LIVE: 2000 Trees 2024

It’s July, this year’s festival season is fully underway now, and we find ourselves back in scenic Cheltenham for the ever-wonderful 2000 Trees Festival. One of the alt world’s most beloved summer festivals, this year’s bill is crammed full of up and coming talent arena-filling giants, all gathering at Upcote Farm to dazzle and delight its passionate attendees. Put on those sunnies and grab a bev from the bar, we’ve got some bands to see…

Words: Dave Stewart. Photos: Paul Lyme and Penny Bennett

Negative Frame

As soon as Negative Frame take to the stage, vocalist Kesari Gorin yells “2-1” down the mic to rapturous applause, the football crowd still in high spirits after last night’s win, and it helps get the chaos in motion. Within the first few minutes of their set the pit is open, their pummelling Sepultura meets Code Orange approach forcing everyone in earshot to pay attention. There are a handful of sloppy transitions from section to section but it doesn’t take away from their punch in the slightest. The tent packs out over the course of the set, which the band declares as their biggest show to date, and they made every second worth it. A really impressive early performance, clearly displaying a lot of potential for these heavy youngsters.

Arson

Have you ever seen a band with its own bartender? If you’re watching Arson, then yes you have. The Belgian quintet – technically a sextet if you’re willing to allow booze as an instrument – have decked The Cave’s stage in vintage decor, all donning burgundy suits as they deliver a chaotic hardcore set to the very full tent. With the punk ferocity of the long gone The Ghost of A Thousand and the dirty riffs of Every Time I Die, it’s hard to turn away and is a testament to their musical prowess. The addition of the bartender has definitely helped get the crowd on side; the show was really solid, but if there was ever a surefire way of getting a British audience on side, it’s by getting them drunk. We love a good day drinking sesh, don’t we?

Vower

Made up of members of Palm Reader, Black Peaks and Toska, the talent housed within Vower is second to none. On paper they’re one of the UK’s most exciting new bands, and this show solidifies that. This is the band’s first ever festival set – their third ever show, in fact – and from how tightly packed the crowd is you’d have thought they’d been around longer than a few months. From the ominous haunting power of ‘False Rituals’ to the colossal closing number ‘Shroud’, the band are firing on all cylinders, not missing a note and captivating every single person in attendance. Vocalist Josh McKeown is visibly taken aback at the reception that they’ve had, unable to wipe the grin off his face in between songs, and it’s fully deserved. Keep an eye on this band; this is just the beginning.

Static Dress

The reputation Static Dress have carved out for high energy shows has now become a well known fact, not a myth or a rumour, and the anticipation for their arrival to the Main Stage was palpable. As soon as the set starts it becomes immediately clear that they’ve evolved into a well oiled machine, and they’re so tight it’s actually a little bit terrifying. There’s so much weight behind them that it’s impossible not to be completely mesmerised, and when vocalist Ollie Appleyard states “If you stand still you’re a fucking dickhead,” you don’t want people to think you’re a dickhead. The set is criminally short but they don’t waste any time, tearing through bangers ‘Courtney, Just Relax’, ‘crying’ and ‘clean’ with so much power they literally split the entire field in two for a brutal wall of death. This is Static Dress’ world, we’re just living in it.

Spanish Love Songs

There is something so incredibly special about Spanish Love Songs, and their set in The Axiom suggests that the UK and this festival may have something to do with that. The atmosphere is different to what you’d usually expect when watching a band in a tent like this one. There’s excitement, sure, perhaps some adrenaline too, but the main feeling is love. Real, genuine connection, with the band giving every ounce of affection right back to the crowd. From newer tracks like ‘Lifers’ and the wonderful ‘Clean Up Crew’ to older cuts like ‘Kick’ and heart-warming set closer ‘Brave Faces Everyone’, the band don’t miss a beat and the crowd give them everything they have from beginning to end. This has been a moving, raw, safe, honest and incredibly cathartic experience for everyone that was lucky enough to catch it, and the band gracefully guided us through it. A truly wonderful, life affirming show.

Movements

There’s always going to be tech issues at festivals, they’re inevitable, and it just so happened that the first band to get hit by them is Movements. Following a fierce performance of ‘Afraid To Die’, vocalist Patrick Miranda hypes the crowd up to the point where they’re about to burst and then disaster strikes. But they don’t allow the vibe to vanish; a quick ‘Seven Nation Army’ jam turns into “Oh Jeremy Corbyn” chants, and they launch into ‘Third Degree’ like nothing ever happened. Did anything happen? What tech issues? The remainder of their time is crammed full of banger after banger, and it’s a real delight. ‘Lead Pipe’ gets the crowd pulsing from front to back, ‘Colorblind’ causes both pit and crowdsurf chaos, but it’s set closer ‘Daylily’ that steals the show, the crowd overpowering the band with the volume of their collective voices as the sun fully breaks through the clouds outside the tent. A perfect end to a near-perfect set.

Boston Manor

The tech issues have made their way over to The Axiom, and they unfortunately plague Boston Manor throughout their set. They arrive on stage a little late and they manage to get through ‘Floodlights on The Square’ before having to halt things again due to the persistence of the issues, stealing another ten or so minutes from their allotted time. As frustrating as this must have been for them, none of the crowd left the tent, feet all firmly planted in the ground ready to rage when the time was right. That time arrived with the infectious ‘Container’, and the rest of the set was a dream. Though they were still clearly having some issues they muscled through, treating onlookers to big and bold belters like ‘I Don’t Like People (& They Don’t Like Me)’ and the Deftones-esque ‘Sliding Doors’ with finesse. The closing one-two punch of ‘Halo’ and ‘Foxglove’ ends things on a huge high, the latter amplified by the surprise appearance of Movements leading man Patrick Miranda. A heart-breaking start, but a heart-warming end.

Manchester Orchestra

There’s a very big main stage turnout to see the majestic Manchester Orchestra, and rightly so. The band’s following has grown from a somewhat cult gathering to a mass appreciation over the last few years, and as soon they take the stage the crowd’s focus is solely on what’s about to happen over the next 50 minutes. Andy Hull and co take the festival on journey mixed with meditative bliss and cathartic release, allowing the music to do all the talking with the entire field hanging off of every note. The set is full of their biggest and best, including the anthemic ‘Bed Head’ and the grungey delight ‘The Mansion’, a joy-filled run through ‘The Gold’ featuring The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon all the way to a hypnotic performance of ‘The Maze’. The stunning set closer ‘100 Dollars’ serves as the perfect bookend, the crowd swaying and headbanging and holding one another for every single moment. Hull’s voice is absolutely haunting and flawless throughout, as is the band’s musicianship, putting on a captivating mix of serenity and gut-wrenching sincerity. If you weren’t already in love with this band, you will be now.

Hot Mulligan

Hot Mulligan vocalist Nathan Sanville is ready to go home and hang out with his girlfriend and his dog Bill, but not before they show everyone tightly crammed into The Axiom tent a good time. If you weren’t sure about the band’s popularity, the sheer number of people trying to get a spot inside will tell you that this is one of today’s most highly-anticipated sets. It becomes quickly clear why the attendance is so high; the band provide hit after uplifting hit, delivered with precision and joy with tongues kept firmly in cheek. In between Ted Talks about the worth of office stationery and why stealing from your job is theoretically fine, tracks like ‘Shouldn’t Have A Leg Hole, But I Do’, ‘Drink Milk And Run’, the aptly named ‘This Song is Called What It’s Called’ and the delightful ‘Equip Sunglasses’ shows us that the hype isn’t just real, it’s deserved. No notes missed (apart from the ones offered to the crowd to yell back), maximum energy and genuine, heart-warming enthusiasm. High energy closing number ‘John “The Rock” Cena, Can You Smell What The Undertaker’ causes one final round of pandemonium, and both band and crowd end the set smiling from ear to ear. Simply wonderful.

Better Lovers

With only one EP and two singles out in the open, the hype that Better Lovers have generated since their 2023 is impressive, but unsurprising. When your band is comprised of members that have been a part of projects like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die and Fit For An Autopsy to name a few, it’s a recipe for success and it’s one that a lot of 2000 Trees attendees want to have a taste of. The enormous number of people sardining themselves into The Cave proves that, and they are beyond ready to embrace the band with open, loving arms.

A couple of minutes into the set they get an opportunity to do just that, with vocalist Greg Puciato wasting no time climbing the stages central steel beam before launching into the crowd for the breakdown of ‘Become So Small’. Behind him the band are collectively thrashing their limbs and their instruments on-stage, and it’s already impossible to decide where to look. The chaos has begun.

The remainder of the set is pure insanity, soundtracked with inhuman precision and incredible stage presence. A breakneck performance of ‘Sacrificial Participant’ summons numerous pits and countless crowdsurfers, giving the stage’s security a real workout as they try to keep up with the endless flow of bodies. ‘The Flowering’ sounds truly lethal, as does ‘Two Alive Among The Dead’ and an incredible cover of the Soundgarden classic ‘Rusty Cage’. They even unveil some new music which sounds exactly as you would expect; hard, heavy and scarily destructive, igniting mass crowd participation within mere moments of the opening notes.

Then, a familiar sound creeps through the PA. “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands” brings the entire tent together with impressive unison, and without missing a beat the band rip into show stealer and set closer ’30 Under 13’. The closing moments are just as chaotic as the opening ones, if not more so. The pits all seem to merge together in one big maelstrom, Puciato climbs the steel beams again and spends just as much time on top of the crowd as he does on stage, guitarist Jordan Buckley throws his guitar into the air and fails to catch it, snapping it in two… If you blink you might miss something, it’s insanity from every angle.

The set finishes, Puciato leaps into the crowd again, the band leave the stage with feedback ringing out from the tattered and beaten gear upon it, and the crowd is left completely breathless. As festival performances go, it doesn’t get much better than this. This is the perfect closer for the first full day of 2000 Trees, and we can’t wait to see what Friday has in store for us.