Arranging work for 2000trees could not have been easier and more relaxed than it was. The laid back attitude of the organisers was top notch, and I have been looking forward to this festival for a while, especially after the previous weekend's entertainment at Cornbury. I needed reminding that good music, and a great atmosphere was happening at festivals all over the country. Driving through the Cotswolds to Upcote farm in the sunshine was a good introduction, the hand written blackboards with direction as we got closer raised my hopes even more, and one look at the site and I was convinced that 2000trees was going to be a unique festival.We arrived on the Thursday, after originally ditching our plan to turn up a day earlier after we experienced some heavy rain for around 24 hours. The guys on site said it was different on the farm, they had downed tools on the Wednesday and had decamped to the acoustic lounge until the early hours where they were drinking vodka hoping that the rain would soon stop. It hadn't disappeared completely, we still had the occasional shower on the Thursday, but the site was OK despite being a little squidgey underfoot. Immediate impressions of the site was just how small it was, it would probably only take 3-4 minutes to walk from the bottom of the site to the top, and that includes all the camping area. There's two lovely little ponds to the right of the site that a couple of swans seemed quite happy playing around in, and we were camped in the crew and band area just beyond this. The site was pretty quiet on the Thursday, as the gates were only open to those who had bought early tickets, and there wasn't a great deal going on apart from the open mic night later that evening; the winner getting a half hour spot on the acoustic stage on the Friday morning. Amy and I didn't have to start our first of our two four shifts until 11pm that night, so we relaxed in the fantastic Leaf Lounge.
The Leaf Lounge was the acoustic stage for the weekend, and the open mic night kicked off with plenty of decent acts that we stayed around to watch. They ranged from cover songs, to originals, and the performances as a whole were of a fairly decent standard. One of the stand out performances came from a guy called Simon, who sang some amusing song about is ex-girlfriend who was into crystal divination. He was only matched by another guy called Sasha who also sang some very witty songs, but due to the swearing in both of them it was going to be unlikely that either would win the 1230 slot the following day. There were a few other good acts, one guy played around with a loop sampler to recreate a full band sound, his best song actually turned out to be a harmony version of 'In The Jungle'. In the end first place was awarded to a lady called Polly, who had some really songs who sounded like an acoustic Bjork, so she won a chance to take the stage at 1230 the next afternoon, coming on after Frank Turner opened the festival.
Amy and I had to do a four hour shift making sure no one was trying to get into the acoustic tent between 11pm and 3am. Not too difficult, and the to begin with quite amusing, as we were entertained by some musician playing with a guy called Tony Reid who were all from Liverpool. One guy called Simon was particularly amusing as he kept going on about how Muesli sounded like a town that had a violence problem, I think he just had a breakfast cereal fixation. He kept saying, "It's going off in Muesli man!" and then he made the bold statement that we should all "fuck Coco Pops, Wheetabix is where it's at!" They were pretty funny guys and made the first couple of hours go by pretty fast, but the remaining two hours dragged on and we spent most of it sat in the doorway of the leaf lounge chatting to Rob, one of the organiser about the festival and how it got started. They were just a bunch of mates who used to go to Reading Festival every year but got fed up with it and decided that they could do a better job. So they started 2000trees last year and found it attracted a good crowd, and enthusiastic crowd (of around 1000), and so they felt like they were onto a good thing so they made the site larger and it was looking like it was going to be just as successful.
One of the cool things that I liked about the festival was that I hadn't heard of 99 per cent of the band playing, but the organisers had put together a really good program to the music that gave really good reviews of what each band was like, and who they sound like. It certainly helped to work out which bands that you might like, but one guy we had been told we shouldn't miss was Frank Turner, who was going to being opening the festival. He didn't disappoint at all, and the Leaf Lounge was packed as he started playing a collection of his acoustic songs that had the whole tent singing along. He was also booked down to play on the Saturday night as well, and he decided that we should have a private joke for those who were going to come along to his Saturday show. He was going to ask the crowd who we thought Band of Horses sounded like, and we were to reply 'Coldplay!". His set very excellent and it would be worth checking out his myspace page to hear some his tunes. After Frank Turner finished most of the tent vacated, but we fancied hanging around for a few more hours checking out some of the acoustic bands and chilling on one of the straw bale sofas. After Frank we watched a repeat of the evening before's set from Polly who had won the open mic night, so I grabbed us a couple of ciders, brilliantly called Badger's Bottom. A pint of badger was only 3 pound, and 6.5 per cent, a good festival drink! Joe Summers played next with one of his friends who played some electric guitar underneath to add some ambient sounds to his songs. I was really impressed with Joe, his songs were like an English Conor Oberst, and with the electric guitar his tunes had a really good sound.
After Joe Summers we caught a totally original band called The Smerkins play who were like a reggae morris band playing hymns and songs such as Scarborough Fair. They had a couple of guys on djembes, one young dreadlock guy on flute and bass, and a dude playing a melodian. They played some great tracks and gave a really good feel good atmosphere to the tent during their set. They're probably a band that you'll never see, but if on the off chance you do see them on a bill somewhere, check them out! In total contrast after The Smerkins we had Oxygen Thief on stage who played acoustic heavy metal tracks. His voice was really good, but his tunes just didn't work, for me anyway, on the guitar. They would be fine with a band, but although he played the guitar really well, the overall sound just didn't translate well. After this we were feeling the Badger getting to us a bit, so we went back to the tent for some food, knowing that my friends Simon and Wendy would be turning up later. It was a shame they couldn't have made it on the previous day as we both reckoned that Simon would have won the open mic night easily.
After our break we went for a wander around, checked out the main stage for a bit, had a look at the cool tree sculpture and went to the Greenhouse stage area where they had a cool space for people to do some graffiti during the course of the weekend. We watched these guys for a while before heading back down to our favoured Leaf Lounge for some more acoustic acts, most notably looking forward to a guy called James Yuill. The best, and most apt, quote I have read to describe his sound was that he sounds like "Nick Drake, if he were alive, signed to Warp Records." This is pretty accurate and he was one of the best acts I was to see all weekend. His set didn't last too long as he had to set up his laptop and keyboards, and his acoustic guitars and mandolin, but it was worth every minute. He's playing at Latitude, and again at Bloom, so I'm making sure I catch him at that festival.
We stayed around for the next few acts and I was in a dilemma as to whether or not to watch 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster, or Beans on Toast - whom I had been assured was rather excellent. In the end the Badger made my decision and I couldn't be bothered to move down to the main stage so we stuck around in the Leaf Lounge for Mr Beans and we weren't let down in any way whatsoever. His set was full of wit and irony, good tunes and the crowd were energised and excited throughout. At one point a blow up doll appeared from nowhere and ended up crowd surfing around the lounge, then for the last two songs Beans on Toast was joined on stage by Frank Turner, and Mr Beans proceeded to do a mammoth crowd surf around the entire lounge before being returned back to the stage. It was a great set and really lifted the roof off the place, and we left the Leaf Lounge into the night with smiles on faces and cider in our belly's.
After Mr Beans had finished we met up with Simon and Wendy again and went for a few more drinks down by the main stage. It was here that I was accosted by a bloke who started to tell me how much he had enjoyed my set and wanted to know where I was going travelling next. Not wanting to let the chap down I told him I was off to India for the winter after playing at a few more festivals this summer, though I'm not sure he believed me or not! A few more ciders later and I staggered off across the ponds with Amy to go to sleep and wait for another day of quality music.
I wasn't feeling 100 per cent on the Saturday, but at least I didn't have to get up early like Amy to do stewarding shift, so I had a bit of a lie in until the guys from Smerkins, who were camped next to us, started an impromtu jam session just outside our tent. The sun was shining though, so it was quite nice with the tent open just listening to the music, an ideal start to the day. I eventually went down to the Leaf Lounge to meet Si and Wendy, leaving Amy to snooze and catch up on some sleep, and I arrived for the start of Natalie Ross, who was my first disappointment of the festival. She had a pretty good voice, but I found her chat inbetween songs quite irritating, and her guitar play was pretty basic. Wendy stayed in the tent, but Si and myself went outside in the sun for a beer instead, much more relaxing! There were a few acts that we had earmarked for the day, Lazy Habits, The Anomalies, Two Skies and Future of The Left. The sun was also out in fits and starts which made us spend much of the erly afternoon relaxing outside down by the mainstage, which hadn't got too muddy so far despite some of the occasional showers. Amy came and joined us, accompanied with her hula hoop, and we spent much of the afternoon watching bands play on the main stage. Lazy Habits were a really good beats hip hop band who were perfect for the afternoon, with a good brass section that actually elevated them above the norm, and a decent crowd who helped create an upbeat atmosphere despite the burgeoning mud.
We made for pies later in the day at the legendary Pieminister stand and in the background we were listening to the Anomalies play onstage, and they did an excellent piece of freestyling on stage when they did an entire song about things that people were throwing on stage during the song. It was an excellent moment, doubled by the great pies. The sun was hanging around for a while longer so we span some poi, drank some cider until Frank Turner made his second appearence of the festival and we all shouted 'Coldplay!' in response to his question. It was another good set, though I felt without his band his set was much better, and the crowd was smaller than I expected, probably because it had started raining lighly. However, it was good enough and those there sang along loud enough, hanging around until Future of the Left followed him. These guys were a pretty decent rock band, not outstanding, but good drunken rock and I did enjoy listening to them enough to not retire to the Leaf Lounge. However, we did go to the Leaf Lounge to watch Two Skies who have the ability to sound exactly like the new Radiohead album. It was absolutely uncanny! It was almost like someone had put on 'In Raindows' in the Leaf Lounge, but they were great even if they did sound a little too similar to Radiohead to enable them to stand out on their own.
It was around this point that the worse moment of the festival occurred. They ran out of Badgers Bottom. We tried both bars but they were equally dry so we had to revert to Petermans lager, which although a reasonable substitute, didn't quite have the kick you in the face aspect that Badger did. So we ambled back down to the main stage for the final act called Art Brut, who we found a bit underwhelming, even drunk I wasn't that taken and Si and Wendy crashed out during their set and as soon as they finished Amy and I managed to make our way to our tent and call it a night.
The festival was shutting down on the Sunday, and although it was the best weather that we had all weekend, we made the decision to leave around mid morning to get back to Bristol and relax for the rest of the day. Despite the mud, the site still looked fantastic in the sun and it is without a great venue. The guys who run it focus quite hard on recycling and keeping the site as clean as possible and I have to say it was probablt the tidiest site I have ever seen at a festival. The weekend had given us some mixed weather, but the music on the whole had been of a high quality and I felt lucky to have seen so many up and coming bands. I'm sure the vast majority wont make it 'big time' but that's not always so bad, as it means they'll keep earning something of a living from music and playing some fantastic festivals such as 2000trees.
If you get the chance next year, please go to 2000trees, support this cool festival that has the right ideas at its heart and if you can't go, try and tell someone else about it. I have so many good things to say about the festival, chatting away to musicians at every turn, Badgers Bottom, the Leaf Lounge was a good a venue as I've been in for acoustic music, the ponds, the graffiti wall and the people who attended. There was so much that came together to make this a good weekend and I just felt glad that we had somehow found out about this wicked little festival.
And so from the sublime to the insane we head to Glade this weekend to work behind the bar down near the psy-trance stage. It should be a great weekend, it could be a swamp (like last year), or we could get sun stroke. I'll be sure to let you know.
Until next time, stay classy
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