REVIEW: 2000 Trees Festival [Festival Fever]

REVIEW: 2000 Trees Festival

Posted on July 23, 2008 12:56 PM
2 comments

2000 Trees Festival, 2008
Review by Cheryl Jacobs

THE FESTIVAL IN A NUTSHELL

Friend making potential:
As it’s a smaller festival-bonding is more likely, especially when crammed into the intimate Leaf Lounge Tent.

Target audience in attendance:
Very mixed crowd. Some families. Average age group =25-30. On appearance, seemed to be less ethnic diversities than ,would, say get at a renowned festival like Glastonbury. Probably attracts lots of locals.

Quality of the food:
Mixed. The crepes were nice, and there was also a great range of smoothies and juices to be purchased. There was an emphasis on healthy eating. My friend had chick pea curry-thought that was a nice festival food alternative. She liked that v.much. Fast food such as chips and greasy stir frys were to a pretty average standard.

Celebrities spotted:
2000 Trees wasn’t a posey festival. It’s the type of event for people really into their music, and who want to discover tomorrow’s next big thing. I didn’t spot one single Z-list celeb. Art Brut’s lead singer Eddie Argos mingled with the festival crowd before taking to the stage.

VIP blagging opportunities:
None! A lot of the performers mingled in with the crowds, so was no real need to try and sneak backstage.

Line-up for beer:
The q’s for alcohol were ok. There were two different tents selling booze, which lessened the load. Food q’s were busy throughout the day. My friend queued at a burger van for over half hour.

Weirdest thing you saw:
Nothing abnormally weird, just some very eccentric people. There was a guy dressed in a bright, floral jacket, tight pants, and a sign on his bum reading ‘DANGER-KEEP OUT’. Quite a few fellas dressed up as women. Lots of people in funny headwear. One lady had made a hat out of straw thatch (and looked like she’d tried to create a small thatched roof on her head).

AND WE SAID THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC

Highlights:

Headline act Art Brut were amazing. Due to the damp weather conditions, there were problems with sound equipment, eventually leading to a very delayed stage time. However, sensing audience anxiousness, lead singer Eddie came on the stage and started performing juggling, inviting the audience to chuck fruit and bottles at him so he’d have props to throw up in the air. For a guy those music has been feted by the likes of NME, Spin, and Rolling Stone, it was refreshing to see him connect so easily with his audience, even without a musical smokescreen.

Art Brut’s set was a delight from start to finish. Eddie’s dry wit, and speaky singing style (think Jarvis Cocker) won’t be to everyone’s taste, but they were one of a select few bands, who were able to generate a genuine atmosphere and sense of fun within the tiny festival.

In a more general sense, it was great to see some bright new stars shine. Particularly good were The Blisters (a London based pop/indie band-slightly Beatles-esque), who played the Leaf Lounge tent. Their set was pretty intimate, and got a great reception. Imperial Leisure- a ska/reggae line-up with a Madness style vibe going on, were also crowd pleasers, and generated some much needed energy amongst festival goers, who, if were anything like me, felt the day start to drag around 2pm.

Lowlights:
I found These New Puritians very disappointing. Like Art Brut they also experienced some sound problems. However, no excuse for a sulky and arrogant performance. They looked disengaged from their audience throughout.

Another feted band by the likes of Observer Music Monthly and NME, I expected better things. I hope they put a bit more effort and pizzazz into the set they perform at next week’s Benicassim festival in Valencia.

All round, the festival could’ve done with just one more big name act. Some of the unsigned indie bands were a bit run of the mill, and hard to get excited about.

Related links:
2000 Trees official site.
Festival tickets.

Comments (2)

andy
Great festival with a lovely, relaxed atmosphere, good value for money and Frank Turner was amazing. I'll definitely be back next year!
Posted on July 23, 2008 5:02 PM

Sass
So gutted I missed this fest - I heard great things. Next year I'll be swinging from the trees with you all!
Posted on July 25, 2008 1:38 PM