Friday 16th until Sunday 18th July 2010 @ Upcote Farm, Cheltenham
Featuring Performances From: Frank Turner, Sonic Boom Six, Johnny Flynn And The Sussex Wit, 65 Days Of Static, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Subways

The atmosphere at this year’s 2000Trees Festival was electric. As the festival is quite distant from Cheltenham town centre, you really do find yourself in a different world; a place far away from everything. At night you’d see flying lanterns flooding the sky, and acoustic sing a longs throughout the campsite, I don’t know what else you would need! Half the festival goers were dressed up in animal costumes as part of a fancy dress competition and this added a fun element to the festival and really did make it rather unique.

Frank Turner was the first band we saw and he brought the festival to life! He has played 2000Trees before so he knows exactly what to do. His set was rammed with classic sing-alongs like Photosynthesis, Love Ire And Song and Long Live The Queen, he even played a new song in which he had everyone singing along to straight away, complete genius.

Saturday arrived and the first band we saw were Sonic Boom Six. They may have lost a guitarist this year but they are back in full force, borrowing the saxophone player from Kids Can’t Fly and they did a great job in getting everyone moving, even two men dressed up in giraffe costumes were having a little skank! Mumford And Sons need to lookout, Johnny Flynn And The Sussex Wit are on the stage next and they are stunning! Providing the crowd with nu-folk sing alongs, they are also one of the reasons I love attending festivals like this; you get to discover so much new music and this is certainly a band you should all check out.

65 Days Of Static hit the stage soon afterwards and instantly everyone’s jumping. They may have only played three songs but they all lasted a long time and they did great job in keeping the crowd interested. Those of you who know 65 Days will know there is no singing in their songs so they’re always such a unique and fun band to watch. Bombay Bicycle Club step things up next with their indie anthems and it is clear from the crowd and the atmosphere that there is a big buzz about this band. I have a feeling that in a year’s time they could well be selling out arenas.

The Subways are no strangers to festivals but the brilliant thing about their slot at 2000Trees Festival is this is the first time they have ever headlined one. They didn’t disappoint, putting all their energy into every song and the whole crowd were singing along. Their new songs also sounded killer, so I think The Subways will once again be flooding our radio stations! They were a perfect end to one of the best ‘smaller’ festivals here in the UK. Here’s to next year when the festival celebrates its 5th year!

www.twothousandtreesfestival.co.uk

Andrew Dex
Photos by Kirsty Cheney