Right back into it as the full capacity of the 2026 2000trees Festival descends and the main arena warms up for action. Bands old and new from near and far brace for impact as the alternative scene’s most voracious community seeks out its yearly fix of the best there is to offer.
2000trees Festival 2026 – Thursday
Still In Love
Arriving on stage with an unassuming “Ello”, the Metallic Hardcore mega-group throws us right in at the deep end, with piercing screams and an aggressively paced assault on the senses.
Sounding as if it were ripped straight out of the brains of Bring Me The Horizon or Architects in the late noughties, it is a no-brainer for Still In Love to be zooming up the M5 to join the Count Your Blessings 20-year anniversary show, not least given that current Still In Love guitarist Curtis Ward was a fundamental part of Bring Me The Horizon in their early days.
With their debut set to celebrate its first birthday at the end of this summer, packed with huge live dates, performances like this are sure to drag a rabid horde of spin-kicking Hardcore kids along for the ride, ravenous at the thought of what is next.
Cowboy Hunters
Channelling the same pissed-off racket that we have come to love the Lambrini Girls and Soft Play for, Cowboy Hunters live in the outrageous and seek to conquer our brains, already delirious from the summer heat.
The combination of outright aggression and hilarious wit tying the songs together with the most off-the-cuff tangents you could not think of refuses to surrender your attention as if the whole show was improv and never to be seen again.
Mariachi El Bronx
Listening to mariachi music in the grilling midday heat, you would be forgiven for thinking that our tiny little strip of Gloucestershire countryside had been transported directly to Latin America for a short while.
Needless to say, the stars have aligned with this one. The Mexican alter ego of one of 2000trees favourite bands gives some much-needed downtime as we all figuratively sit down for a cocktail by the pool, with a local Taco stall definitely benefiting from the vibe.
Frontman Matt Caughthran brags that they are the only band to play as a mariachi band and as a punk rock band in the same day in the history of 2000trees, a record I think they will hold onto for quite some time.
A stark contrast to their other identity, the show was a dreamy mirage of seductive guitar licks and triumphant trumpets, a beautiful moment to put ourselves back together ahead of a rowdy evening.
Truck Violence
You do not need to hear Truck Violence to feel them. Vocalist Karsyn Henderson channels every sound and lyric through his body and face as if it were some sort of interpretive dance.
The show takes a journey through flavours of ruthless Hardcore all the way through to folk and Midwest-influenced tenderness, even as far as touching on spoken word.
Few would have expected a banjo to make an appearance on the heaviest stage of the festival, but somehow it absolutely works, both cutting through the rage with a stripped-back section but also playing the banjo in a way that felt subtly menacing.
Native James
It has been a huge summer for Native James with a first appearance here at 2000trees preceded by his festival opening set on the Avalanche stage of Download festival.
The breakout star has us eating from the palm of his hands, belting out sing-alongs and joining in with not one, but two walls of death spanning the entire forest crowd.
The singer jokes that we are going to form a cult after this, but honestly, if these are the vibes, who would not sign up?
Delilah Bon
If rebellion is the name of the game, then Delilah Bon stands on business. The cries to “keep politics out of music” didn’t just land on deaf ears with this artist, but they had their vitriol chewed up and spat right back at them.
Punk is alive and well where it really needs to be, and Delilah just gets it!
An emotional run-down of songs addressing as many of the world’s problems as you can pack into a 50-minute show, she is clearly with her people, whooping and cheering to every spit of defiance.
Don Broco
There was a brief moment less than a week ago where it seemed we may have no headliner at all today, let alone one of the calibre of the bullish Bedford boys.
A last-minute dropout from much hyped and long-booked intended headliners Alkaline Trio, due to an untimely bout of sickness for frontman Matt Skiba, had the festival organisers scrambling right as the gates were set to open.
Kidnapped directly from their Biffy Clyro support set at Finsbury Park, Don Broco have barely had an opportunity to come to terms with the headline show, let alone discover any nerves.
Stomping out into the Gloucestershire sunset, you need not question whether the returning headliners are up to the task. They could not look more comfortable rolling out long-time favourites and future classics from their latest album Nightmare Tripping.
Considering the turnaround, the band packs an impressive light and pyrotechnics show to complement their cheeky stage performance, which even includes a compulsory World Cup-style hydration break.
It is impossible to please everyone, and it is certain that there will be some extremely upset Alkaline Trio fans in the fields this weekend. But in the absolute bleakest of circumstances, it must be said that 2000trees have pulled off some miracles here to deliver a headliner that was perfectly fitting of the role and delivered a performance that was worthy of the honour.
Hyro The Hero
If you can drag yourself away from the bright lights and booming tunes of the main stage, there is plenty of entertainment to be had tucked away in the forest with Hyro The Hero.
Armed with a touch of Dutch courage, the American rap-rocker is plenty loose on stage, creating his very own mosh pit, bouncing off his supporting musicians and tying them up with his mic cord. If he seems untethered mid-song, he is off the wall between songs.
Launching hopefully playful abuse at the crowd, claiming he hates the UK, you are reassured he does not truly mean that as he even joins us in the crowd for a song.
Packed with his own material and a couple of wildly popular covers such as the House Of Pain’s Jump Around, the set is exactly the atmosphere you want for the first full day of a festival with infectious party energy.
Closing out for the evening, the artist downplays the show with “yeah I had a good time”, and you know what, so did we.
