Community permeates 2000trees 2025

“You come to Trees, and it feels like a safe space.” This was the sermon I left Upcote Farm preaching last summer. This year, stepping back onto its pastoral grounds felt practically medicinal. I’d returned to the sanctuary of alternative communion. 

Unlike sprawling mega‑fests, 2000trees caps at approximately 15,000 attendees — to foster connection and discovery, two throughlines that permeate every facet of the festival. It’s all about community; commerce feels like an afterthought. And this culture doesn’t only exist in the audience or across the campgrounds. Artists are accessible at Trees, meet‑and‑greets are open to all, and at the Marshall activation, fans were even able to screenprint and decorate tote bags with artists like Coheed and Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez and more.

It’s difficult to label 2000trees as a festival at all. On the ground, it is an ecosystem. Emerging artists return, each year given the opportunity to be higher on the lineup — rising Marshall Records ska outfit Gen and the Degenerates were excited to tell me they had finally made it to the main stage this year. At Trees, headliners collide with lesser-known names in perfect harmony; community thrived amid the chaotic concoction of alternative genres that span hardcore to electronic; and moments — from a crowd-surfing Tigger mascot (who nearly kicked me in the face) to crowdkilling hymnals — etched themselves into collective memory. It’s hard to say if there’s anything that even comes close in the U.S. — the black band tee-wearing Brits are built differently. Thank god for it.

This year’s edition upheld the festival’s roots — championing that vibrant community energy and with a lineup crafted to unite disparate fans. Wednesday’s warm-up day was (theoretically) low-key and cozy, with stripped-down forest sets from festival vets like heavy U.K. stalwarts Vower and the blink-182 co-signed Hot Milk.

Without sacrificing its DIY DNA, or ethos of supporting the emerging artist, for the first time in its history, 2000trees delivered five main‑stage headliners. Thursday kicked off with PVRIS and Kneecap — a dichotomy if there ever was one, but isn’t that the heart of alternative music? Lynn Gunn delivered stadium-sized vocals on a set that hit all the marks — from White Noise fan favorites to more recent tracks. Boundary-pushing hip-hop trio Kneecap’s set was explosive — thumping through dubstep-doused tracks with a message of political urgency, to a crowd that surged along to every beat. 

Coheed and Cambria and Taking Back Sunday wrapped Saturday’s affairs — showering the sweltering English countryside with East Coast alt-rock. Before their set, Sanchez, Coheed’s vocalist and prolific lead guitarist and I sat down to talk about how he spent a few days off prior to the fest — seeing Deftones and Weezer at Crystal Palace — and about how for the last few months, the band have been touring their latest album, The Father of Make Believe. I hadn’t seen or spoken to the group since its release day. And after sitting with it, playing it, talking about it for some time, “I love it even more,” he gushed to me. This was made blindingly evident during their set — where the band so cohesively championed the new tracks, to an audience that clearly knew each and every word. Their technical prowess, and sense of joy, always makes them one of the most enjoyable and reliable live shows around. That being said, it was on “Someone Who Can” that Tigger, scream-singing along while flailing past the barricade after a solid crowd surf, nearly took my eye out. 

Taking Back Sunday offered a punch of pop-y nostalgia that was otherwise missing in the lineup. They offered enough to satisfy the crowd’s sweet tooth, though the added edge of their earlier, more emo-tinged songs and Adam Lazzara’s mic swinging definitely made them well suited for a top slot at Trees. 

“2000Trees, when this is over, I expect there to be considerably less trees,” said Wade MacNeil, of Alexisonfire, Sunday night as the sun set on the Cotswolds. And the final day’s headliners certainly took note of this — between Alexisonfire’s own set and letlive.’s “goodbye” show, where mic stands were bent in feats of post-hardcore-fueled angst, amps were nearly smashed, and we saw Jason Aalon Butler literally drag an unwitting person in a Marshall amp mascot costume onstage, before ripping his pants off and scaling to the top of the scaffold, for a both thrilling and traumatic display. Whether the LA band is truly over or not, it was a sendoff to be remembered.

Every stage, during headliner slots and otherwise, pulsed with intent. Riled up by political polemics, and swaddled by the blood-rush of nostalgic sing-alongs, Trees took things to new heights this year. The discovery factor was in full swing, from 10 a.m. through the night — where under the moonlight, burgeoning bands would put on shows at the smallest, tree-lined stage — there was much to be heard, seen, and felt. These moments, the unexpected, the exciting — the shows that leave you buzzing, obsessed, reminded of why you love this music in the first place. 

In honor of the festival I once heard called “the U.K.’s worst-kept secret,” I won’t gatekeep anything. Here are my favorite sets of the weekend. 

The Molotovs

FFO: The Jam

The newer Marshall Records signing is made up of (teenage) sibling duo Mathew and Issey Cartlidge. But despite their age, they’re bringing 1970s U.K. punk energy into the spotlight — and nailing it. Though they have only a few singles under their belt, the band have caught the eye of some noteworthy figures in the scene — and will be touring with the Sex Pistols on their U.S. run in the fall. 

Panic Shack

FFO: The Slits

The Cardiff foursome felt exhausted by the plethora of “indie-rock boy bands” — and this is their snarky, punk-rock answer. Full of angst and loads of fun. 

Split Chain

FFO: Narrow Head

The Bristol nü-gaze outfit who deem their sound “dreamo” have been bringing their brash sound to wider audiences, having opened for Thursday, Boston Manor, A Day to Remember, and more — and will only continue to. Their debut album, motionblur, from Epitaph arrived last Friday. 

Unpeople

FFO: Weezer

Alt-rock with metalcore breakdowns and brilliant vocal performance, which shifts in and out of unclean. Founded by former guitarist and vocalist from Press to Meco, they’re offering something deliciously riffy and heavy, but also hooky in an almost pop-punk way. 

Hyphen

FFO: grandson 

You’d never be able to tell that Hyphen worked in finance before donning the label “the shortest shorts in punk music.” Fusing rap and punk rock, with a sprinkling of ska (yes, there is a trumpet player), he spews chant-heavy tracks that are vibrant, politically charged, and has been co-signed by YUNGBLUD, Jay Sean, and Saweetie. 

Anxious

FFO: Title Fight

From their first album to the more recent second — we’ve seen the Connecticut group grow and shift, from a slushier ‘gazey sound to something entirely different: heavy, hooky, as easy to sing along as it is to mosh to. Think blink’s Cheshire Cat. To see them live today and experience the fusion of their two chapters is a treat. 

Gen and the Degenerates

FFO: X-Ray Spex

This group give me hope in the younger generation. The early 20-somethings are making angry, anthemic punk music that unpacks the Gen Z experience — from growing up in the internet bubble, TikTok influencers, and label execs who push for a “hit song.”

Birds In Row 

FFO: Touché Amoré

It’s been a minute since I heard this French hardcore band, and they blew my mind. But I wasn’t the only one — Alexisonfire were shoulder-to-shoulder in the pit, watching the group play from a tented stage. Against a backdrop of post-hardcore riffs and dark, erratic breakdowns, they scream emotionally charged, politically leaning lyrics, in English — wanting to “be understood by the most people.”