2000 Trees Festival is a Breath of Fresh Air in a Commercial Market

2000 trees festival is a breath of fresh air in a commercial market

Written by Asher Kenton

Type of Article: Festival Review

Festivals nowadays are big business; bands get paid millions of pounds to play single shows and fans fork out hundreds to watch them. Not to mention the corporate sponsors having to pay  five or six pounds for a burger and 4 pounds for a pint of watered down, brand-name lager. However, at Upcote Farm near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, a small and perhaps unassuming festival provides excellent music at a reasonable price (only around £50 for a weekend ticket), good food and drink and even a conscious effort to be as ‘green’ as possible. Headlined by Frank Turner and The Subways, 2000 Trees is a pretty remarkable affair.

Founded in 2007 by six friends who were sick of the corporate nature of mainstream festivals, ‘Trees (as it affectionately known) exudes a personal and friendly atmosphere from the head down. The organisers are a friendly group of people who do this for all the right reasons (they made big losses on their first few years) and only book bands that they like. The warm atmosphere is mirrored by the audience, who are the most friendly, outgoing and positive I’ve ever met at a festival, and the wonderful thing is, whereas if you make friends with a stranger in a crowd of 100,000 people you are unlikely to see them again, amongst just 4,000 or so you are likely to bump into them again. Furthermore, food, although expensive, is all locally sourced, most of it is organic and is the best I’ve tasted at a festival; freshly made pizzas, organic burgers and pieminister pies are amongst the favourite options.

Whereas most festival bars are named after whichever sponsor will give them the most money, at ‘Trees the two bars are named after the organisers’ favourite film The Big Lebowski (with the smaller bar named the Little Lebowski). Moreover, locally brewed cider Badger’s Bottom is a legendary aspect of the festival, and a must-try. At £3.50 for a 7.5% alcohol pint that tastes good and is easy to drink it sure goes down better than a £4 watered-down Tuborg. (Festival tip: just don’t smell it!)

The festival also has an excellent green reputation. The ‘Maker-green’ team help clear up and recycle as much as possible; all food and drink is locally sourced in order to fund the local economy and keep delivery carbon footprints down. Also, coaches are subsidised by £5 parking charges to reduce the amount of cars arriving. Furthermore, they only book bands from the U.K. in order to reduce the carbon footprint of tour schedules and aeroplanes.

While the budget for booking bands is nowhere near the size of larger festivals, the organisers do an excellent job, capturing an array of well-known and lesser-known talent across 3 stages, throughout the weekend. On Friday afternoon Maybeshewill got the party started on the main stage before Pulled Apart by Horses delivered a crazy and electric set before adoring fans. Jim Lockey then provided perfect cider drinking music in a packed-out Leaf Lounge. However it is the return of local favourite Frank Turner which caused most excitement. Having been forced to pull out of last year’s festival due to touring schedules, Frank Turner enjoyed a warm welcome to his “favourite UK festival” as he joined a number of his friends on stage throughout the day, including ex-keyboardist Chris TT. On this occasion, Frank and his touring band were given a well-deserved headline spot, which he used, despite the below-par main stage sound, to set the place alight. The most popular act at the festival, Frank Turner used his charm, honesty and wit to get the crowd singing along to his unique style of punk/folk in songs such as ‘Long Live the Queen’, ‘I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous’ and the ‘Ballad of Me and My Friends’. As the sun set, ‘Outdoor Type’ was perfect for this occasion and a devoted fan-base were also treated to new hits ‘The Road’ and ‘Try This at Home’ which showed that despite his recent surge is popularity, Frank Turner has got his feet well and truly on the ground. It is this honesty which means that his songs are so relevant to this selection of a few thousand people in a field in Gloucestershire. His joyous music is the highlight of a wonderful weekend, and is summed up by the spirited ‘I Still Believe’, which is enough to restore anyone’s faith in Rock ‘n’ Roll.

On the Saturday, Flashguns started slowly but showed significant potential with the excellently written ‘Racing Race’. Twin Atlantic played a thoroughly enjoyable set, reminiscent of early Biffy Clyro, topped off with a man in a chicken suit joining them onstage, dancing around and hyping up the crowd: a bizarre and memorable moment which sent the crowd wild. Instrumentalists 65daysofstatic then produced a sonically awesome set mixing heavy guitars with droning synthesisers and a mix of sampled and live drums. Bombay Bicycle Club were disappointing however; suffering from poor sound and only a few hits which can keep the audience engaged. This left The Subways to close the Saturday night. A slow start, again impacted by sound issues did not help, however, things improved with ‘Girls and Boys’ and got a bit crazy as lead singer Billy Lunn climbed up the side of the stage and jumped into the audience. The best thing about the Subways was the male/female harmonies, though one can’t help thinking they are only as big as they are because of gorgeous blonde-haired bassist Charlotte Cooper.  The band then got the crowd singing  their cheesy set-closer ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Queen’ which was a nice moment well orchestrated by the band, but it felt like the weekend had already been stolen by the brilliant Frank Turner.

All-in-all a fantastic weekend, at a really cheap price, good food and drink, cool atmosphere and some great music, in a world where you inevitably feel ripped off when you attend a festival, 2000 Trees is a breath of fresh air, and I’d return in a heartbeat.