12 DISCOVERIES FROM 2000 TREES 2025
With the strongest lineup of emerging and underground acts anywhere in the UK this summer, 2000 Trees Festival was the perfect first stop in Sherwood’s first summer of festival coverage.
Over three scorching days, we filmed, moshed, and skanked our way through some of the finest music we’ve seen so far this year. Our full-length documentary is on the way later this week, featuring the likes of Kneecap, Million Dead, and Alexisonfire, but first, here are 12 bands that aren’t in the film but absolutely blew us away:
Dream Nails
Riot punk with a massive grin, Dream Nails kicked off our weekend with warm energy, groovy basslines, and an extremely infectious energy. Fierce lyrics, but a joyful delivery, their performance looked like three best mates tearing it up together.
VEXED
Real British Tracksuit Metal. Raw djent breakdowns with swagger, vocals that shred, and zero fluff. Music for headbangers not cosplayers, VEXED provide a proudly chavvy take on hardcore that hits like a crowbar to the skull.
Battlesnake
Iron Maiden on a Monty Python budget, Battlesnake invaded the Forest with twin guitar solos, robes, and total chaos, diving into the audience, sparking rowdy circle pits, and riding on each other’s shoulders through the crowd. Catch them at The Underworld in early August!
Failstate
Kicking off the second day at 10:30am, Failstate woke us all up with an early slot, but a massive sound. Fuzzy, thick guitar tones, pounding, energetic drums, and some of the most heartfelt songwriting we heard all weekend. Heavy and beautiful, this band deserve to go far.
CLOBBER
Oi! punk sharpened like a bayonet, Charlie Longman climbed over the barrier and personally kickstarted the pit himself with rants that made Bob Vylan sound tame. CLOBBER are making hardcore feel truly dangerous again, and we’ll be covering more of their mayhem for sure.
Imogen and the Knife
In a weekend of riffs and rowdiness, Imogen and The Knife provided something else, with the Forest packed with people completely absorbed by their piano-led performance. Haunting brass and delicate arrangements, this performance was tender, elegant, and unforgettable.
Coilguns
Passionate, sweaty Swiss punks Coilguns drove a long way to give us one of the most emotional, high-energy sets of the weekend, with At The Drive-In on Jools Holland levels of chaos, and heartfelt crowd interactions with visible gratitude. We hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.
FIDLAR
Sun-drenched main stage mayhem with crystal-clear sound and hilarious lyrics, FIDLAR went down equally well with diehard fans and first time listeners, delivering chaotic stoner-punk joy perfectly, feeling like California in the ‘90s on a beach with cheap beer and no job.
Heriot
A Sherwood favourite for good reason, we filmed Heriot at their sold-out Underworld show earlier this year, and once again they hit like a bulldozer with that evil, industrial sound as frontwoman Debbie Gough screamed at the battered crowd to keep moving.
Gen And The Degenerates
Silly, sweet, and sharp as hell, Gen and The Degenerates kicked off the final day with a gloriously defiant punk set packed with killer one-liners aimed squarely at the bigots, with great grooves. A perfect way to start the final day of the festival.
Future of the Left
The ultimate underground supergroup. With Million Dead and McLusky reunion sets preceeding their peformance, Future of the Left felt like the crown jewel of the weekend, tearing it up like it’s second nature with loud, raucous, and groovy precision.
letlive.
The relentless, explosive passion from letlive. made this farewell tour stop feel historic. As Jason Butler climbed the lighting rig like a man possessed, the rest of the band gave a masterclass in why post-hardcore remains one of humanity’s most powerful vessels for raw emotion.
