Neck Deep + The XCERTS + Ho99o9 + Petrol Girls + Dead Pioneers + Battlesnake @ 2000trees Festival, Upcote Farm, Cheltenham 11th July 2026
Breakfast, Interviews and One Final Blazing Day
For the final day of 2000trees, I opt to have my breakfast on site. This means that I miss my air-conditioned start to the day, but, on the other hand, I’m fully prepared for the day’s furnace-like conditions.
I end up with a breakfast bap containing sausages, bacon and a fried egg. It’s incredibly messy but absolutely delicious! It comes in a gluten-free bun too!
Today I’m not reviewing quite as many artists as I normally would, as I have a couple of artist interviews – Eaddy from Ho99o9 and Ren Aldridge from Petrol Girls, since you ask – and I have some preparatory work to do beforehand.
Battlesnake Kill Satan in Broad Daylight
Therefore, today’s first band for me are the superb Battlesnake on the Main Stage. I reviewed them at Brighton’s Chalk a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed them. It becomes clear early in their set that their quality has not dimmed one iota.
I had wondered how they would come across playing at a festival in daylight. Their music rather requires a dark setting, but even in bright sunshine it retains its dark undercurrents.
Vocalist Sam Frank and keytarist Billy O’Key come on first, and Sam starts reading the proclamation that begins I Killed Satan. Billy has flags coming out of his shoulder pads, which remain in situ for the whole set. The band gradually troop on and the main body of the song begins.
Despite the serious nature of the lyrics, the band have a very tongue-in-cheek attitude towards their work. I definitely get the impression that they find their whole approach really quite hilarious. Thankfully, they don’t corpse, but I think they came pretty close to doing so in Brighton.
The band’s musicianship is top-notch. There’s some cracking dual lead guitar in The Battlesnake, during which Sam jumps off the bass drum and into the photo pit. Their showmanship and general desire to entertain are top-notch too. Billy goes one further than Sam and enters the mosh pit. His flags can be seen travelling around in a circle.
The gloriously titled I Am the Vomit attracts a veritable storm of crowd surfers, whom security deposit safely in the photo pit, allowing them to run around and do it all over again.
The middle eight of Nightmare King is surprisingly pretty. By this point, most of the band are playing in the photo pit. Billy is playing with his instrument on his head, which I imagine isn’t particularly easy.
Sam disappears briefly but quickly reappears for Battlesnake’s customary cover of AC/DC’s Let There Be Rock. Billy is also in his undies. Well, it is a very hot day.
There’s some very amusing audience participation involving a small child called Seth, whom the band encourage to say some heavy-rock slogans.
Battlesnake: they rocked wildly, they entertained massively, and then they left.
Dead Pioneers Speak Truth to Power
I’m a little late for Dead Pioneers’ set, and when I arrive I can hear what appears to be a presidential address emanating from the tent where they’re playing.
I assume that it’s a recording, but it isn’t – it’s Dead Pioneers’ vocalist and orator Gregg Deal. Gregg is the band’s founding member and an Indigenous American artist. The subject matter of their songs largely relates to the injustices suffered by Indigenous people over the past 250 years or so.
The first song that I hear is very anti-US presidents and may be Dead Presidents. No Kings is anti-US oligarchs. The music is heavy punk, and most of the actual singing is handled by guitarists Josh Rivera and Abe Brennan. Gregg’s contributions are largely spoken rather than sung.
Seeing Red, about Indigenous anger, starts with Gregg speaking before the band come in. Love Language is about sexual assault and is sung by special guest Ren Aldridge from Petrol Girls!
Final song Bad Indian is about “not being Indian enough”. Some of the things that Gregg has experienced himself are both awful and darkly humorous. For example, somebody once told him that he spoke “real good English” for a Native American. How would you reply? It simply beggars belief.
Dead Pioneers are an awesome live band and are well worth catching if you get the opportunity.
Petrol Girls Turn Rage Into Release
I hop over to one of the other tented stages for some feminist punk from Petrol Girls. Ren Aldridge is very pleasant in person but absolutely ferocious onstage.
She asks for women, queer and trans people to come to the front. I am in none of those categories, but I keep my position on the front rail anyway.
The current line-up is something of a reunion, but they’re not infallible. Ren makes a mistake during Monstrous, and they have to abandon it and carry on with the next song because of time constraints.
Their music isn’t all shouty punk. There’s plenty of light and shade in Survivor, for example. During Fight for Our Lives, Ren tells us about the different slogans used by the international femicide movement.
The whole set is wildly passionate, and personally I find it impossible not to be moved by it.
Sick & Tired is a non-exhaustive list of the things that make Ren feel like that. She gives an impassioned speech about Palestine while being accompanied by a surprisingly jazzy guitar riff.
The penultimate song is one of Petrol Girls’ most controversial: Baby, I Had an Abortion. The song challenges the accepted reaction to news of an abortion, which is one of sadness, sorrow and – thankfully decreasingly – shame.
As Ren tells me in her interview, it’s simply a medical procedure. It’s a healthcare option available to women.
Touch Me Again is about sexual assault. Ren leads a communal collective scream and is then moshing in the audience. The drumming on this song is ace, incidentally.
Petrol Girls are a spectacularly good live band. They play Downstairs at The Dome in Tufnell Park on 12th November. I know where I’ll be.
Ho99o9 Detonate the Tent
Next, it’s time for me to see Ho99o9 for the second time in a week or so. I know that it’s going to be another excellent set, so I’m ensconced down at the front and slightly to one side in order to escape the inevitable moshing.
Proceedings start quite calmly, with theOGM singing quietly and slowly. Then Eaddy hits the stage and it all kicks off. It stays kicked off for most of the rest of the set.
Early on, they have to stop because of a technical issue, but it’s soon fixed. There’s a sample of Crystal Waters’ Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless), which soon leads into the ferocity of Sub-Zer0. Likewise, a sample of Frank Sinatra’s My Way leads into Dope Dealerz.
During this song, Eaddy and theOGM have an almost comic routine, which possibly makes the serious subject matter easier to take on board.
The band are told that they only have time for one more song. The crowd boo. Eaddy tries to make their last song count by climbing one of the tent’s main support columns and singing from up there, but the sound is cut.
It’s a muted end to an awesome set.
The XCERTS Step Through a ’90s Portal
Next, there’s a set from Scottish band The XCERTS. Their music sounds like 1990s US college rock. It’s okay, but there’s nothing in the least bit new here. The band have chosen a particular style to write in and have stuck to it.
Somebody yells: “Boring!” They may just have a point. I feel as if I’ve just walked through a portal into 1993.
They tell us that they’re going to play their new album in its entirety. That’s not always the best approach with a festival crowd, but let’s hear it.
rinse repeat. has lots of loud-quiet-loud, and I’m still feeling as if I’ve heard it all before. However, pretty ugly – actually introduced as “Pretty Fucking Ugly” – is markedly different and considerably better than anything they’ve played so far this evening.
Much of the album continues in a similar fashion. Perhaps they’re finally dragging themselves kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
The album is called i think i want to go home now. Check it out.
Generic Pop-Punk, Maximum Entertainment
Headliners Neck Deep have previously been described as “generic pop-punk”. They obviously enjoyed this description so much that they have it emblazoned in massive letters across the stage backdrop.
They’re certainly very bouncy and are one of the most mobile bands that I’ve seen in a while. There’s really nothing not to like here. They may indeed be generic pop-punk, but they’re good generic pop-punk!
They get their first crowd surfers early on. Apparently, it’s the first time that they’ve played here for ten years, so I guess it’s a kind of homecoming.
The songs are not half bad. Lowlife has goofy lyrics but a tasty guitar solo. Singer Ben Barlow is not impressed by the mosh pit. There are apparently “too many guys”. He asks for a “girl pit”. This is apt, as the next song is She’s a God.
Take Me with You is about aliens. They should possibly be careful about what they wish for.
Prior to Gold Steps, a song about unity, Ben bellows: “Free Palestine! Fuck Nigel Farage!” Well, those are two sentiments that I wholeheartedly support.
Let’s be honest here: you’re not really going to learn anything from listening to Neck Deep records. They really are all about entertainment.
They’re an incredibly entertaining live band, and I guess that’s what makes them the perfect festival headliner, even if they are indeed slightly generic pop-punk.
This brings our 2000trees coverage to a close for another year, and we’re already counting down the days until we can do it all again. No other festival feels quite like Trees. For a few glorious days, it becomes one huge family in the middle of nowhere, having the time of their lives to a soundtrack of incredible music.
That experience would not be possible without the fantastic stewards, security teams and staff working tirelessly across the site. They catch endless streams of crowd surfers before they disappear headfirst into the abyss, only to send them safely back into the crowd to do it all over again. They stand in the baking sun, help those who may have enjoyed one drink too many cross the tracks safely, and keep everything moving without fuss.
The car park attendants get thousands of people into place as quickly as possible, leaving us to concentrate on the finer things in life – pitching tents, finding friends and drinking beer. Most of these people do their jobs without expecting thanks from the crowds passing through, but their hard work never goes unnoticed. 2000Trees staff – we salute you!
Until next year, Trees. See you in the pit!
Already looking towards next summer? Super Early Bird tickets for 2000trees 2027 – the festival’s 20th-anniversary edition – are still available as this goes to press. Don’t waste time wondering who might be playing. 2000trees delivers a stellar line-up year after year, and the festival’s atmosphere, setting and commitment to brilliant alternative music make it one of the easiest festivals in the calendar to recommend.
Grab your tickets HERE before the next release sells out or the price rises.
You can find out more about 2000trees on the festival’s official website HERE.
WORDS: MARK KELLY PHOTOS: SARA-LOUISE BOWREY / MAGDA CAMPAGNE
