As they play "fabled spot" 2000trees for the very first time, Manchester Orchestra feel like the perfect band for the occasion. Dive in with our DORK x 2000TREES festival guide cover feature.

Words: Alexander Bradley.
Photos: Shervin Lainez.

Find yourself a band that can do both. Last October, Manchester Orchestra played three nights at Union Chapel in London with a series of stark, hauntingly beautiful renditions of their songs. Less than a year later and they'll return to these shores with a full band showing as they make their 2000trees debut. Whether in the startling quiet of a magnificent church or on a Main Stage in the middle of the Cotswolds, Manchester Orchestra have the power to devastate wherever they are.

Their Trees induction has been a long time coming, and Andy Hull is the first to admit it's long overdue for them. "It's kind of like a fabled spot," he smiles through his beard as we begin with the basics of what he knows of the festival.

"The last several years I've been hearing more and more about it. I guess I'd heard of it originally from our friends in Frightened Rabbit playing back in the day, and then we'd heard stuff from our friends in the Biffy camp who's playing this year with Empire State Bastard.

"We were just with them last week in Atlanta, on their tour with Sleep Token, and they were talking about how magical it is to do.

According to Andy, Simon Neil described the festival as one of those places where "You just walk around and go, 'Oh, these are our people'," and that has only increased the excitement in MO camp for finally stepping out at Upcote Farm. "We're now proper stoked for it."