil On My Shoulder’, featuring the introductions of the Heroines, and closer ‘Liquor Store on Mars’ was superb. It’ll be a surprise if you can ever get that up close and personal to such a promising star again.
19:50~ on the Axiom Stage, and the gentle waft of ‘Is that Simon Neil?’ pervaded the crowd, a question that’s likely haunted and hyped Empire State Bastard for all of their shows since their inception — for which 2000trees marks their ninth — as the group took to the stage. Bar the brogue, Biffy Clyro and Empire State Bastard couldn’t be more different beasts — and it wasn’t long before the crowd found that out. No Dave this time, sadly, but Simon, Mike, Naomi and Tom Rice. filling in for the Slayer legend, more than make up for it, as their almost terrifying blend of doom, thrash, and black-metal, with a hefty helping of grindcore, laughed in the shocked faces of Cheltenham’s finest; ‘we are Empire State Bastard’, came Simon’s cheeky Scottish brogue, moments before the blistering ‘Harvest’ fried a few thousand faces, all in front of his gleaming and manic eyes.
It sounds corny to say that the band let the music do the talking — but they did. So immersed were they in their own sometimes hectic, sometimes mesmerising, oftentimes crazed and always so intricately and excellently done music, that they let the entranced crowd just wallow in their walls of noise rather than break them out of it with anything so common as conversation. An unrivalled experience.
The first thing that hit you as you approached the main stage, long before Welsh metallers and 2000trees headliners Bullet For My Valentine took to the stage, was that somehow they’d managed to fit their entire production — namely, a LOT of lights — onto the comparatively tiny stage. The next thing, is that Bullet For My Valentine were next. Having headlined (and closed) the Download Pilot back in 2021, everyone knew that they were headline worthy, but within seconds of ‘Knives’, the sanguine strobes and blood-red beams blinding the crowd, everyone knew. Although ‘heavy’ might have a whole new meaning after ESB, Bullet For My Valentine’s brand of heavy felt beautifully controlled, anthemically melodic and just perfect for the sunstroked, sentimental Cheltenham crowd. With a set delving back near twenty years — The Poison’s ‘4 Words (to Choke upon)’, ‘Tears Don’t Fall’, with a beautiful acoustic intro, and ‘All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)’; the newer ‘Knives’ and the heavier ‘Shatter’; a host of fan favourites — from the iconic ‘Your Betrayal’ or ‘Bloodshot Eyes’ to the more deep-dove treasure of ‘Hearts Burst Into Fire’ — and even a ‘cover’ of Matt and Jasons’s side project AxeWound’s ‘Cold’ with original vocalist Liam Cormier of Cancer Bats, last played in 2012, the set never seemed to linger on one single place for too long. Instead, the band celebrated the music that had brought them there, the tracks defining their new sound, and the festival exclusives that everyone knows and love.
They might not have been everybody’s cup of tea, but they were phenomenal nevertheless.
Unfortunately, the beautiful festival weather had to end at some point; between a scorching Download, with even Slipknot staying dry, to the first two stunning days of 2000trees, the heavens had to fall some time. And, with no small amount of irony, given Frank’s last UK festival headline performance was the waterlogged Friday of the Download Pilot, Frank Carter’s festival finale was the target. But that didn’t stop the music, although the muted mood may have slowed things down a little.
First up, birdsong.
Not a band, just actual birdsong — the festival took on a whole new level of sublime when hearing the gentle patter of rainfall in between the wildlife’s cheery chirping in the forest.
But actually first up came Big Special, over in the Axiom tent. A blend of punk, spoken post-punk and moments of almost musical caricature, the duo brought the rage, Joe Hicklin conveying a deep sense of seething cynicism as he riled up the crowd, all over a steady drum-beat and the low thrum of electro-bass; meanwhile, his soulful vocals popped up every now and then, just enough of a tantalising glimpse to show a different side to the Birmingham-based pair. The showing felt a little ironic though, with fan-favourite ‘THIS HERE AIN’T WATER’ at odds with the downpour outside. With a decently big crowd, a mixture of fans and early-risers hiding from the rain, Big Special put on a Big Show.
Over on the Forest Stage, a crowd was slowly beginning to form. As workmen, robots, Electric Six fans and everyone in between began to descend the slippery, hazardous slope towards the stage, it was time for Dick Valentine’s solo set. With the promise of the show being a nice amuse-bouche before the main band’s performance on the main stage, the first of Dick’s sets was an opportunity for everyone to wet their whistle, with a host of what felt like inner monologue splurges: ‘Non-Binary Sluts’, ‘Why You Waging War On Me, Divider?’, ‘Take Another Shape’, with its pitch-less, almost Jack Black-esque screams; ‘Pink Flamingoes’, with its harmonica-substituting trilling; all seemingly meaningless streams of consciousness, but such a stupidly good time. ‘It’s in the key of G, the froggiest of keys’, we’re told, as ‘I Don’t Speak French’, began to explore the surreal singer’s opinion on the culture, before ‘Running Out Of Potato’ discussed the Irish’s national food, and ‘Duran Duran and Princess Di’ saw Dick lament about Boris Johnson’s physique. There were moments of seriousness, sure, but for the most part the ham theatrics and absurdist comedy ruled the roost, with a loungier version of ‘Dance Commander’ to boot. He even hung about after the set to take selfies and flog solo CDs! A wholesome, wonderful and wholly entertaining set from the Electric Six legend.
John J Presley, on just after, had the unfortunate task of playing the slot that was meant to be the secret set. With no official announcement about its absence, or any notice around the festival site proper, the change was only obvious if you’d bought the official lanyard in the merch area — and, as such, much of the first few minutes of the set was spent watching the odd one or two forest folk traipsing away. Those that stayed however, which thankfully was the majority, were treated to a dark, eerie, atmospheric, and mournfully haunting set from the singer-songwriter. With a voice beyond his years, seeming to carry the weight of generations (think of something fantastical to say idk), each word seemed to be reluctantly dragged out, a slow and steady drawl of rasped pain, but there was something captivating about it; the addition of a keyboardist-stroke-accordionist only heightened the uniqueness of what was likely the addition of a last-minute gem.
Speaking of secret sets, it’s bizarre that Deaf Havana’s set on the Forest Stage wasn’t one, given they’ve headlined 2000trees before and had the 5:50 set on the main stage. But it was what it was, and what it was was rammed. With hundreds up close and personal, and hundreds more peering through the gaps, Deaf Havana’s fan base was out in force for the band’s forest set — and why shouldn’t they be? Deaf Havana are great, and James’s heart-wrenching voice is doubly so, particularly acoustic.
With Matt, James and drummer Luke taking the stage, no-one really know what to expect. Luke was behind a drum kit after all — what sort of an acoustic set has a drum kit? The lo-fi, semi-acoustic set, as it turns out, as the band fly through some reworked versions of classics and deep-cuts alike, the only difference being whether James could remember the words — although luckily the crowd did, having to take over the vocal duties for the second verse of ‘Anemophobia’. Even the weather bowed to the band’s majesty, offering a good bit of musical pathetic fallacy as the rain streamed down in the painful ‘Happiness’ before stopping immediately after. As superb a set as usual; it’s Deaf Havana, what more is there to say?
Never before has there been a more fitting band to play The Forest stage than Cornwall-based Haunt The Woods. The name alone makes them perfect — add in the almost spectral figures on stage, and their blend of menacingly hypnotic, piercingly explosive and ethereally harmonious songs, and you’ve got a quartet literally haunting the woods. With a set of only six songs, running from 2015’s ‘The Line’ EP (the phenomenal ‘Helter Skelter’) all the way to closer ‘Said And Done’, an unreleased track from the band’s upcoming sophomore album. Ubiquity’, out in September, Haunt The Woods seemed to have a lot to do and very little to do it with; but judging from the line of fans approaching them side of stage to sing their praises, they sure look like they managed it.
As rain began to fall in earnest, scuppering the plans of thousands, it was time for Cody Frost. With an intensity to her gaze that bordered on manic, her introduction to the small stage felt as inescapable as the weather, her small stature hiding an inexorable force of nature, and apparently the masses crammed in to watch agreed; as she stomped through her powerhouse of a setlist, and the ponchos began to appear, not a single person thought to retreat and find shelter — instead, as if entranced, they could only bask in the frenzied fun.
Though, as good as her set was, it was the final track that really cemented her 2000trees appearance; and, as Rou Reynolds appeared to perform an unrehearsed version of Enter Shikari’s ‘Bull’, the two of them moving and dancing as much out of necessity to try and keep warm as it was the energy of the track itself, the crowd went wild.
Just a shame about the weather!
Frank Carter is an incredibly inimitable, indomitable frontman. He’s one of the rare few individuals who can be described as a gentle, loveable scamp, a terrifying ball of energy, and a sheer force of nature all in the same sentence — unsurprisingly 2000trees, despite the weather, was greeted by the best of him. And, although his sound might have mellowed out a tad since debut album ‘Blossom’, or even the days of Gallows beforehand, it’s still one hell of a show.
Flying straight into ‘Kitty Sucker’ and ‘Drugs’, the latter of which saw Frank embark into and onto the crowd in equal measures, the band attempted to set the scene for what the hell was happening; but as the iconic Lynks emerged from the wings for ‘Bang Bang’ and ‘Go Get A Tattoo’, owning the stage by costume alone, and fan-favourite ‘Crowbar’ saw confetti cannons, clouds of steam and columns of sparks, it felt like some sort of bonanza. When the still-monumentous women’s only mosh-pit in ‘Wild Flowers’ is considered tame, you know you’re doing something right.
Elsewhere, the afore-mentioned Blossom got its showing in ‘I Hate You’, ‘Devil Inside Me’ and the classic ‘Juggernaut’, featuring a Satan-centred circle pit; ‘Angel Wings’ gave Alex Turner a run for his money in singing different pitches and times in a song — though was as fantastic a song as ever, whether in spite of or because of it — and new track ‘Honey’ got its debut to raucous applause.
Although the set felt a little low-energy at times, with even the throwback of fan-favourite ‘Acid Veins’ feeling a little slow given the weather, it was as legendary a performance as ever, and getting to see Frank, regardless of the weather or occasion, is always an unmitigated delight. Never change.
2000trees is amazing. Simple as that. A fantastically wide range of bands and genres, a jam-packed schedule, running from the early morning to the early next-morning, and an unparalleled setting in the Cheltenham countryside, 2000trees is always a firm favourite, fit for fans and families alike, and this, the 15th anniversary, was no different. The real magic of the festival, though, lies in the fact that no one festival experience is the same; running the gambit from the blisteringly heavy to the hauntingly, beautifully acoustic, the combinations of sights and sounds is bewildering and breathtaking in equal measure.
Bring on next year!
Words by James O’Sullivan
Photography by Richard Mukuze
