Its once again the most wonderful time of the year. 2000Trees is back. Fast becoming the in place to be, the exclusive early entry Wednesday opens the festival gates to a select lucky few. Offering the chance to see a handful of bands, select the best spot to pitch your tent, and settle in before a chaotic weekend of running between stages to catch as many bands as humanly possible on the stacked line up. For those in the know, this is now the only way to do trees.
Kicking off our musical antics, Southampton punk band BUDS. Owning a strong crowd on The Word stage, it’s no wonder there has been whispers and talk of them being a band to catch. Kicking things off with Happy To Be Here. With an instant hook you can almost instantly feel what this band are about, and that you’re in for a good time. Boasting that classing punk rock sing along style, and fast pace , its a good job its day one as we’re here and full of energy.
With less than 5000 monthly listeners on Spotify, theres a real buzz that this group are just about to go over the edge on truly blowing up with more and more new fans. Medicinal Cathedral offers another stand out track of the set before diving into Picking Wounds, a slightly heavier offering in parts released just days ahead of the festival that goes down an absolute storm with the crowd. Bringing things full circle and giving us a moment to catch our breath, were ending things on another absolute banger, Building Blocks. A proper sing along anthem and an excellent way to end a cracking set. From start to finish BUDS. knew exactly what they were doing and they’re a band that absolutely need to be invited back to perform a bigger stage and longer set.
BUDS at 2000trees 2025 by Snap rock and pop
Quickly on the rise and dominating the scene, Unpeople are once again back at 2000trees and setting up their mark as festival regulars. Kicking off the first of two sets for the weekend, we’re given a cover of Beastie Boys Classic (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party). With a top quality crowd, and an excellent band this is one of many moments fomo would be kicking in if you hadn’t got a Wednesday ticket.
Keeping on the theme of covers we’re given another to get down and dirty to in the forest with Weezers Hash Pipe. Giving it the perfect Unpeople spin, this is just a glimpse of whats in store for the rest of the weekend and the main stage set that will be so eagerly anticipated. Getting down to their own music, were really shown just why the band are exploding and gaining fans at an unprecedented pace. Offering a beautifully slick performance as a unit combined with great interaction and crowd-hype capabilities, theres not a single doubt from anyone in attendance that we’ll be seeing these guys in a headline slot sooner that you might think.
Unpeople at 2000trees 2025 by Jez Pennington
Getting to a moment many have been waiting for, the Wednesday night headliner for the Forest stage. None other than Hot Milk. Another firm favorite at 2000Trees and a sure reason many secured their Wednesday ticket. Boasting banging emo anthems to sing along to, there really feels no better way to close the day than gathering in the gorgeous late night surroundings of the forest to get down and dirty to some excellent riffs. While were obviously mostly here for the music, it goes without saying there are always some stand out moments when members are chatting to the crowd and come out with the most outrageously memorable things. Hannah ‘Han’ Mee strongly delivered on this front giving the crowd an enormous eruption of laughter by demanding we “open up this pit wider than my arsehole on poppers.”
While its an excellent laugh, the first disappointment of the day comes in the form of the sound at the stage not being particularly great. At moments its quiet and others its fuzzy and hard to make out whats being said or sung. Something that hasn’t been an issue for the entirety of the day and appears to just be one of those unfortunate spooky glitches. It absolutely doesn’t dampen the effort or spirits of Hot Milks performance on their part, but does mean we are left wanting more or a second slot over the weekend to rectify this dis justice.
Heading out of the forest and back a few rows into the tents you’re able to hear much clearer than inside the actual stage setting which feels like a small win. Although it sucks to not be getting right in the heart of the crowd or the pits, at least you’re still able to enjoy the music; especially when the band takes time to bring up important issues and shout out important acts to catch over the weekend. Particularly highlighting and giving context to The American Machine. Noting “it’s not anti American but, anti arsehole, anti hate, America can keep its weird shit over there and don’t want to be a part of a war machine”
Hot Milk at 2000trees 2025 by Snap rock and pop
Finishing off the live music for the evening, Hot Milk close out on Glass Spiders. Another sing along emo bop infused with some electro beats. The perfect track to get everyone geared up and ready for antics at the legendary silent disco.
Main header photo by Jez Pennington
Pre-sale tickets for 2000trees 2026 are on sale now at the official website.
