Hidden Mothers
While Hidden Mothers‘ music goes between heavy and atmospheric, they’ve chosen a heavy opener to set the tone and to shake the dust off a crowd on their final day, which seems to draw a lot of people into the Cave tent. The second song in their set is wonderful; overdriven bass lines clear a path through the music with atmospheric guitars and brutal screams, alongside clean vocals, throughout. At times, they ramp the pace up with heavier guitars, and they create an interesting soundscape, epic and brooding. While heavy, it’s the right kind of music to start the day.
Love Rarely
Next up over on the Neu stage are Leeds-based Love Rarely, who I’ve wanted to see for a while now, based on the strength of their recent singles. Last year, they signed to Big Scary Monsters and, honestly, they remind me a lot of the early years of BSM, a sound similar to bands like Secondsmile, one of the bands I most closely associate with the label. There’s been a lot of hype around the band, plus they’ve been getting themselves out there online (I’ve seen them a lot of times on TikTok), and it’s nice to see this translate to a great size crowd on the smaller stage. I like their sound, the guitars have a very obvious Strat sound to them, and the vocals go between lovely sung passages and brutally screamed lines. Recent single Disappear sounds incredible live, the guitars playing intricate passages, the bass and the drums locked in. My only wish was that the set was a little longer, with it finishing early after 25 minutes. What they showed was excellent, though, and I can’t wait to see a full set away from a festival.
Humour
About seven years ago, I played in a band called Humour – it was short-lived, we played one gig and put a bit of music out there and then stopped. During lockdown, a new band called Humour, from Glasgow, appeared on the scene and started getting traction, which I first discovered when BBC Introducing emailed to ask for more music. When I saw that the considerably more successful (and considerably more talented) Humour were on the 2000Trees bill, I had to check them out; it would have been rude not to. They’re an excellent post-punk five-piece, with lovely sounding guitar parts, raw emotional vocals and some fantastic drumming – there’s plenty of feedbacking guitars in places, and at times they build to a climactic crescendo of sound, yet there’s still detail in what’s going on. A genuinely epic band!
Vower
Vower are a super-band consisting of members from Black Peaks, Palm Reader, and Toska – they blend elements of post-rock, progressive metal and post-hardcore to create something brutal yet interesting. Unsurprisingly, there’s no shortage of big riffs, bass drum locked in, and intricate elements to the music – after all, this is a band consisting of members from highly respected bands who’ve already pushed boundaries within their respective styles.
Employed To Serve
Employed To Serve know what to expect from their crowd today; “its too hot to mosh, its not too hot to crowdsurf” – a minute later someone dressed as batman comes over the barrier and I can’t help but think it’s probably too hot for them to do anything, let alone crowd surf. Their most recent album, Fallen Star, is incredible, and it’s great to finally get to hear some of it live – the solid production of the record is somehow maintained on the stage, and they sound huge. Atonement is a standout track early in the set; the vocals sound fantastic, the guitars and bass chug their way through verses, and the drums are complicated and brutal. There are plenty of rapid solos scattered throughout, too.
Kevin Devine
Halfway through the day, I could do with a bit of a cool down. Thankfully, the rather excellent Kevin Devine is playing the Forest Stage, the trees providing some much-needed respite from the sun. Musically, it’s a nice chilled out affair too, Devine is easily one of my favourite songwriters and his delivery while performing acoustically is flawless with a ton of dynamics throughout, often stepping away from the mic yet still filling the forest with his voice. The audience is silent during the quiet part of Carnival, the location of the Forest Stage providing a good buffer from the other stages. He opens Bag of Bones by saying that he wrote it about the Afghanistan war, then the Iraq war, but that it still applies today – whatever your views about particular conflicts, the lyrics about unnecessary deaths are particularly poignant.
Sparta
Back on the main stage, people are starting their commute from the bits of shade around the main arena into the middle of the crowd for Sparta. The three-piece, formed in 2001 after the end of At The Drive In. From El Paso, the place they label “the not crazy part of Texas”, Sparta play an incredibly melodic brand of post-hardcore, interesting guitar parts and powerful bass lines with vocals that focus on the lyrics as much as the melodies. They say they “could never have dreamed of playing all these parts of the world” starting out playing hardcore music in their local scene, but given the interesting careers they’ve had and the wide range of music they’ve put into the world, I’m pleased they did.
Future of the Left
Over on the Axiom, some familiar faces for those who watched Mclusky and Million Dead yesterday, Future of the Left are in many ways similar (unsurprising, given the shared members,) but there’s more emphasis on low tuned riffs, stop/start phrases and time changes. Opening the set with Kept by Bees, the drums take centre stage for most of the song, the guitars and bass just adding stabs of noise. A few songs in, the bass has cut out (asked what happened, Julia just replies “too powerful” before Falco responds to it coming back with “by the power of Frank Turner”). Small Bones, Small Bodies goes down really well; the fuzzy riffs are infectious. They decline to dedicate You Need Satan More Than He Needs You to anyone because “there are so many dickheads in the news these days it’s hard to know who to dedicate it to.” They’re an outspoken band, but for those who enjoy their blunt humour, they’re the perfect band.
Vukovi
Vukovi are a band I’ve wanted to watch for a while, so there was no way I was going to miss the chance! Vocalist Janine commands the main stage, pacing from side to side at pace, which it transpires might be because the stage is as hot as lava and she’s decided to go barefoot (we’re sworn to secrecy about the footwear selected to resolve this issue). There are plenty of songs from their new record, My God Has Got A Gun which sound incredible live. Opener, GUNGHO kicks things off and sets the energy for what we’re about to hear. Quite a scene down in the crowd too as someone in a fridge outfit (I’m enthusiastically told this is ‘Mr Fridge’) comes over the barrier, frozen peas sent everywhere.
letlive.
letlive. already have a reputation for their energetic live shows, and tonight certainly didn’t disappoint. This show is part of their fairly short reunion run, playing a bunch of shows to end the band again on good terms. Anyone following the band will already know that they’re not holding back in terms of energy, vocalist Jason climbing anything that can be climbed and diving off of anything that can be dived from. At one point, they drag a crowdsurfer in a bulky Marshall amp suite on stage and mock smashing a guitar over it; they’re having plenty of fun while performing. The music is incredible, the two guitars play some interesting parts which build up to a heavy assault. The drumming is a spectacle to watch, powerful as hell, even when the drum riser gets dragged forward across the stage. The set ends dramatically when Jason climbs up the outer shell of the stage before climbing onto the lighting truss, quite a way up. The stage power is shut down with an announcement that it’d be off until he gets down. The band continue playing, but all you can hear is the drums and bass from the crowd. Eventually he returns (leaving a mic suspended from the lights) and they get to finish a set that’ll surely stay engrained with the crowd all day, both for their important message about how women don’t need men’s help, they need their respect, and for the amount of energy they gave us.
As December Falls
On the Forest stage, we’re treated to a bit of pop punk from As December Falls, who’ve got a huge crowd waiting for them. Vocalist Bethany is an incredible performer, singing hook after hook while jumping around and singing into the speakers down the front of the stage. At one minute, they get a circle pit going, the next there are loads of young children crowd surfing – “the future generation of rockstars right there” guitarist ___ yells, the band impressed by the sudden wave. They’re definitely in the poppier end of the lineup musically, but still retain a rock side thanks to some great drumming and some catchy guitar leads. A whole forest of people having fun can’t be wrong!
Alexisonfire
2000Trees, when this over I expect there to be considerably less trees
The final headliner for the weekend knows how to put on a show. From the second Alexisonfire walk on stage, they give it their all – Wade MacNeil enters with chainmail draping his head, which is one hell of a look. Getting the set going with Accidents, bassist Chris Steele stalks the width of the stage, throwing some interesting facial expressions at the crowd. It doesn’t take long for vocalist George Pettit to jump off the stage and down to the front, before trying to hop into an inflatable armchair to crowdsurf. He loses some equipment doing so, but seems unfazed by the process; “a lucky fan is going home with a pair of my in-ear monitors. It doesn’t matter, I didn’t need them for 20 years, just like we don’t need backing tracks or amp simulators” – which goes perfectly with We Are The Sound, the track that gets the audience screaming along. The clean sung vocals are stunning and the way that both George and Dallas Green complement each other is pretty much perfect but, especially after the previous night, the way the set flows makes sure it stays entertaining – there aren’t any silent pauses, the setlist is just hit after hit, which means the energy in the arena doesn’t dip. A masterclass in performing a discography that spans over twenty years.
And with that, 2000Trees comes to an end for another year. It’ll undoubtedly be remembered for the heat, but also I think it’ll be remembered as a year when the festival stood up for people, spreading their message. That was true for Thursday’s headliner, Kneecap, but there has been no shortage of people wearing their politics and their personal views on their sleeves all weekend, and generally, people have listened and taken things on board. But at the end of the day, the music is the most important thing, and the variety of incredible bands across multiple genres has been incredible. Alexisonfire were the perfect band to finish an incredible four days of music – I think even if you didn’t know their music, you’d be drawn in thanks to the energy and their conviction.
There will undoubtedly be some questions about who’ll headline future Trees and, sure, there are a few bands who played this year who should make their way up the bill – I think Vukovi could end up in that position at some point in the future based on this year’s performance.