The Birdbox

Better Days With… PUP

We’re now a year into the pandemic which also means a whole year without attending a gig. Towards the end of 2020, I decided to take a look back at some memories of live shows with a few of my favourite bands. Well I enjoyed writing them and at least a few of you said you enjoyed reading them so I’ve brought it back for season 2! Here’s a look back at better days with PUP.

Birmingham – 2017

It’s safe to say that PUP are one of my favourite bands right now so it’s quite fitting that I was introduced to them by another of my favourites. The Wonder Years brought them to the UK as main support in an incredible lineup which also featured Trash Boat and Tiny Moving Parts. It didn’t take me long to become a fan while listening to them leading up to the gig and I wasn’t the only one. I remember a bearded drunk man turn to me in the crowd before PUP came on and telling me that he also had only recently started listening to them and we both agreed we liked the range of their punk/indie sound. They didn’t disappoint with their set and I now had a new favourite Canadian band (sorry Seaway).

Reading Festival – 2019

2019 saw the release of a third album ‘Morbid Stuff’ which gained PUP a lot of momentum and I was naturally very excited to hear the new songs live at Reading Festival. As my friends all waited to see Royal Blood on the main stage, I departed on my own adventure to the pit stage like an emo Bilbo Baggins but I wasn’t alone there for long. The tent filled rapidly and it was only after the deafening singalongs and bubbling pits during this set that I appreciated how popular this band had become. It felt like a very quick progression from chatting with a drunk bearded man about them to now a whole tent bouncing to their songs.

Bristol & Southampton – 2019

PUP soon returned to the UK to end what for them had been several months on the road. Living in the south of England means usually London is the only option for seeing bands from outside the UK but PUP left us with a choice to make between Bristol and Southampton. We felt it would be easier just to do both. First up was a trip to SWX in Bristol, a medium sized club venue with about 1000 in the crowd which was enough for the vocalist, Stefan, to pull off a successful crowd walk which he had apparently been trying unsuccessfully over the duration of the tour.

Flash forward a few days and we are in completely different surroundings. The Loft in Southampton holds less than half as many people as SWX and has no barrier. This teamed up with the fact it was the final night of tour and the band had to set out an early disclaimer that they had enjoyed a good few drinks before their set made a perfect mix for a punk show. There was crowd surfing, stage diving, sweat, spilled beers, singalongs, finger pointing and all the other good stuff I miss immensely about live music. There was even a moment where the lights failed (Stefan knocked them loose while crowdsurfing) and seeing the rest of the set out in complete darkness was considered. All of these ingredients make it one of my favourite and most memorable gigs ever.

Check out instagram below to see some extra footage from some of these shows and while you’re there, why not let me know your PUP memories?

You can hear some more gig memories from myself, James and Alex on the latest episode of The Ragamuffin Music Podcast.

The Ragamuffin Music Podcast: Episode 04

The boys are back with this month’s batch of music news, reviews and discussion. In this episode:

Reviews of new music from Green Day, Kings Of Leon and Beartooth

We reflect on some of our favourite gig memories

James mentions Mike Portnoy

You can find the full episode here:

The Birdbox Investigates: 2000 Trees – Who is the Third Headliner?

Disclaimer: I have no inside information and any theories or predictions in this investigation are purely speculative and based off of nothing more than the evidence/clues mentioned and gut feeling. (Perhaps a slither of wishing things into existence too).

What Is 2000 Trees?

2000 Trees is a multi-award winning festival situated in the famous, rolling cotswold hills just outside of Cheltenham. It prides itself on creating one of the friendliest festival experiences around while also making the music a priority. They have a stacked lineup this year including the likes of Boston Manor, Lonely The Brave and Creeper to name a few but there is still the small matter of a Saturday night headliner to be announced. But who could it be?

Searching For Clues

I think the best place to start is by looking back at headliners from recent years to see what kind of band we are looking for. The last 2 festivals have seen Frank Turner, You Me At Six, Deaf Havana, Twin Atlantic, At The Drive In and Enter Shikari all visit Upcote Farm. I would say that these are predominantly alternative/rock bands most of which are capable of playing a venue about the size of London’s Alexandra Palace, which holds just over 10,000 people. This is about level with Trees which let’s in around 15,000.

Another potential clue was dropped by 2000 Trees Creative Director, ‘Rob Scarlett’, when he guested on TPD TV’s podcast, ‘The View From The Afternoon’. When talking about announcing bands, he mentions that their “hands can be tied” by the band’s marketing schedule, whether that’s because they have a tour to announce or a contract with another festival that means they have to be announced for that one first. This is enough to come up with a few ideas.

You Me At Six?

AFI were the only 2020 headliner unable to stay on the lineup for 2021. This could mean that a quick replacement was needed and it would be easy to re-book a previous headliner such as You Me At Six. As well as being heavily tipped to play Reading & Leeds, they’ve recently released a new album which they may want to announce a tour to support first.

Enter Shikari?

It’s also not beyond the realm of possibility for Enter Shikari to return. Although previously stating that they had no festival plans when the bill was first curated in 2020, things may have changed. They released ‘Nothing is True & Everything is Possible’ over a year ago now and they still haven’t had a chance to play the new songs live. They are currently in the process of rescheduling a tour to later this year, including a night at Alexandra Palace, so it might be that they can’t be announced until that is finalised. All things point to a returnee being likely until you take a closer look at the Saturday undercard.

Saturday at Trees will leave those who prefer their music on the heavier side spoiled for choice. Knocked Loose, Stray From The Path and Black Peaks all feature quite late in the day and a quick look at the website gives some quite interesting information. It seems that most of Saturday’s more ‘pop-rock’ bands will be playing The Axiom stage while many of the heavier bands are split between The Cave and The Main Stage. It wouldn’t make much sense to have The Amazons clashing with a band like You Me At Six as it’s likely they might share a fan base. It also seems that Knocked Loose are billed as potential subs for our elusive Main Stage headliner.

This surely means that we need someone bigger than and heavy enough to follow one of the most exciting bands in Hardcore/Metalcore.

Architects?

Architects have JUST released an incredible chart topping album and have a handful of tiny shows booked for the end of July and start of August so they clearly plan on being active around that time of year. It could be that they have plans for a tour or some other small shows that they need to announce before 2000 Trees can proudly reveal them, but there can’t be many better ways to kick off an album cycle than to headline a festival right?

Some may argue that Architects are too big having played Wembley arena on their last UK tour but they seem like humble guys with values that align with those of the festival and I could be wrong but I don’t think Architects have headlined a UK festival outright before. This would be a great opportunity to break that duck and would be an incredible booking by 2000 Trees.

While She Sleeps?

Another heavy band that seems to have been overlooked by many is While She Sleeps. They haven’t quite hit the heights of headlining Alexandra Palace just yet, but they’re on the rise and well on the way to doing so in the not too distant future. Their new album due for release in April may well propel them to another level which could justify a promotion to main stage headliners of a festival they’ve played a few times before. The community spirit fueling the Sleeps Society shares the same values and feel of a weekend at 2000 Trees so they would certainly be warmly welcomed. It could be that the announcement has been held back by an unannounced tour, the release of the album or they could be restricted by their position as headliners on a stage at Slam Dunk Festival.

The Verdict

After looking at the evidence, it’s still really difficult to predict who could be headlining but if I had to choose one then my money would be on Architects. Everything just seems to fall into place and make perfect sense, however, the fact that it makes perfect sense probably means that it isn’t them as you never really know with these things. One thing is for certain and that is that it will be a brilliant weekend whoever is headlining.

2000 trees takes place from 7th-10th of July and tickets are available here:

https://www.twothousandtreesfestival.co.uk/

Who do you think the final headliner is? Who would you like it to be? Let me know at the socials below and follow for more content soon.

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