Saturday 13 July
After a whirlwind three days, 2000trees wrapped up with a much-anticipated headline set from Don Broco. But things were again kicking off from 10.30am and there was a hell of a day in store with some of our personal favourites making welcome returns or debuts on Upcote Farm…
Who wants circle pits before midday? Ask and Snake Eyes will provide. The Brighton trio, now signed to Alcopop!, were in defiant mood from the get-go, prowling the crowd and delivering important messages about how we’re dangerously too late to halt the climate crisis (‘Hottest Day on Record’), passionately advocating for animal rights and then closing their half-hour with a blistering performance of recent single ‘Skeletons’.
Michael Cera Palin may just have won the weekend. One of the best band names, an absolutely huge crowd and beaming smiles as they delivered a set full of twiddly, twinkly emo hooks – and a Sheryl Crow cover to boot. They’re our new favorite band and might just be yours, too. Check them out asap. Fresh off the release of new album ‘Pathetic Apathetic’, Indoor Pets delivered their hits in rapid fashion – bringing some healthy singalongs to ‘Pro Procastinator’ and chunky riffs to ‘Dopamine Girls’. They finished the set with Jamie Glass referencing the band’s hiatus by cheekily saying: ‘Thanks for watching us over lunch. Do you have lunch or meth here? Not sure what kind of festival this is anymore…’
Over on the Main Stage, Dune Rats were delivering a potent set of stoner surf rock that transported you to their home country of Austalia. The Xcerts followed with a career-spanning half hour, opening with ‘Gimme’ before encouraging people to get on shoulders for the anthemic ‘Hold On to Your Heart’. Murray Macleod dedicated the inevitable solo performance of ‘Aberdeen 1987’ to his father, who has been battling cancer for the past year (the biggest cheer of the day was when Murray announced his dad was now 100% cancer free) and conducted the crowd – in fine voice throughout – perfectly before closing with ‘Feels Like Falling in Love’, complete with a guest appearance and kiss from You Me at Six’s Josh Franceschi.
The Nightmares brought some gloriously gloomy and gothic, synth-led indie rock to the Neu Stage, veering between Placebo-style punk and the best of the ’80s band, while Into It. Over It. were back on UK shores for the first time in nine years. Evan Weiss and co looked delighted to be playing here again – he was keen to stress he thought this may never happen – and of course, they broke something on the drums on the very first note of ‘Embracing Facts’, the very first song of their set. Having laughed off this full start, the band went on to race through favourites like ‘Upstate Blues’, ‘Midnight Carroll Street’ and a joyous ‘Proper’ to close.
Blanket specialise in an epic Explosions in the Sky-style post rock sound and their set featured all sorts of interesting interludes between songs – our favourites being a toss-up between Barry Keoghan’s desperate plea for love in The Banshees of Inisherin and the daytime TV-style intro to new single ‘Euphoria’, a song that has elements of early Radiohead. It was then time for Trees favorite Frank Turner to do his thing on the Main Stage. With so many gigs under their belt, Frank and the Sleeping Souls know how to work a crowd and the acoustic interlude tonight featured the rarely played early favorite ‘Worst Things Happen at Sea’ (a request from Trees organiser James Scarlett).
The bouncy and bouyant indie punk pop of Panic Shack was the perfect finish to the Neu Stage. With a sound that recalls early Los Campesinos, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and Fight Like Apes, Panic Shack are on a mission to smash the patriarchy and societal ‘norms’ with wit and anger. ‘The Ick’ is about when you’re dating someone and they do something that puts you off them for life – ‘You put the milk in first’; ‘You shushed me in the cinema’ – while ‘Mannequin Man’ featured statuesque dance moves and ‘Baby’ the unforgettable and entirely relatable mantra ‘I don’t want to hold your baby. I am not maternal’.
2000trees 2024 was another triumph of old favourites and new discoveries. Now we await the line-up announcement for 2025 with baited breath. See you all same time, same place next year?