2000 Trees 2024 Preview

2000 Trees is a festival that means a great deal to me. I first went as a volunteer in 2010, then became a stage manager for a few years, but now I get to go and enjoy it as a punter and discover new music. 

The festival was pivotal for my first forays into math-rock and post-rock and it helped me discover bands such as And So I Watch You From Afar, Maybeshewill, 65daysofstatic and Three Trapped Tigers, so it will always have a special place in my heart.

When I first went, I knew one person: Sam, who I now run Portals Festival with. These days, I know so many people who go to the festival each year that I can’t keep count. It’s a wonderful little community of rock music fanatics.

Here are my top 5 top tips for bands slightly lower down the bill that you need to catch at the festival:

Palm Reader - Friday 20:10 @ The Cave

2000 Trees Festival seems like a very fitting place for this innovative post-hardcore/alternative-metal band to play their last ever gig, given their history at the festival, having performed so many times over the years.

Faces will be melted. Riffs will be chugged. Singalongs will be had long into the night…and maybe a tear or two will be shed. The unmissable set of the weekend.

CLT DRP - Friday 19:20 @ NEU Stage

They describe themselves as an electro-punk band, but CLT DRP (pronounced ‘clit drip’) are so much more. Truly one of the most exciting young bands in the UK, their unique blend of glitchy electronica with pounding rhythms and fierce feminist vocals somehow form a cohesive sound something akin to a 2024 version of The Prodigy, with a bit of Rage Against the Machine, L7 and Death Grips in there for good measure.

This band is going places.

Blank Atlas - Thursday 10:30 @ NEU Stage

Having seen them perform on the Portals stage supporting El Moono at Paper Dress Vintage recently, I can confidently say that Blank Atlas are immensely fun live.

It’s just great rock music. Innovative and captivating with great riffs and choruses that fans of Biffy Clyro, Young Legionnaire, Arcane Roots and Press To Meco will surely enjoy.

‘68 - Saturday 12:00 @ Main Stage

The American noise-rock duo were one of the highlights of Portals Festival 2023. Some may know frontman Josh Scoggin’s former band The Chariot, and ‘68 provide a tighter, more rock-based sound than the hardcore legends. 

Their 2017 album Two Parts Viper first drew my attention to the band, and their releases since then have been impressively consistent. Fans of Botch, Every Time I Die or Metz should pay extra attention to this band.

PEACH - Satursay 12:30 @ NEU Stage

Bristol-based alt-rock/grunge 4-piece PEACH released their debut, self-titled, album in 2023 and they’re off to an incredibly strong start. Combining the swagger of desert-rock bands like Queens of the Stone Age with the rage of Bikini Kill, the band are very exciting ones to watch.

Frontwoman Ellie Godwin has already played Portals Festival with her other band No Violet, and hopefully PEACH will grace the Portals stage before long as well. 

All of Team Portals will be at Trees this year so if you're going, we'll see you at Upcote Farm!