With Download and Glastonbury out of the way, it is time for Gloucestershire’s favourite not-so-hidden gem of the alternative music scene to step into the spotlight. 2000trees Festival has boisterously demanded its seat at the UK rock festival table and has duly earned the right to do so. The four day musical extravaganza prides itself in independence and diligently sourced lineups that do not concern themselves with what everyone else is doing.
2000trees always has a special feeling that you are among the same group of friends each and every year you go, no matter how long you leave between visits. Each band has a cult following regardless of chart popularity or social media followers, and they are sure to know all the words.
This committed following was only amplified by the reduced capacity Wednesday offering who had no shortage of energy to share with some of the best artists in the scene today.
Haggard Cat
Opening the festival was a band many in attendance, including myself, were very familiar with. The Nottingham-based duo have been away for a while but are well known around these parts for their rip-roaring brand of vibrant Metal music.
It was joked that they were the “house band,” and it’s hard to argue against the claim, given their presence over the last few years.
I was initially taken aback by the pair upon their arrival. I assumed Matt Reynolds was missing before I realised that the raucous frontman had done away with his trademark long mane of hair for a much more aerodynamic cut.
No such luxury as a warm-up at 2000trees, Haggard Cat were straight in amongst it with their fiery aggression, tackling the peace of the forest head-on.
Fortunately, the fresh-legged crowd came prepared and were gracious in their offering of plentiful mosh pits and even a wall of death. The duo closed their set with a wonderfully received rendition of one of their most popular hits, American Graffiti.
The crowd duly lent their voices to a chorus of “bury your head, head in the sand, we’ve got blood, got blood on our hands.”
A fantastic closure to an excellent opening to the festival.
Blank Atlas
2000trees has become synonymous with Blank Atlas. Today was the third consecutive appearance at the festival for the burgeoning Bristolian trio.
With no clashes on the opening day, the three-piece enjoyed a bumper crowd, spilling out the sides of the modest tent. The attendees were far from newbies to the music of this exciting band. Early into the set, they earned themselves a helping of singalongs to support their harmonised melodies.
The vocal setup of this band is an interesting one. There is no single member of the band that you could definitively identify as the frontman, with all three undertaking singing duties throughout the set.
The melodious nature of their vocal performance lends quite the contrast to the band’s instrumental performance, opting for a much more Metal-focused chugging of guitars and walloping drums.
The three had all the energy of an opening band for the festival, notably from bassist Chris Simpson, who bounced and kicked about furiously throughout the set.
Their energy was gladly matched right up until the band exited the stage to the Wii theme tune, which even prompted a singalong.
Vower
On the face of it, it might seem surprising that Vower has such a passionate following. The five-piece has existed for little over a year, so you might imagine they would still be finding their place in the world.
Fortunately, the band had a head start thanks to the prestigious work of its members prior to this exciting new project.
The fresh band is a practical supergroup formed from members of the defunct but highly regarded Black Peaks, Palm Reader, and Toska. All of this has contributed to the Vower’s fast track to support and generated a huge audience for their first performance of the weekend on the Forest Stage.
Compared to the upbeat opening bands we had experienced so far, Vower displayed a much more sincere, emotional brand of music, combining serene, enveloping soundscapes with thumping breakdowns.
The triumphant showing from the experienced collective commanded the focus of everyone packed into the limited space and even attracted the attention of former Gallows man Steph Carter.
It was only the first of two performances for the breakthrough band, and if this is anything to go by, their main stage performance later this weekend will be a storming success.
Unpeople
Unpeople have been touted as future headliners by festival promoter James Scarlett and it’s easy to see why. The Phoenix band, formed from the ashes of the much-loved Press To Meco, offers a phenomenally varied musical back catalogue, leaving you wondering what genre this band fits into.
Opening with the Beastie Boys classic (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!) you might expect the quartet to spin into a hip-hop-inspired punk rock performance.
Yet the band presented flavours of alt-rock, Metal and post-hardcore. They seamlessly transition from singalong melodies to vicious screams in a manner that is as shocking as it is addictive. 
It is understandable why this eclectic fusion of all we know to be heavy has been raising eyebrows, and it will be interesting to see if our festival promoter’s predictions come to fruition.
Meryl Streek
Kneecap are not the only Irishmen on display this weekend with plenty to say about the current state of the world. Before the trio get their chance to grace the hallowed stage, Meryl Streek will have already performed on both the smallest and largest stages of the festival, completing the former today.
Arriving onstage to the sounds of rage-evoking news bulletins, even those out of the know could have understood that a statement was about to be made. The passionate vocalist has a curious presentation, existing somewhere between Bob Vylan and Scroobius Pip with a dusting of the Streets thrown in for good measure.
The performer balances aggressive spoken word alongside a combination of electronic soundscapes and Metal backing. 
The artist’s passion, if not obvious from his delivery, emanated from his stage presence as he paced furiously from side to side of the stage and hung from the tentpole to address us. The passion of the performance was met with yet more mosh pits, and even our first crowd surfers of the day.
This crowd better be careful not to wear itself out on day one!
The show was not short of more tender moments. In a brief step away from politics, Meryl performed a touching tribute to his Uncle Paddy as the crowd sang along, “And you’ll always be missed, and you’ll always be loved.”
Meryl’s face said it all as he beamed back to the adoring energy of the room. This felt like the most unifying moment of the day so far and was best summed up as a father lifted his son through the crowd to greet the grateful artist at the barrier.
I knew very little of this act prior to today, but I can now consider myself a full convert. I will undoubtedly be rushing to the barrier for his main stage set tomorrow for the chance of a second viewing, and I encourage everyone to do the same upon his next tour.
Kid Kapichi
It is a bittersweet celebration for Kid Kapichi. They take to their beloved festival home for a final two performances with the current lineup, Ben Beetham and George Macdonald, having made the decision to step down from the band.
Nevertheless, there was little sadness on display as the fan favourites took to the Forest stage.
The four-piece entered the fray donning the colours of the Palestinian flag, vocalist Jack Wilson emblazoned with the name ‘Palestine’, an unsurprising but welcomely received act by the crowd’s universal interest in peace.
The popular rock band offer a sound that is comparable with the early works of the Arctic Monkeys, intertwined with poignant political outlooks from the country’s working class.
As they will be supplying two shows over the weekend, the performers opted for a trip down memory lane today, playing some of their older hits. Songs such as 5 Days On (Two Days Off) and Rob The Supermarket made welcome appearances and had certainly not left the memories of the bouncing audience.
Kid Kapichi were the first band of the weekend to address the drama surrounding festival favourite Bob Vylan and were understandably in support of their former collaborator.
They simply and neatly recalled a quote from Bobby: “Sometimes you’ve got to get your message across with violence because that is the only language that some people speak”, neatly transitioning into their own song, Violence.
It will be a shame to see this wonderful and adored band lose a pair of their founders, but we can find solace in the band’s future, which has no intentions of calling it quits.
Before we need to worry about any of that, however, we have one last emphatic send-off.
Hot Milk
There is only one Mancunian band that you should be paying attention to this weekend, and they sure as hell do not play Wonderwall. Hot Milk are experiencing a welcome moment in the sun.
Their much anticipated 2025 album, Corporation P.O.P, has breathed new energy to the already tireless band, and it was unmistakable in their deserved headline set on the Forest Stage.
With no regard for the standard formation of a rock band, the three members, who were not pinned down by a drum set, ducked and weaved in and out of one another, all taking their moments to get up close and personal with the jam-packed crowd.
Frontwoman Hannah Mee showed no signs of timidity, addressing the crowd in the broadest of Manchester accents, after soaking us with a can of White Claw.
Throughout the show, the artists felt intimately engaged with us as they raced through their powerful assortment of alt-rock hits. Even an untimely onstage fall from the vocalist and an injury in the crowd could not slow them down!
Corporation P.O.P is fundamentally focused on the events of the tumultuous world we currently cohabit and Mee was not shy in making her point of this. She very succinctly explained that whilst we might not have control of the events overseas, we can have our say right here in our own country and have the power to avoid the problematic turns that we have seen with some of our powerful allies.
The magnificent headline show marks the end of their first tour sharing this new album, the band taking to Asia next to share their blistering show.
The display tonight was worthy of a fully fledged main stage headline performance, and I doubt it will be long before 2000trees invites them back to fulfil this inevitability. 
2000trees Festival is being held from 9–12 July 2025 at Upcote Farm, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. You can read all of MetalTalk’s 2025 coverage here.
