Wednesday & Thursday of 2000trees, 2026

As the calendar ticks over to July, the Cotswolds Hills come calling once again. An unassuming 2000trees sits itself in the centre of one of England’s most idyllic locations, prepared to showcase the finest alternative music from the UK and abroad for four days straight. For many, it’s a yearly ritual to attend regardless of the line-up, a few days to get away from all, meet up with friends and catch some good bands live. For others, attendance this year was an initial venture out to see what 2000trees is all about – as everyone who attends annually will say, it’s a festival that needs to be visited at least once.

Despite late line-up changes (including to Thursday headliner Alkaline Trio and main stage act Lambrini Girls), 2000trees showcased its resilience by swiftly organising replacement acts such as Don Broco and tweaking the stage scheduling, ready to live up to its title of “Best Medium Festival in the UK” once again.

The first day of the festival, Wednesday, is a reduced capacity day that allows eager attendees to revisit favourite acts from last year, or acts that were missed. With only two stages being open (The Word Stage and The Forest) and some of the site being closed, it’s a special opportunity for fans to see some of their favourite bands in what feels like a much more exclusive setting. This year, 2000trees treated those who turned up early to 14 bands (with no clashes), culminating in one of the most anticipated sets of the weekend: PUP playing through The Dream Is Over in The Forest.

It was the stomping punk act SPLIT DOGS that were given the responsibility to romp awake 2000trees. Their 70s-esque punk sound rumbled through the trees of The Forest, with their upcoming record title Nice N’ Rough being an adequate descriptor for the uninitiated. As the crowd trickled through, SPLIT DOGS put on a solid performance outside of their natural habitat of dive bars and darkened venues, where we aspire to catch them one day.

Outside of PUP there was one other band who was getting quite the attention and hype before 2000trees had begun – Love Rarely. After releasing the sublime Pain Travels and cementing themselves as firm regulars of the UK live circuit, it’s little surprise that they’re becoming one of the most well-loved underground acts around. A new look Word tent, that is now a properly set up stage rather than a glorified gazebo, was brimming at the rafters as Love Rarely entered the stage to cheers. Their high-tempo sound truly kicked 2000trees into gear. At the mention of fan-favourite “Severed” being played next, the crowd burst into another audible cheer, and many could be seen singing along. The sound on the Word stage, partly due to its compact nature, made Love Rarely sound some of the best we’ve heard of them live. While understandable 2000trees does like to avoid multiple repeat bookings, Love Rarely are a main stage act already, and it would be amiss if they aren’t up there next year.

The increasingly popular Karen Dió followed the punk beginnings of The Forest this year. Opening with her new track and the racing “Euphoria”, it would have perked up the ears for those who had set up in The Forest for the afternoon, under the shade of the trees. As the performance from Karen Dió went on, there was a certain bite lacking to their sound, but that was made up for in the sheer energy they had during their performance.

After we had devoured some Greek wraps from one of the many excellent food vendors on-site, we returned to The Forest and watched BLACKGOLD deliver another very energetic set – which some of the audience were clearly enjoying – but unfortunately for us, we found that we endured their set rather than embraced it. Their rap-metal sound certainly does seem to have its audience, yet as their cover of the Cypress Hill track “I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That” hit, it gave the air that The Forest had turned into some bizarre school disco. At least the gothic alternative sound of VENUS GRRRLS put 2000trees back on the right foot. Despite battling through technical difficulties, they put on a captivating performance complemented by soothing vocals.

As the party hours drew in, Lake Malice were a smart choice to kick the night-time festivities off. The trio have their performance down to perfection, after what must have been a gruelling tour schedule over the last 18 months, which has clearly paid off. As Lake Malice performed the likes of “Magic Square” and “Black Turbine”, the crowd made the most of the opportunity to sing the words back, as no doubt what’s in store from their debut album I Wanna Know if It’s Real will soon flood their live setlist.

PUP marked the ten year anniversary of The Dream Is Over by playing the album in full, a celebration that had originally been scheduled for just one UK show, in London on July 4th. While the album’s bigger songs have remained setlist mainstays over the past decade, the full-album format meant dusting off tracks like “Pine Point” and “Can’t Win”, which hadn’t been played live since 2016 until this year. Once the announcement dropped that it would be the album front to back, it became one of the most anticipated sets of the weekend, a level of hype that a Wednesday headliner at 2000trees doesn’t usually carry, and one that arguably eclipsed even the band’s “regular festival set” on the main stage the following day. With time to spare at the end, they dipped into “Reservoir” from their debut and “Hunger for Death” from their latest release. The crowd were relentless throughout, singing every word, with easily the most crowd surfing The Forest stage saw all weekend.

For all the pleasantries of Wednesday, Thursday is when 2000trees began for many, and so did the battle with the sun. Those who braved the late morning heat and headed down to the main stage to see Buds. were duly rewarded. The quartet pulled in a strong and willing horde of spectators, much deserved after their efforts performing to a quieter Cheltenham crowd at The Steam and Whistle a few months back. With many in the crowd donning party hats and spraying their bubble machine guns into the air, the mellow upbeat tunes of Buds. proved to be a joyous way to begin Thursday.

Metalcore upstarts Long Goodbye took to The Cave, injecting a heaviness to the line-up that was severely lacking this year. Performing through entries from across their discography, there is an intensity to Long Goodbye’s performance that was unmatched across the entirety of 2000trees. As vocalist Paddy Morton demanded more from the crowd with their fierce stage presence that bleeds into the atmosphere of their performance, the mosh pit responded with spin kicks and windmills aplenty, as the closing verse of “autolisis” saw the crowd scream into the microphone as Morton headed down to the barrier to provide the opportunity.

A short trip over to The Axiom for Lonesome provided an experience on the other side of the coin, with their melodic post-hardcore sound soaring through the tent. Performing much of their material off their debut album In The Hope This Finds You, their tracks such as “Liar” and “Am I Failing Myself?” are ones that yearn to be sung along to. Unveiling two new tracks that see Lonesome lean into the poppier side, akin to what Nightlife have done, the backing groove-laden synths allowed Lonesome to showcase the clear joy they were having playing at 2000trees, putting on a performance that would have plucked the heart strings of many onlookers.

An afternoon of Hammok, Still In Love, Stress Positions and truck violence ensured that all bases from the hardcore and punk sounds were covered within the confines of The Cave. Making the trip over from Norway, Hammok’s noisy and mathy hardcore sound was met with an energetic crowd, whose grooves and yells enthralled them, having a similar curveball and chaotic air to that of EYES last year.

Those who had warmed up their limbs during Long Goodbye earlier soon put them back into action during Still In Love. Each time we have seen them, they have absolutely smashed expectations, and this time was no different. Their heavy sound was intertwined with emotiveness on the likes of “Pillar of Strength” and “Inherit”. With Robyn of Timepeace continuing their live feature during “There Will Be Enough”, it was the closest we got to any Aussie hardcore representation on the line-up, after the disappointing decision by 2000trees to not book Volatile Ways whilst they were doing a run of festivals across Europe.

Further international flair by the way of the United States was brought to The Cave by Stress Positions and Truck Violence. The shrieks and yells of Stephanie Brooks are amped up a notch from their studio material and will certainly make for an acquired taste. For those who could tap into the chaotic nature of Stress Positions’ sound, both them and Truck Violence made for two of the most unique viewings of the weekend. The opportunity to see Truck Violence deliver their hardcore/folk/punk blend outside the cauldron that is Outbreak Festival, allowed the artistry of their sound to fully shine through. Vocalist/poet Karsyn Henderson seemingly had the crowd captivated by their performance, as they twisted and turned their body to the mannerisms of the music. The Cotswolds hills seemed a fitting background to rumble with their sound, as the banjo featuring on “Guns buried in the front yard” made a live appearance for an interlude of sorts, and introduced a solemn moment that drew in the crowd’s focus, sandwiched between their otherwise frantic noise.

In between the chaos of The Cave, where we spent a lot of our time, other stages offered up alternative experiences. Over on the Main Stage, at the peak heat of the day, 2000trees returners Tigercub delivered their groovy alt rock riffs to the festival. It wasn’t their first time on the Main Stage, as they also played there in 2022, and their practice was evident – they put on a decent performance that had some heads nodding, despite having the sun to battle with.

We soon became defeated, and opted to grab some (delicious) tacos and retreat to the Axiom for Pool Kids, who are an act that seem made to perform at 2000trees. Their sound, infusing emo, pop and mathier moments, came together into something utterly dazzling, drawing in an audience from all corners. Performing a mix of material from their self-titled album and Easier Said Than Done, there is a joyous nature to Pool Kids’ performance that radiates throughout the tent, as the hooks and intricacies of their pop-infusions weave their way into the ear. Closing out with Christine Goodwyne’s signature crowd-surf/stage-dive, they’re an act we can soon hope we can claim as our own given the amount of time they’re currently spending this side of the Atlantic.

In what was the most eyebrow raising inclusion on The Cave across the weekend came Delilah Bon, one who had divided opinion on method rather than message. There was still a morbid curiosity to see what Delilah Bon is like in a live setting, in front of what was a rammed tent. There are few surprises to be had, if any, when it comes to Delilah Bon and their brat punk sound. Perhaps the only one being the extensive use of a backing track for much of their performance, which did take away from the authenticity of it. This, along with the soundbites that Delilah Bon that are presented in a manner akin to atomised social media posts, gave a sense that it was all rather surface level – even if the good intent was there. Yet, this all got an easy pop from the crowd, and there were plenty of fans singing along and spilling out of the tent, supplemented by a few bemused onlookers watching on from the back. For all the noise that Delilah Bon made upon the stage, there’s very little of substance to take away from their time on it.

Superheaven offered a brief moment of reprieve and time to lose yourself within their dense ‘gaze riffs, before the grandiose performance by Don Broco down on the main stage. While their appearance at 2000trees did occur in unfortunate circumstances, it is one that would have been a preferable option to many. Also allowing 2000trees to have one headliner that wasn’t operating on the modus operandi of – remember that album we released a decade or two ago. It was also noticeable how many Thursday-only wristbands were about across the day, showing that following their headlining set two years ago, there is still an undeniable demand from the 2000trees audience to see Don Broco.

On stage, a gleeful Rob Damiani joked that they didn’t know they’d be here two weeks ago, and the appreciation for 2000trees as a festival was sincerely present from the frontman. As the sentimental moment passed, the star power of Don Broco began to shine through. Those rusty on their Don Broco songs will still know their outstanding vocal hooks from the likes of “Gumshield”, as Matt Donnelly’s cleans of “This medicine has everyone dancing” rang out across 2000trees, or “You looked like war” in the earworm of a track that is “Nightmare Tripping”. Beefier tracks “Bruce Willis” and “Everybody” allowed Damiani to demand pits from the crowd and to shout back the tongue-in-cheek lyricism that Don Broco have nailed down over the years. With pyro blasting and a rammed crowd at the Main Stage, given some of the options floated such as Creeper as replacement, it seems a blessing in disguise that Don Broco were able and ready to once again headline 2000trees to an electric audience.

Tickets for the 20th anniversary of 2000trees, can be purchased here, which are currently 30% off.