2000Trees – a Saturday to remember
A Phil Davies perspective
The final day of Trees ‘24, continued in a fine tradition of sore heads and hazy memories from the night before – the cornerstone of every great festival experience. But the music gave little time to recover. With South Wales’ Pizza Tramp quickly replacing hangover cobwebs with their signature thrash-punk blasts. Songs rarely top 2 minutes, and quite frankly, didn’t need much more. Coupled with eye watering blasts, a frantic energy, and some hilarious lyrical themes, such as ‘My Back is Fucked’, made for a simply replenishing first set on the Cave stage.
Micheal Cera Palin shifted to more wholesome vibes on the Axiom stage, playing to a packed out tent with plenty of hooks to snarl in the punter. An upbeat take, dealing with downbeat, heavier substance such as self-harm and mental health. The content, important; and throwing in their great cover of Cheryl Crow’s ‘If It makes you Happy’ provided a great ice-breaker and memorable checkpoint in the set.
Another Welsh export, Panic Shack blasted the Trees mainstage with their aggressive super charged punk rhetoric. They held an energy, fire, and power in their lyrics, openly spitting venom at the injustices and prejudices they’ve faced. This may have come across as predictable on first listen, but it was clear these Femme Fatales held much, much more substance. Able to balance the urgency of punk with their lyrics, and a genuine warmth and delight to be on the mainstage. Bassist Emily Smith’s outbursts of joy and reminiscing playing previous smaller stages, compliments the commanding presence of lead vocalist Sarah Harvey well. Their set, animated, charged, and poignant.
The fun continued with Aussie feel good punks Dune Rats. Their stomping, fast paced punk and roll energy swarmed effortlessly over the ever larger amassing audience. There was an anticipation in the air for their performance, which didn’t disappoint the audibly laughing crowd . Particually when splitting the audience into three sections, each section shouting ‘fuck, you, c**t’. Crowd participation at its finest.
The Cave stage delivered a jewel performance of the weekend, with Every Hell making their festival debut. Their infancy, only in festival appearances, with ex BLACK PEAKS powerhouse frontman Will Gardner holding pedigree, alongside right hand ex BLACK PEAKS bassist Andrew Gosden. (Gardner) spins their unique ‘Doom pop’ brandishing an unlikely Saxophone. The brass gave tracks an unmistakably sexual swagger, coupled with Gardner’s legendary vocal range. His ability to dart from gutteral vocal, to the most beautiful of melody, was heartwarming to see back onstage. The criminally small circle pit, a testament to the frenzy which this fledgling act created that afternoon. Certainly one to keep an eye on.
Back over at the main stage, The Mysterines delivered on their tip of the cap to the grunge/post rock gods. Front woman Lia Metcalfe sauntered effortlessly onstage, leaping over early technical gremlins to immediately command the attention of even the most passive back seat listener. Their razor sharp riffs and licks simply delivered. The only injustice, a rather sluggish mid afternoon crowd.
However, Canadian duo Cleopatrick, were simply untouchable. The two-piece humbly loaded onto the stage amid near silence and awkward shuffles. A silence in presence was soon spoken in the only language that mattered – a fucking huge wall of sound. The feedback during opener ‘OK’ took mere seconds for the mainstage audience to erupt into a pulsing, frantic, beautiful mess. The near static Luke Gruntz (Guitar) let every riff do the moving, with belter after belter smashing through a 10-song, all killer set.
Drummer Ian Fraser, constantly animated, and taking any respite in drums to stand and encourage the audience in front of him. The duo simply owned the crowd, with an energy and gargantuan circle pit that was simply unfathomable until that point. Complex guitar layers, and sporadic drum machine fills made this 2 piece feel 300 members large.
Cleopatrick were simply an audio delight, with hooks woven into the very fabric of each song, but with a refreshing depth and complexity. Easily one of the best sets of the weekend.
Football may not have come home in the end, but Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, deservedly brought their homecoming crown to 2000Trees. The prodigal son of this humble site proclaimed “This is my favourite festival, I feel at home here”, then barrelled through the first several bangers, with little pause. Maintaining an energetic and celebratory atmosphere cementing his legendary status at Trees.
Always crowd-conscious, “Treat each other with respect” Turner bellowed with a smile, as he smashed through his career spanning mega hits, such as ‘Get Better’ and ‘If I Ever Stray’. Both created an anthemic Folk-Punk singalong to be proud of.
A mid acoustic intimacy, and some mandatory newer music was spliced seamlessly into the set, before Turner promised “A couple more new songs, then it’s all hits until the end”. They did not disappoint.
Not even the heavens opening could dampen the party in full swing.
Turner commanded the largest audience of the weekend to open up, with at least 13 consecutive pits swirling beautifully with a crowd which simply relished every single moment. The close of the set included ‘Recovery’ and ‘I Still Believe’, helped by the thousands of vocalists amassed in front of the mainstage, affirmed once again that 2000 Trees and Frank Turner encapsulated the very essence of what makes 2000 Trees special. Thank goodness he came home.
