I have a bit of a confession to make here; despite it having had lineups which read like my average playlist for years, I have never before actually been to 2000 Trees. I’m not really sure why, although likely it’s proximity to Glastonbury in regards to time (I’m usually still recovering!) has been a key reason, despite being told by basically everyone who’s opinion matters that it’s one of the most important festivals to attend. Anyway, 2015, a year to finally right that wrong and head over to the festival, near Cheltenham Spa, to find out whether it can live up to the hype.
Arriving on the Friday (I’d have loved to have seen The St Pierre Snake Invasion, among others, on the Thursday but was working), I was greeted by a hilly arena which felt somewhere between Y Not Festival and ArcTanGent both in scale and in layout. Finding somewhere to pitch up was, even on the Thursday, no real struggle, with friendly neighbours helping me out. It’s instantly feels like a far cry from the lad culture that a lot of the bigger festivals suffer from (even the stag dos were pretty excellent; one of them dressing the stag up in a pumpkin outfit and getting people to hit him with inflatable bats, joining the Smashing Pumpkins) and it’s fairly apparent that pretty much everyone there is there because they want to hear excellent music. On that note, let’s take a look at some of the bands who played.
Arriving on site to the sound of Tellison in the background, the first band I saw a complete set from were Cleft, who had been moved from an earlier slot on a further stage to the main stage at four. While 2015 hasn’t been so kind to the band, Dan’s requiring treatment for a brain tumour earlier in the year, the duo drew an excellent crowd for their performance on the large stage, with an awe inspiring moment coming during ‘Gulch’ where, after one loop of guitar part singalongs, the band pulled off a call and response riff with the crowd, the guitar lick sang back enthusiastically. An excellent set that I’m glad was moved to the bigger stage.
Next up I had a bit of a split, starting off watching Feed The Rhino get the crowd moving over at The Cave, their vocalist quite happy to spend his time half way over the barrier, before rushing over to catch the excellent, poppy, Get Inuit. The partial sets I caught were both excellent although incredibly different. Get Inuit are one of those bands who, with the right crowd, would be an excellent singalong band but also a band who’s sound works perfectly for the middle of the afternoon at a festival. They basically define the word ‘summery’.
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A quick rush across the festival site and back into the crowd of The Cave, Pulled Apart By Horses got things moving, playing a set full of hit after hit, spanning their entire discography. It’s not the first time I’ve seen them but their energy level never seems to drop, the crowd particularly going mental for I Punched A Lion in the Throat and High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive. Across the festival, Idlewild were working their way through an interesting mix of a setlist, playing a few classics and a whole lot of newer music. Particularly enjoyable were Captain and A Modern Way of Letting Go, the band giving it their all for the large crowd. Quite honestly Idlewild could have headlined that stage on that day, they’re a band who are happy to dig in to their back catalogue and bring back the songs everyone wants to hear, although the new songs sounded superb too.
On the tip of a friend, Bella Figura on the Forest Sessions stage was my headliner for Friday. My first evening trip to the Forest Sessions stage, I was taken in by it’s beauty; the stage, the outline of a house, lit white. The forest, lit green with the sky a dark blue. It takes a certain artist to make the most of such a location but thankfully 2000 Trees have provided with their booking of Bella Figura, or at least the frontman of said band, who set into creating reverb soaked stunners, layered with vocals that could bring a grown man to tears.
I decided as the main stages closed that I wanted to check out one of the camp stages. Slightly biased as I am, that stage had to be Camp Reuben, a stage named after one of the UK’s finest bands. It also did help that the line-up was particularly strong, a wonderful set from Oxygen Thief, lit entirely by a few torches until the power came on half way through his set ending with a massive Hey Ya! singalong. The music stayed on point with sets from Boy Jumps Ship and Marc Halls, both of whom performed well to a well behaved, seated, crowd.
My Saturday started earlier than most, enjoying a breakfast buritto from Smoking Hot Tamales around 9 before heading over to the main stage. My first band for the day would be the excellent and eclectic Human Pyramids, however on this occasion I had volunteered myself to perform in the choir! Gathering at 10am we were given a singing lesson, which consisted of a warm up to fight off any hangovers before working on some scales and learning the (fairly simple) parts. Their set itself was strong, the whole band smiling ear to ear as they worked their way through some of Paul’s complex compositions, the number of instruments jaw dropping. A few songs in we were brought onto stage – one thing that’s hard to take in most of the time as an audience member is just how big the crowd looks when your up on that stage. It’s 12pm and there’s people all the way back to the sound desk? Incredible! It was an excellent thing to be a part of, everyone taking part seemed to be loving it and the reception from the crowd was beautiful. It was a real lift on a Saturday morning, one which I would love to be part of again. The choir part aside, opportunities to see Human Pyramids don’t come up very often so if you’re given the chance, take it! There’s very few bands like them.
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Taking in the sound from Samoans while grabbing a burger for lunch, complete with Guy from Reuben stepping in on drums for one track, I headed over to the forest to catch The Xcerts first set of the day. There’s something incredibly natural about watching The Xcerts stripped back, Murray’s self depreciation and general talk between songs can’t help but put a grin on your face. Filling the gap between two Xcerts sets was the job of Jurassic Pop who had temporarily replaced their saxophone player with a large dinosaur, complete with sounds and samples being fired off in an erratic manner. Highlights of the set included an actual stampede (in my position near the front I was more terrified than I would have been when the raptors escaped after resetting the system as people charged over) as people went to collect Jurassic Park trading cards and the final moment when, having mounted the speakers, the dinosaur on the left started crowd surfing. What a guy.
Catching The Xcerts for the second time in one day, were a band who knew how to make the most of the main stage crowd. Performing a mixture of old and new tracks, complete with an Aberdeen 1987 singalong, they were in their element. The new tracks sound nothing short of perfect live, the band clearly enjoying playing to a crowd who wanted to lap them up. They’re another band who deserve to be at a headline level and, even if they’re not there quite yet, they surely will be soon. There Is Only You was a belter of an album and if you haven’t heard it yet you should correct that ASAP.
The rest of the afternoon had a fairly perfect progression; having been away during his first tour, I was particularly excited to see Vennart performing tracks from his new album, as well as some Oceansize classics. I realised that the band was largely made up of members from his previous band but what I wasn’t prepared for was just how insane the drummer is. Denzel’s fills were genuinely mind blowing and there were parts where I just stood in awe. Of course Mike Vennart’s performance was as energetic as ever, jumping around the stage during fairly complicated sections of music. He’s playing a few more dates and festivals and if it’s not already in your calendar it should be.
Over at the main stage, And So I Watch You From Afar have things under control, their largely instrumental (with a few vocals, to be fair) music getting the crowd moving as they threw themselves around the stage alternating behind high pitched guitar fiddlery and lower, heavier, riffs. They were suitably loud on stage too, an issue at some other festivals, the big riffs of Set Guitars To Kill sounding huge while the later half of Search:Party:Animal deserved the praise that Zane Lowe once gave it, implying it was the voice of god. Following on was a particularly exiting set, with Mclusky* (FOTL/Mclusky members performing Mclusky tracks) making a rare appearance. I had a ticket to their Le Pub show back in November, although at the time I had to abandon my plans due to trains costing a lot, something I’ve regretted since. I didn’t think I’d get another chance to see them perform but thankfully the organisers have done the impossible and got them back for another show. A few songs in and I’m not even bothered that it’s not the original line up. Julia’s bass sounds absolutely brutal and, given how much the tracks rely on bass parts, it’s actually added something to the music. Falco’s usual angry performance, complete with abuse at the crowd “Shut up. If Glasgow can do it then you can,” made it feel genuine and the additional vocals and energy from The St Pierre Snake Invasion‘s Damien just took it to a different level. The crowd made it what it was too, people singing along, people really getting sucked into the music. I hope this isn’t the last we’ll see from Mclusky* but if it was then I was lucky to see those songs performed in such a way alongside such a great crowd.
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To finish off the festival I seemingly went for the dreary option, the haunting, stunning, music of The Twilight Sad. Their music a wash with reverb and delay they seemed to take every opportunity to point out how depressing they are, and seemed surprised at how many had turned out to see them as a headliner to close the festival. This aside, it’s hard not to get sucked in to their performance, at times feeling unable to move as the songs sucked me in. Their vocalist seemed to show every emotion in the lyrics as they left his mouth. They may not be the most uplifting band and, as such, they may not be to everyone’s taste but they’re excellent at what they do. Music for standing and watching or even just listening rather than jumping around and moshing.
Overall, I was impressed by my first 2000 Trees, the festival seemed well organised, the smaller stages off in the woods were things of beauty and, of course, the line up was nothing short of superb. I was pleasantly surprised by the crowds too, everyone I spoke to during the weekend being polite, people generally behaving themselves (although the people camped next to me did leave an impressive number of nitrous oxide canisters behind on Saturday morning for one evening), people being quiet during the quiet parts at the smaller stages (although maybe that courtesy should have been extended to the Mclusky set…). Definitely one of the best festivals of that size, it’s not as niche as you’d expect (although mostly alternative). Just prepare for hills.
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