Rock Sound

Funeral For A Friend, 2000trees Festival

Live Review: The fact that a Funeral For A Friend show has become such an anticipated event is incredibly wonderful.
Coming back together whenever the time is right, and making sure what they are doing has a special reverence, this headline slot at 2000trees is just nine days shy of it being a year since their last show, that being at Cardiff Castle. And based on the roar of the crowd as ‘All The Rage’ kicks into life, it’s a very welcome and long-awaited appearance indeed.
What follows is a pitch-perfect and powerful showcase of some of the finest songs to come out of the British alternative scene this millennium. From an impassioned ‘Streetcar’ to a bludgeoning ‘Bullet Theory’, a buoyant ‘Into Oblivion (Reunion)’ to a vibrant ‘Juneau’ (with a special guest appearance from Neck Deep’s Ben Barlow), it is a smorgasbord of influential and intense epics, sending the thousands in attendance into timeless raptures.
With this being the third festival season that he has fronted the ensemble, Lucas Woodland really has never felt more at home within these melodies, the smile plastered across his face throughout a surefire sign that the novelty of being in this position hasn’t even started to wane. And his enthusiasm and energy are clearly infectious, as the whole band push themselves to their absolute limit, losing themselves in their creations like it’s 2003 all over again.
And that sentimental value of that comes to a head during the closing gambit of ‘Escape Artists Never Die’, as Lucas bellows his last melody and leaves the stage to let the five remaining members bring it home, completely in tune with each other, musically and emotionally.
Knowing that these best friends can still send shockwaves through a crowd with their music is something to be treasured. And if their current set-up means that we get at least one FFAF show every Summer for the foreseeable future, then the world will also feel that little bit brighter.

✏️ Jack Rogers
📷 Mac

KNIVES, 2000trees Festival

LIVE REVIEW: If you want to see what the art of honing your craft looks like, KNIVES are exhibit number one, and then some.
A product of Bristol’s vibrant and vicious local scene, their time spent over the last 18 months sharpening every one of their edges to a fine point has allowed key moments in their ascent, such as this appearance on The Marshall Stage, to feel utterly essential.
As chaotic as they are on record, on stage, this six-pronged assault on the senses is a whole other beast, stalking the space before with a caustic intent. Every blistering riff, every spine-tingling saxophone fill, every barked refrain is delivered like it’s the last any of the band will ever play, and the result is impossible to take your retinas off.
And such dedication to the cause is clearly appreciated by those who frequent 2000trees, as more and more flock to see what all the ruckus is about.
It’s in this that KNIVES will continue to win, over and over again. Exuding swagger and savageness in equally compelling measure, they have all the ingredients in place to go from the underground to the whole wide world.
Your new favourite band, whether you know it or not.

✏️ Jack Rogers
📷 .co

Delilah Bon, 2000 Trees Festival

LIVE REVIEW: There are moments in life where all we need is a chance to release. To let go of everything that is on our shoulders, and scream into the abyss with those in the same boat.
Delilah Bon has carved out the perfect environment for such an exorcism of anger to take place, and based on the number of fists being raised in the air during this victorious unburdening at The Cave, it’s clear just how necessary it is.
In the live arena, her brand of violent and visceral crossover hip-hop/metal feels utterly corrosive and incendiary, every proud call for equality all the more brash and every rattling bar even more slick and savage. It makes for an atmosphere that is beyond boiling point, everyone in attendance refusing to hold back in their own forms of expression, be that with tear-stained cheeks or nails digging into palms, reaching true fever pitch during unifying chants stretching from front to back of the tent that accompany a deafening ‘Dead Men Don’t Rape’.
It’s a set that serves as a reminder of how important Delilah’s work is. By speaking a little bit louder and proudly unapologetic, it allows everyone to feel heard. And the more that all of us are heard, the better place this world is to exist in.
It really doesn’t get much more vital than that.

✏️ Jack Rogers
📷 Magda Campagne

The Bronx, 2000 Trees Festival

LIVE REVIEW: “Are we feeling dangerous?” Matt Caughthran delivers devilishly. He already knows the answer, to be honest, because just seconds before he posed the question, somebody had already climbed the pole in the middle of this packed Axiom, simply because the riffs being churned out compelled them to. That’s just what happens when The Bronx are in town, and following on from a beautiful Mariachi El Bronx soothing the soul earlier in the day, it’s clear there’s a lot of pent-up energy still there to be let off.
The band’s brand of raucous, rallying punk rock is the sort of cement that holds this festival together, and the sheer number of people letting go of all inhibitions and putting their all in is a testament to how true that statement is.
‘Sh*tty Future’ is utter carnage, ‘History’s Stranglers’ is groove-riddled and ‘Curb Feelers’ is soulfully brash, but it is during a deafening ‘Knifeman’ that the root of what has allowed the band to stay at the very top for so long is revealed.
As every soul in the vicinity raises their hands, wraps them around whoever is next to them - friend, stranger or somewhere in between - and jumps like it’s the last thing they will ever do to the song’s visceral crescendo, it is a display of unity incarnate.
The sort that cannot be bought or found, but only comes from a deep-rooted love and appreciation for the life-altering power that this music embodies.
Never early, never late, always on time. That’s The Bronx, baby, and it’s always gonna be that way.

✏️ Jack Rogers
📷 Gareth Bull