LIVE: 2000 Trees Festival 2017 // Friday

Rhiannon-Skye Boden
Jul 21, 2017
5 min read

Photo: Cai Dixon

Is there anything more surreal than the second day of a festival? Being woken up by the sheer power of the heat created as you’re baked alive in your tent, glaring enviously at the day-trippers with their clean hair and stubbornly un-hungover bodies, glaring even harder at the weekenders who dare to break the silent, no-getting-up-before-1PM rule in order to complement their morning berry smoothie with 8AM yoga in the Axiom tent. I mean, I’ll be honest here, the real issue wasn’t even the yoga: it’s the fact that they brought their dedicated yoga clothes with them.

As always, the second day of a festival meant a 100% increase in both children and fancy dress, with the unintended consequence of a 100% increase in toddlers laughing at sunburned Ursula’s and beer box helmet-wearing men tripping over their own beers. That aside, by midday everyone was just about full enough of vegan duck wraps and/or cheesy chips to function well enough to focus on the music, which was of course why we were all there in the first place.

Bravely taking on what I fondly call the “Hangover Recovery Death Slot”, Ducking Punches did exactly the opposite of what their name suggests, and gave the crowd 40 minutes of good, solid, UK pop-punk to shake them out of their sleepiness. Though the lyrics leaned a bit too heavily on the genre cliche handbook, their newness and unabashed enthusiasm shone through, with a well placed speech about mental health and the quietly hopeful Bad Few Weeks not going amiss either.

Photo: Cai Dixon

Then it was time to get noisy, with both Vukovi and Strange Bones delivering unrelenting, ferocious sets driven home by great riffs and a knot of truly dedicated fans. They took different tacks, with Vukovi’s reputation ensuring a packed out tent way in advance, and the first chords of Strange Bones’ opening number being enough to send people running in to see what the hell they were missing.

Photo: Cai Dixon

They diverged in style too, with Vukovi’s frontwoman Janine basically scaring the crowd into action with nothing but the sheer power of her voice, while Strange Bones’ few words approach meant all the focus was on the music. Animal and La Di Da got the hype they so richly deserved, and in the end both shows ended exactly the same way: the crowd leaving exhausted but thoroughly pleased with themselves.

Photo: Gareth Bull

The festival’s efforts to be more diverse showed up in the smaller stages too, with Louise Distras opening a brilliant abrasive set with the words “Boys, girls and everyone in between!” and a punk-rock spirit that didn’t once falter. All dyed-hair and spitfire attitude, the motley crew rattled through a collection of songs dedicated to the weirdos, complete with a reference to moshers that sent everyone right back to 2009 in the best possible way.

Photo: Gareth Bull

Not to be outdone on the heaviness scale, over on the mainstage ex-Reuben member Jamie Lenman seemed determined to exhaust and confuse his considerable crowd in equal measure, with mind-meltingly heavy breakdowns and hilarious trolling apparently his weapons of choice. Top moments included him picking on individual members of the crowd who had the audacity to tie their shoes mid-mosh pit, and delivering a soliloquy that went something along the lines of: “Do you guys like serious-fucking-evil-stomping-sludgy-heavy-metal? Good, because this is… totally not that. Just kidding! It totally is - hit it!” Even in his quieter moments, when he delved into Muscle Memory, there was a glee in his eye that suggested we couldn’t know what was coming next - and the audience completely ate it up.

Photo: Cai Dixon

Over on the Cave Stage tent, everybody’s favourite nostalgia machines Deaf Havana managed to spin a simple misunderstanding into one of the most hilarious moments of the whole weekend, when a Facebook poll voting on the setlist accidentally asked for Oasis’ Cigarettes and Alcohol instead of the band’s own Nicotine And Alcohol Saved My Life. The band compiled, dutifully playing the Manchester classic in full, a move made even better by the fact that they’d already played Wonderwall in their earlier Forest Sessions acoustic set.

Back on the mainstage, Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes were busy reminding returning fans exactly what they were capable of, and doing a pretty good job of bringing any new fans along for the ride. Wild Flowers was turned abruptly into an unlikely feminist anthem when prefaced with Frank’s insistence that he “refused to let his daughter grow up in a world where she didn’t feel safe crowdsurfing”, and a women’s-only crowd surfing session ensued to massive success. Purses and phones were lost, and each time Frank stopped the crowd to find them, flat-out refusing to be the reason any girl had a bad first crowd surfing experience.

Photo: Cai Dixon

Admittedly, he also had to take control for less positive reasons, stopping mid-song to wade into the crowd and give a couple of fighting idiots a good old telling off - but aside from that it was just good clean fun, Vampires, and an around-the-sound-desk circle pit that trumped even Glastonbury’s.

After an emotional The Wonder Years set in which the lyrics of Devil In My Bloodstream, Passing Through A Screen Door, Don’t Let Me Cave In and Local Man Ruins Everything could all be heard from even the most distant part of the campsite, it was time for Nothing But Thieves, who celebrated their first ever headline slot in undeniable style. Despite “not being sure anyone would actually turn up”

Photo: Cai Dixon

Opening with Painkiller, they glided through a set that was only interrupted by Jeremy Corbyn chants and admiration for the other bands, with offerings from September 8th’s newest offering I’m Not Made By Design going over equally as well as some of the more throwback material. Last Orders was a fitting conclusion, and one that rounded off the night with such incredible falsetto that even the kids in the back took notice, and then it was time to head over to Beach Slang for one last party.

Now, most of their set was over by the time I got there, but if anything that only served to prove their genius. In essentially the last 10 minutes, they delivered a deliciously rock and roll version of The Pixies’ Where Is My Mind, a hilariously accurate parody of My Own Worst Enemy by Lit, the Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s Give It Away and, of course, Wonderwall. As if that wasn’t enough, alongside the relentless upbeat, semi-surreal punk, we were also treated to a list of names frontman Alex had been compared to, which turned out to be the perfect (if unorthodox) way to bring the second night to a close.