2000Trees (Friday): Taking Back Sunday Headline an Alt-Rock Banquet in the Sunshine [Photos]

Day Two (or three if you’ve been here since Wednesday) and the 2000trees line-up for today again shows why this is one of the places to be if you want a festival which perfectly combines the depth, quality and diversity of the alternative music scene.

A bit more to the point, alt-metal band Mallavora kick off proceedings on the mainstage. Having just signed to Church Road Records, the band is riding on the crest of a wave, and their modern metal anthems deliver the first impressive name to note from today’s bill. Elsewhere on the main stage, Press Club provide the day with an almost perfect set of summery tunes while masked nu-metal terrors BLACKGOLD whip up a frenzy. Bringing nu-metal screaming and kicking into a new era, BLACKGOLD have already proved themselves to be a dominant force in the modern metal scene; they’re now here to cause carnage on the festival circuit as well.

The Cave Stage saw things get a bit wilder as Kaonashi delivered a set that is as mad as it is chaotic, while Australian heavyweights Terminal Sleep didn’t hold back as they unleashed both barrels on a pit that is more than welcoming. New nu-metal crew Graphic Nature are becoming a regular on the UK festival circuit, and it’s easy to see why their stock is rising. Savage, sinister shards of nu-metal emotion pour from the stage, with vocalist Harvey Freeman in particular putting in an outstanding performance packed with raw emotion.

Some artists are perfect for the surroundings of Upcote Farm, and Julia Wolfe is one of them. Calming, gentle sounds fill the air at the Forest Sessions Stage as you find yourself rapidly forgetting about the grind of daily life. One of the highlights of the day saw Frank Turner’s punk rock, pre-solo career outfit Million Dead draw the crowds on The Axiom stage. A shift back to his roots, Turner is a familiar and very popular face in these parts with the 2025 crowd more than appreciative of this raucous trip to his early days.

Again, not your usual festival fodder, there is something about the surroundings of Upcote Farm that makes total sense to have a band on like Coheed & Cambria. Slightly quirky, their proggy, unpredictable sound sits perfectly with a packed main stage. Frontman Claudio Sanchez oversees the career-spanning, jaw-dropping audio experience, and while he might be the focal point for the whole experience, there are plenty of moments throughout their seventy-minute set where your eyes and ears have no idea what is coming next. Following that, back on the Axiom stage, the highly-rated Witch Fever justify their lofty position on the 2000trees bill with a set that is both haunting and hypnotic. As with the prog rock masterclass over on the main stage, Witch Fever might not be the first name you’d put on a summer festival bill; however, on a line-up as diverse as the 2000trees one, they really should be.

Like yesterday, the polar opposite choices of headliners for the Friday night provided the 2000trees crowd with a mouth-watering choice. On the mainstage, New Jersey emo kings Taking Back Sunday wrapped things up with a set that, given the past two days’ experiences, just didn’t hit the ball out of the park. Yes, they had the big emo anthems like “MakeDamnSure” to pull out of the bag, but while a catalogue full of those to choose from should have lit the fuse under the Friday night party, the end result was a bit flat. The same couldn’t be said for metallic hardcore ragers Heriot, but then the Swindon-based band simply don’t do bad shows. With screams that peel paint at fifty yards, vocalist Debbie Gough and her bandmates howl through an astonishing fifty-minute headline set to wrap up another fantastic day.

2000Trees returns to Upcote Farm from July 8th 2026 to July 11th 2026. Get more info and ticket details here.

Our photographer, Maryleen Photography, brought back this photo gallery from day one. Check it out here:

2000 Trees (Day 2) @ Upcote Farm (Withington, UK) on July11th, 2025

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