2000 Trees

This year was the 10th anniversary of 2000 Trees, a festival set in the south west of England that focuses on promoting new and underground bands from the rock and indie world. At a capacity of just 5,000 it has a uniquely intimate and friendly atmosphere and with such a pristine level of organisation, it’s clear to see how the festival has achieved a full decade of success.

The Main Stage is reserved for days two and three, leaving the smaller stages to host the opening day’s bands. The tented covering of The Cave stage was only just sturdy enough to contain the massive power of Black Peaks, who continue to dominate every stage they throw themselves onto. Rifling through songs from their superb debut album Statues with power, precision and captivating stage presence, it won’t be long before the band are headlining these events. The place to be for the remainder of the day is The Forest, a dedicated acoustic stage whose woodland setting, surrounded by lantern lights, hay bales and hammocks, provides a fantastic atmosphere as well as a great place to sit down, chill out and sing along to some striped-back favourites from the festival’s line-up. Black Peaks’ acoustic renditions are far removed from their ferocious on-stage antics but matched in quality nonetheless, as is multi-instrumentalist songwriter Grumble Bee, who got the crowd singing along to raw reimaginings of his Disconnect EP.

Day two brings the Main Stage into play but technical issues cloud the first few acts of the day, particularly Crooks, whose usually excellent live set is marred by mix problems for the first half of the performance. It’s disappointing to see a band miss the opportunity to show a crowd what they can really do and by the time the band and the sound engineers get into full swing, it’s time for the set to close. Over at The Axiom stage Press to Meco have no such troubles, immaculately voicing their fantastic three-part harmonies to the delight of the crowd. Despite all three members also providing the technically challenging, angular riffs and rhythms, their vocals are flawless throughout and one of the stand out bands of the weekend.

Actor Jamie Campbell Bower (known for Sweeney Todd and Harry Potter among others) proves that his gritty alt-rock band Counterfeit are more than just a fleeting side-project with a rousing set that sees the crowd frantically nodding along. Bower holds the crowd’s attention well, using his stage experience to establish himself as a captivating frontman and with throaty vocals and gutsy rock anthems to back up his swagger, the band sound right at home on a big stage. Basement are in fine form since coming out of hiatus, making their 50 minute set feel more like 10 in The Cave. Rattling through songs from their latest album Promise Everything as well as the best of their back catalogue, Basement were one of the highlights of an impressive day.

Having endured two days of festival life, the crowd may have wanted a slow start to the final day, but Heck had other plans. The band’s frantic noise-rock is somehow less intense than the antics of frontmen Matt Reynolds and Jonny Hall, who spend more time in the crowd than on stage. Heck must be a sound engineer’s worst nightmare as mic stands go flying and leads are stretched to their limits, but for all the high-energy antics, there’s a core of quality, tight music running alongside, filled with complex rhythms and angular riffs. For all the punishment given to their instruments, Reynolds took the most damage, managing to break his foot in his own circle pit toward the end of the set. Arcane Roots are more subdued, but no less impressive. The trio’s slow, drawn out keyboard-driven opener doesn’t make for the best introduction to the set or their new material, but it soon picks up with the remainder of the performance and based on the strength of their catalogue to date, there’s no reason to doubt the upcoming album will be any less convincing.

It’s easy to see how 2000 Trees has stretched to its 10th anniversary, with such a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere and excellent line-up of bands. It’s great to see band members freely enjoying the acts wih the regular punters, further emphasising the community spirit and laid back atmosphere that makes the festival so unique. The organisers struck gold by adding hardcore legends Refused to the bill and there could’ve been no better way to see out the 10th anniversary party. Refused stole the entire weekend, the power of their set engulfing everything before it, making the other bands seem minor in comparison. It’s great to have them back following a lengthy hiatus and tracks from latest album Freedom sound huge on the Main Stage. Frontman Derek Lyxzen’s heart-warming thanks to the crowd for sticking with the band and coming back to see them no doubt resonated with the collective masses at 2000 Trees who, after another incredible weekend, will certainly be looking forward to sticking with this festival as it begins its second decade next year.