To truly love music is to absorb, study and find solace in every single variety of sound that you can. And 2000trees is a true homestead for that sort of attitude. A festival that covers every single base possible whilst also creating an atmosphere that is as welcoming as it is personable, every year Upcote Farm in Cheltenham becomes home to a beacon of alternative culture. And with their 2024 edition, the festival proved that they are still on the cutting edge of the here and now of noise.
As is tradition, the UK is firmly in the middle of the celebrations, with homegrown talent given the space to flourish in front of the most rampant and rallying of crowds. New faces such as Unpeople and Vower, the former dishing out harmony and harsheness in equally devastating portions and the latter playing only their third show but with the technical elation of their 1000th, demonstrate precisely where the future headliners will come from. Despite only getting to play four songs due to a pretty scary journey here, CRAWLERS also put their name in the hat for tomorrow’s bill-toppers, with their misty and vulnerable offerings triggering mass singalongs from all those who have found comfort in their honesty.
UKHC is also well represented, with Cauldron dealing out thick lashings of universe-building chaos, with plenty of 2-steps and crowd kills initiated in response. Guilt Trip, stepping up to the plate at the last minute, also continue to prove why they will be the next to break through with their metallic offerings sounding slick and savage.
And not forgetting headliners Don Broco, who close out the festival with a set injected with so many ferociously fun bangers that it should come with a warning. From the opening gambit of ‘Everybody’ to the closing unity of ‘T-Shirt Song’, the quartet vigorously demonstrate why they have ascended to the echelons of UK rock royalty without ever dilating their vision.
However, the real standouts and victories across the weekend come from artists destined to achieve or are firmly on their way to big things. If you ever need a lesson in how to have a crowd in the palm of your hand, just ask Cassyette to fill you in on all the tricks. She practically wrote the book based on the display she puts on on the main stage. Managing to sit perfectly between terrifyingly gripping and wholeheartedly charming, her set feels like a catch-up with an old friend who also has the ability to rip you limb from limb. Stalking the stage like she built it, she embodies all of the timeless magnetism of a 90s rock star royalty whilst still having her finger firmly on the pulse of the here and now, demonstrated beautifully via the unifying grit of ‘Friends In Low Places’ and the throat-shredding intricacy of ‘Dear Goth’. This world may fucking suck, but with reinvention being instigated by someone so forward-thinking as this makes such a stark pill that little bit easier to swallow.
Bears In Trees may be the first band at 2000trees to incite a mosh pit via a keytar solo. It’s sentences like that which point to why the band are so wonderfully endearing. Creating moments of pure elation with no pretence or worry, the fact such a moment, slap bang at the centre of a thrilling ‘Hot Chocolate’, is followed by their increasingly iconic choreographed dance just hammers that sentiment home even more. It’s also the fact that despite the infectiousness of their jaunty and personable melodies, the existential dread of ‘Things That Look Like Mistakes’ and comforting melancholy of ‘Injured Crow’ linger even more prominently in a live setting such as this. Life can be scary sometimes, especially when every day it feels like new anxieties are unfolding before our eyes, but Bears In Trees being in a position where they can offer solace through love, laughter, and shared joy in the little things is genuinely vital. And as long as that is true, everything will feel slightly brighter.
And in case it wasn’t already obvious, Hot Milk are on a roll at the moment. From taking over cinemas to rubbing shoulders with Mark, Tom and Travis, they’ve found time to nip to Cheltenham to show off everything that has allowed them to become scorching property. The Axiom is fit to burst as ‘HORROR SHOW’ kicks things off and packs out even more as ‘BLOODSTREAM’ signals a mass singalong, the sort usually reserved for stadiums. There’s a real community feel to the assembly here, like everyone understands the pain and confusion that Han and Jim inject into every one of their tracks. Though it’s most notably felt in the rawness of ‘BREATHING UNDERWATER’ and ‘Glass Spiders’, still the finest thing they have put their name to, that it screams in the most colours. This is another big win for the band in a series of big wins, and you better believe there is more on the horizon. So, if you’re still pondering if you want to be part of this gang, now’s your chance to join the ranks. It’ll change your life.
However, it’s not just heroes from around the corner that have the chance to prosper in this field. Movements have been coming to these shores from Orange County for years, but something has shifted recently. With their latest album ‘RUCKUS!’ now celebrating its first birthday, the spikiness of its contents has had a chance to soak in, and reaction to the likes of the blunt ‘I Hope You Choke’ and glorious ‘Killing Time’ is raucous, to say the least. Such energy then allows the tear-stained healing of ‘Daylily’ and poetic despair of ‘Third Degree’ to hit all the harder. It’s noticeable just how much it means to the band, vocalist Pat Miranda the most, who cannot stop smiling throughout their time on stage. Being so far away from home and knowing how much your music means to others is one thing, but when those songs are as personal and poignant as these, it must be life-altering.
The same can be said for Teenage Wrist. Their sun-stained slabs of bright and breezy alternative noise attract a crowd that stretches far outside of The Axiom and with good reason. They have crafted a path all their own, taking inspiration from heroes of the 90s but managing to present it in a thoroughly modern manner. Last year’s full-length ‘Still Love’ gets a considerable showing here, with ‘Dark Sky’ and ‘Humbug’ rattling the bones with their walls of wooziness. Though vintage piece ‘Stoned, Alone’ and kaleidoscopic belter ‘Earth Is Not A Black Hole’ show just how far their hypnotising reach covers and the reaction is one of total euphoria.
Yet this only scratches the surface of what can be uncovered at 2000trees. And that, as a fact, should continue to excite and delight everybody with a passing interest in music that exists left of field. Fiercely independent, bravely diverse and overflowing with new favourites to discover, the UK scene and beyond needs places like this more than it probably realises. And as long are spaces like this for weird, wild and wondrous music to blossom and for bands to sharpen their teeth, then the whole ecosystem we adore so profoundly will always be in a better place.