5 REASONS WE'RE EXCITED FOR 2000 TREES - #4

As festival’s go, once that ticket is yours and you’ve got your head around the clashes the last thing anybody gets excited about is the concept of actually camping, and all of the nonsense it brings with it. But not at 2000 Trees Festival.

#4 - CAMPING

There are more camping areas at 2000 Trees 2016 than ever before and they are all placed within a nice walking distance of each other, the car park and the stages. 

They’re also all based on an incline which means that the further back you go, the better your view. Right now that view is incredible with miles and miles of fields and wildlife out in the surroundings but the immediate scene of stages, vendors arriving and the crew beginning to start the busiest day of the week.

Once you guys all get here, that view is going to be out of this world.

I’m also happy to say that the ground here is soft enough to get your tents up without having too much of a fight on your hands and if you do, or if tent life just gets too much for you, you can always retire to a hay bale or hammock in the forest.

With all of that it stands to reason that something has to be shockingly bad right? Most festival goers would agree that the worst part of camping is that you have to actively psych yourself up to use the toilets. Yeah, not here.

2000 Trees have won awards for their toilet facilities. I’ve seen them be installed, and they are really very nice. Flushable and everything, so no need to panic!

And although I can’t yet confirm this for myself I have it on very good authority from veterans of 2000 Trees and its incredible organisers that you are all lovely and friendly people who have spent the whole weekend, for the past 10 years, being ultimately wonderful to each other.

So there’s really no need to panic about the camping situation here. In fact, just get incredibly excited because by tomorrow, it will have all started! 

2000 Trees Set-Up Diary - Day Four (the one where we had to go shopping)

This is being posted at such an ungodly hour because today is the last day of festival set-up before the gates are cracked open and the weekend of incredible music begins.

The phrase ‘calm before the storm’ definitely comes to mind when thinking about yesterday. The crew were still hard at work building and stocking bars, making and hanging health and safety signs and generally pulling the whole site together.

For me, the Office Manager, Kristina and VIP Bar staff member Nick, it was a shopping day.

Shopping Trip 

Wickes, Cheltenham

5/07/2016

I have learnt many things whilst I’ve been on site but one thing that I never gave much thought to is how much stuff a team like this can get through! From as much pipe insulation as we could get our hands on to a massive hunk of cheese, it takes a lot of stuff to get a festival up and running.

In particular, we have got through a lot of food, plates, bowls and paper towels because we’re a big team, engaging in lots of manual labour and thoroughly spoilt. That is owed, in no small part, to John.

John

Upcote Farm, Withington

5/07/2016

 John is the genius behind Smokin’ Hot Tamales, which will be pitched over by The Cave for the whole festival. But by the time you all get here, John will have been serving us for weeks. Every night since I arrived he has cooked up a feast from Thai Green Curry’s to Spag Bol to Ramen Noodle Soup. Washed down with seemingly unlimited beer and cider, it’s been the perfect way to end every working day and for that we all thank him.

Once we got back from shopping we laminated some itinerary’s and maps and headed out to see what had happened with the site since we left.

We know by now that a lot can happen in a day but by the time we headed out on to the site it all just looks more like a festival.

The last of the fencing and panelling has gone up making clear paths from section to section and you’ll be happy to know that the bar, which is now repaired, put in place and decorated with vinyl, has been packed out from wall to wall with beer kegs.

The finishing touches still need to be made on the Main Stage (no ramp yet) but it has now taken it’s almost final form, looking like the badass host that it is.

Main Stage

Upcote Farm, Withington

5/07/2016

The Neu stage has a stage, the first that I have climbed up on to so far. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. It’s crazy to think these tents are going to be filled up with people so soon.

New Stage - Stage View

Wickes, Cheltenham

5/07/2016

But with more and more people arriving now it became imperative that we had a grasp on who was on site so members of the team have been deployed to the front gate to keep on eye on the goings on. As you can imagine, it's not the liveliest of jobs so the people stationed there tend to keep themselves preoccupied in other ways - like making amazing sketches of each other which lead to great photo ops later on...

Alex's Sketch  

Upcote Farm, Withington

5/07/2016

 Today the sound gear will arrive, cars will be moved, radios will be labelled and wristbands will be dished out before our final team drinks (beer pong was banned, it was far too intense) as the only people on site.

5 REASONS WE'RE EXCITED FOR 2000 TREES FESTIVAL - #4

So I think we’ve made it perfectly clear that we are pretty darn excited for eating more good food then we have ever eaten before at 2000 Trees Festival next weekend. But believe it or not we don’t plan on spending the entire time stuffing our faces (it’s pretty tempting though).

After all of that glorious festival food we’ll need something to wash it all down with. Seen as it’s a festival, it’s probably best that something has a percentage.

#4 - Booze.

First of all, Fireball will be the official shot of 2000 Trees Festival. Yeah you read that right, this festival has an official shot. The smooth liqueur with a natural cinnamon flavour and pure Canadian whisky will be available at all of the festival’s bars, and we’ve heard that this stuff is gloriously deadly.

I’d say that we’re off to an amazing start but for the lager devotees among you, you have nothing to fear.

Cotswold Lager will be on tap throughout the festival and both Pistonhead and Pistonhead Full amber will be sold in cans at the Forest bar.

Just the fact that 2000 Trees has a ‘Forest’ Bar is enough to make me cry with excitement. But if you think that sounds wonderful you wait until you hear about the most exciting booze concept I have ever heard of.

The Rumbrella.

Yeah. That’s right. 2000 Trees Festival will have it’s own dedicated Rum Bar and, if you wanted to find me, that’s where I’ll be.

An all new addition to the festival, The Rumbrella will be serving a full selection of rum varieties as well as some other specially selected spirits. So far we know that El Ritual will be served and Idle Saint Mint Moonshine.

Would you really be able to live with yourself if you missed out on all of that?  

  

5 REASONS WE'RE EXCITED FOR 2000 TREES FESTIVAL - #5

So far this summer we have been delighted to bring you coverage from both Slam Dunk South and Download Festival. We have had the time of our lives and seen some amazing bands that have blown us away. But, we’re not finished yet. Three is the magic number after all.

We are extremely proud to say that on Saturday morning we will be throwing on our wellies, rolling up our sleeves and driving to Upcote Farm in Gloucester, Cheltenham to give a helping hand setting up 2000 Trees Festival.

It is a huge honour to have the chance to do this and we can’t wait to give you all a sneak peek into what it really takes to set up such a momentous music event such as 2000 Trees.

There are an unlimited amount of reasons to get excited for 2000 Trees, especially since it’s bound to be extra spectacular on this, it’s tenth anniversary year!

But we’ve mulled it over and managed (with difficulty) to put together the top five reasons why we can’t wait.

#5 - Food

Food is a contentious issue in Louder Now HQ purely because I’ve been on a diet (successfully I might add) since September. It’s not awfully rock ‘n’ roll of me but a lot of planning and effort went into making sure that I was as good as I could possibly be both at Slam Dunk and Download.

It has become apparent that this will not be possible at 2000 Trees.

So far we have been teased with this mouth-watering selection:

Smokin’ Hot Tamales: We’ve heard rumours that these guys have completely sold out of Tamales before and I cannot see that happen. Will be heading for Smokin’ hot Tamales just as soon as we can for that Authentic Mexican goodness!

BangWok: Street food and festivals go hand in hand and Thai Street food is the stuff that dreams of made of. Chicken and Tofu are on the menu so they’ll be seeing a lot of us considering they cater to our incredibly varied dietary requirements. We’re just too cool.

Chicken Shack: Chicken marinated in buttermilk for 24hours before being deep fried? Just the sound of it is enough to make you crave it but wait until you see the pictures. Oh my word. I want one of the chicken sandwiches as soon as physically possible.

The Cheese Truck: This is the main attraction as far as I’m concerned (food wise of course). When I first saw this it was the deal breaker diet-wise. Grilled cheese toasties are one of the main things I miss and it’s incredibly likely I’m going to be eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner on at least one day.

Since I originally wrote this I’ve been scrolling through pictures of the goodies that The Cheese Truck has to offer and I’ve just seen spinach involved. I could not be more excited about this situation if I tried.

There are links to these guys included above and I’ll be sharing much more over on our Instagram and Twitter (follow us if you haven’t already!)

Get prepared for food Instagram posts over the course of the coming fortnight. It’s gonna get messy (seriously I should consider packing a bib.)