Disaster struck for this year’s 2000Trees festival when Alkaline Trio unexpectedly cancelled all UK dates for this summer, but at the 11th hour a suitable replacement has been found – Bedford’s Don Broco will return after triumphantly headlining the festival in 2024.
2000Trees is one of the UK’s most exciting and diverse rock festivals, bringing a cohort of the rock world’s finest acts to a picturesque site among the trees in Upcote Farm, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. It’s set to start this Wednesday, July 8, and run 3 huge days of music until Saturday July 11. Coming into last week, 2000Trees had booked an outstanding line-up including Welsh emo legends Funeral For A Friend, US post-hardcore innovators Glassjaw, and Welsh pop punk fun from Neck Deep, with Chicago punk royalty Alkaline Trio headlining the opening Thursday night.
Alkaline Trio suddenly announced the full cancellation of their English headliner shows including 2000Trees on Friday July 3, the same day the tour was due to begin with a night at Birmingham’s O2 Institute. The tour would also have visited London, Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester before culminating in the 2000Trees set. In the post, they explained that the cancellation was due to medical issues that frontman Matt Skiba had been experiencing, following shows in Germany where he was pictured seated while on stage.
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In a video post from London Heathrow airport on his Instagram account, Skiba thanked British fans for their understanding and patience over the matter, saying “you guys deserve a better show than I can throw right now. I’ve got numbness in my feet, numbness in my hands, as you can tell I’m losing my voice. So I can’t really talk, walk, play or sing, but I’m okay.”
With a significant vacuum on the bill and less than a week to sort a replacement, 2000Trees’ organisers frantically worked to find a substitute. They broke the news the same day, confirming that they had booked Bedford alt-rock heavyweight’s Don Broco for the Thursday slot. In the post, they wrote “It’s been a whirlwind of a day but we’re buzzing to have these guys return to the Main Stage next week. This band are total heroes for stepping in at the 11th hour to help us out”, before adding “two years ago they put on one of the biggest headline sets Upcote has ever seen, and now they’re gonna one up it. This will be one helluva show.” The organisers also spoke of the drama of booking such a late replacement with some mirth, writing “Now please excuse us while we go and have a lay down and a stiff drink – we found out about Alkaline Trio literally a few hours ago, and we pulled out all the stops to sort out your Thursday headliner as soon as possible, from the middle of a field no less. Thanks for bearing with + let’s get the party started!!”
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Since headlining the festival in 2024, Don Broco have enjoyed a wild ride in the last 12 months, shifting their ever-evolving sound into a blistering nu metal throwback style with their latest singles from album ‘Nightmare Tripping’, which released this March. The album features major collaborations with Nickelback on the title track, and a vocal feature from Architects frontman Sam Carter on the fierce single ‘True Believers’. Last Friday, when the news of the booking broke, they were supporting Biffy Clyro at their massive Finsbury Park bash to a crowd of over 45,000. The band have celebrated on Instagram, writing “Honoured to be returning to 2000 Trees to headline Thursday night! We’ll be filling in for Alkaline Trio, sending big love to Matt, we hope you feel better soon. Trees we love you. See you in a few days.”
2000Trees starts this week, running July 8 to 11 at Upcote Farm, Gloucestershire. Catch Don Broco, Funeral For A Friend and Neck Deep headlining, with limited tickets still available here. Don Broco are also on tour this Autumn supporting 2026 album ‘Nightmare Tripping’ at these dates:
SEPTEMBER
28 – Engine Shed, Lincoln, United Kingdom
29 – Octagon, Sheffield, United Kingdom
OCTOBER
1 – Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
2 – Academy, Manchester, United Kingdom
3 – Guild of Students, Liverpool, United Kingdom
4 – City Hall, Newcastle, United Kingdom
7 – O2 Academy, Birmingham, United Kingdom
10 – UEA, Norwich, United Kingdom
14 – The Prospect Building, Bristol, United Kingdom
