The Big 2000Trees Review 2026

2000Trees is the hottest weekend of the year. No, seriously - it scorches any other competition as one of the flaming flagbearers of the UK underground.

Vying for your attention, amongst the chaos of BRING ME THE HORIZON's northern exposure and MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE's London residency, is a stellar roster of future talent gleaming with the promise of a loud and urgent tomorrow. Matched only by PITBULL's immense can-do party attitude (and we haven't even included the infamous silent disco in this conversation), this weekend of wham acts dazzles year after year as one of this country's music community's best-kept secrets.

Only a week ago, we were beginning to think it's coming home, but at Upcote Farm in Gloucestershire, we were already there. Here's everyone we caught at 2000Trees 2026.

Words: Adrian Chapman (AC) and Libby Percival (LP)

VENUS GRRRLS

For those who arrived at the festival on Wednesday, there was an array of different bands spanning various genres to get stuck into upon arrival. Ahead of their UK tour this autumn, one band not to be missed was VENUS GRRRLS on the Word stage, no strangers to the festival, having played last year too. The band welcomed us to their coven as they blend their own signature sound of riot grrrl-influenced goth-grunge. Whilst their witchy ethereal aesthetic drew in the crowds, GK’s hypnotic vocals led the charge, backed by powerful riffs from Eliza Lee, keeping the audience engaged from start to finish. - LP

LAKE MALICE

LAKE MALICE brings an unstoppable force with each show, and festival slots are no exception. With the recent announcement of their debut album I wanna know if it’s real and their biggest headline tour to date on the horizon, their performance at 2000 Trees was a treat for existing fans and a chance to entice new listeners to the party. The duo made sure to bring the full Malice experience, complete with matching white outfits symbolic of their new musical era, Blake Cornwall’s signature split jumps, both members getting involved in the crowd and of course, plenty of catchy genre-bending songs, including Ghost In A Hell, Scatterbrain and a metal cover of BEBE REXHA’s New Religion to top off the set. - LP

BUDS

BUDS immediately turned an unforgiving early slot into a party, opening up the Main Stage. Anyone lucky enough to be down the front early was handed goodie bags stuffed with bubble wands, balloons and party hats, the Southampton quartet leaning fully into that summer-camp energy from the off. New single Time Well Spent set the tone perfectly, all driving guitars and singalong hooks built for a scorching afternoon. There’s something refreshingly communal about a BUDS set, strangers becoming mates within minutes. Closing with 2019 favourite Building Blocks felt like the final scene of a coming-of-age film, the whole field grinning through the heat haze together. - AC

SAINT AGNES

A gothic industrial pop fever dream crashed the Main Stage courtesy of SAINT AGNES. The barrier filled fast with a wave of goths draped in chains and fishnets, the earlier indie-punk crowd melting away as darker devotees swarmed in. Frontwoman Kitty A. Austen was mesmerising throughout, less performing than hypnotising, turning the whole performance into something closer to theatre than a festival set. She had the entire crowd screaming ‘Who the f*** are you?’ back at her during Bloodsuckers, before delivering a sincerely moving speech on grief right before The Beast. Not a bad way to convert a field full of strangers into disciples. - AC

PUP

Coming off a full acoustic run-through of The Dream Is Over the night before, PUP arrived on the Main Stage with something to prove. Their live set is a dry-witted, big-hearted punk showcase built on the tension between cynicism and hopefulness, capturing the messiness of being young and reckless. Opening with Morbid Stuff and Kids back to back was a statement of intent, huge favourites that had crowdsurfers arriving in surges. Stefan Babcock wasn’t content to just watch, launching himself into the crowd to surf alongside everyone else. A pointed mid-set speech on bigots not being welcome landed with weight, never dampening the joy of a band that adores their fanbase. - AC

LONG GOODBYE

Say hello to LONG GOODBYE, the underground band from the North East you need on your radar if you’re a fan of metalcore and hardcore. Fresh from their June tour supporting I KILLED THE PROM QUEEN, LONG GOODBYE took on 2000 Trees with a mid-day Thursday set, which could have indicated a slow starter, but festival goers didn’t hold back as the pits were brutal from start to finish. If you missed these because of their early set times, you won’t have to wait long to get the chance to see them again as they are soon to be joining MERAUDER on the lineup for From The Inside, a hardcore festival in North Wales, before touring the UK alongside GUILT TRIP. - LP

STATIC DRESS

Headlining a packed-out Cave stage, we witnessed STATIC DRESS with an unrelenting set. Vocalist Olli Appleyard runs around the stage commanding the audience with enough energy to encourage the crowd to follow suit and keep the pace, even after a long day of back-to-back bands. Pits quickly formed, and crowd surfers made their way over the barrier one after another, with fans at the front screaming every lyric back throughout. Overall, their stage presence was exceptional, and it was entirely evident how this band is continually building a cult following with each new release and each performance. - LP

HOUSE OF PROTECTION

Watching HOUSE OF PROTECTION go from a debut UK show at Camden’s Underworld to commanding the Main Stage at 2000trees says everything about how fast this duo has clicked with British audiences. Stephen Harrison and Aric Improta could’ve coasted on pedigree, but instead built something spectacular, hardcore’s brutality fused with an electronic sheen. Opening with Pulling Teeth, with the crowd screaming the bridge back before detonating into the pit, is the kind of moment most bands spend years chasing. Jordan Fish’s cameo for Learn to Forget cranked the chaos further, the circle pit for the chorus now an iconic live staple. Even the flare gun in the crowd felt like it belonged. - AC

FREE THROW

FREE THROW’s Axiom Stage set proved a hot ticket, the tent hitting capacity well before they even walked on. The Nashville outfit brought in classic Midwest emo, twinkling, off-kilter guitar lines paired with Cory Castro’s raw, cracked-open vocal delivery, built for shouting your feelings back at a stranger stood next to you. That’s exactly what happened as the set built towards a rapturous mass singalong for closer Two Beers In, a decade-old fan favourite about watching an ex move on while quietly falling apart at the same party. Every single word came back at the band like a confession nobody had the guts to say sober. - AC

MILITARIE GUN

MILITARIE GUN have made a career out of confusing hardcore purists, and their main stage set was a perfect case study in why. Their roots lie firmly in the hardcore scene, but the songs themselves are stuffed with pop-punk hooks and choruses big enough to make even the toughest crossed-arm veterans sing along, a hilarious sight given the crowd. Do It Faster and Very High hit hard, but it was Thought You Were Waving that stole the show, Anthony Green of CIRCA SURVIVE, L.S DUNES and formerly SAOSIN joining Ian Shelton for a goosebump-inducing moment. Turns out even the hardcore kids will let themselves go soft for choruses this good. - AC

FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND

Lucas Woodland’s ascension to full-time FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND frontman has been one of the scene’s more heart-warming stories, anyone still on the fence about the HOLDING ABSENCE singer filling such large shoes clearly hasn’t been paying attention. He remains one of the most powerful vocalists working today, with the Friday headline slot only cementing that further. Opening with All The Rage set an immediately ferocious tone, while Roses For The Dead sent crowdsurfers over in waves. Woodland thanked the crowd in Welsh, delighted that two-thirds of the weekend’s headliners were Welsh acts, and moments later NECK DEEP’s Ben Barlow walked out for a joint rendition of Juneau. History brought one of the weekend’s most moving moments, the entire field hoisted onto shoulders holding two fingers aloft in unison. Closing on throwback Escape Artists Never Die capped a triumphant set from a band clearly firing on all cylinders again. Whether you were losing it in the pit or watching from the hill with a pint in hand, this was a set built for absolutely everyone. - AC

PINKSHIFT

PINKSHIFT arrived at 2000trees for the first time, living up to their reputation for chaos within their live sets. The Baltimore trio graced the Main Stage with their 90s grunge grit, riot grrrl fury and pop-punk infectiousness, filtered through Ashrita Kumar’s ferocious, genre-defying vocal range. New single When We Were Friends hit even harder live, the whole crowd throwing themselves into the pit like they’d all lived through the same heartbreak. PINKSHIFT have never been interested in playing it safe, and this crowd ate up every second of it. - AC

HO99O9

HO99O9 turned their slot at the Axiom Stage into pure sensory assault, it’s safe to say that there’s genuinely nothing else on the bill like them. TheOGM and Eaddy blend thrashcore riffs with horrorcore rap and industrial noise, arriving in avant-garde costumes that match the delightfully unsettling energy of the music itself. Tearing through The Dope Dealerz was a highlight, all snarling menace and pure adrenaline. It’s chaos by design, unpredictable and confrontational in the best way, closer to a horror film crossed with a hardcore show than anything resembling a typical festival set. Not for the faint-hearted, but for anyone chasing genuine anarchy at 2000trees, this was the set to find it. - AC

CODY FROST

CODY FROST is truly paving their own unique path in music, combining influences ranging from punk, rock, to pop and even donk. After featuring on tracks from the likes of BURY TOMORROW and ENTER SHIKARI, along with the release of their latest EP Mechaevil they’re cementing themselves as ones to watch in the alternative music space. Despite the singer camping for the full weekend and their set being right before the headliners of the final night, CODY FROST's set was still as high-energy and unrelenting as you would come to expect from their performances. The singer also sympathised with the crowd, politely requesting a pit, to which the crowd promptly complied. -LP

NECK DEEP

NECK DEEP have long lived with the running joke of being dismissed as ‘generic pop-punk’, yet their headline set made a mockery of that label entirely. Opening with Can’t Kick Up The Roots sent every finger in the field shooting skyward instantly, the genre’s most reliable crowd gesture in full effect. Ben Barlow called for an all-girl pit during She’s A God, the response was a triumph in itself. His between-song banter kept things light too, joking about the main stage screen being football-ready and imagining the goths in the crowd fuming while the lads stood ready, “Two pints in hand, one for drinking and one for chucking,” before an earnest speech about the band’s long-standing political streak ahead of We Need More Bricks. Those who had lost phones and shoes in the pit didn’t care anymore about their belongings by the time A Part Of Me was played, the whole crowd screaming Laura Whiteside’s verse note for note. Closing with December and In Bloom turned the field into one enormous party, no trace of stoicism left in sight. Whatever anyone still thinks NECK DEEP are, watching thousands of people lose their minds to songs this well-loved says otherwise. - AC