What a perfect week for an outdoor concert — or five.
On Wednesday night I was one of 35,000 people watching The Cure in Cardiff on a record-breaking scorcher of an evening. It was vast, sweat-soaked and euphoric, the kind of stadium spectacle that leaves you wondering how anything could follow it.
Then I arrived at Westonbirt Arboretum.
The bar had been set absurdly high, but the truth is the contrast was the whole point. Where Cardiff was scale and spectacle, Westonbirt was everything it has always been: relaxed, enchanting and wonderfully intimate among the trees.
This is Forest Live, Forestry England’s summer concert series, and 2026 marks its 25th anniversary. Across five nights — Fatboy Slim, Deacon Blue, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, Rick Astley and Richard Ashcroft — the arboretum near Tetbury swaps daytime tranquillity for an open-air stage beneath towering pines.
It is a brilliant idea, made even better by its purpose. Money raised from ticket sales is reinvested into England’s forests, funding conservation and tree planting. Forestry England planted 7.4 million trees during 2024/25, and you can feel that mission woven quietly through the entire event.
Even the food tells the story.
Prices are refreshingly sensible by concert standards, the world-food stalls are genuinely good, and many dishes are labelled not just with their price but with their carbon impact too. It’s a small touch, but perfectly suited to the surroundings and a subtle reminder of where your money is going.
Add easy parking, friendly staff, plentiful free drinking water and none of the stress that comes with navigating tens of thousands of people, and you have the sort of festival experience you could confidently recommend to anyone.
Thursday carried an extra significance for me because it was my daughter’s first ever concert.
The weather remained gloriously hot, making for quite an introduction: live music, street food, Factor 50, portaloos and a constant supply of water beneath an endless early-summer sky.
Naturally, I’d spent the drive over performing my fatherly duties, introducing her to The Lightning Seeds with Life of Riley and Pure. Hearing Ian Broudie and the band live was a first for her, but for many of us in the crowd it was pure nostalgia.
With the World Cup in full swing, there was an inevitability about Three Lions. Broudie, who co-wrote the anthem, updated the lyric from “30 years of hurt” to “60 years of hurt” — a reminder, if one were needed, that time really does fly.
As the evening slipped towards sunset, Deacon Blue took over, walking on to Rock the Boat before easing into Queen of the New Year, Wages Day and a succession of beloved hits.
There was no frantic roar between songs. Instead, applause drifted gently through the trees, almost like the polite clapping at a county cricket match — warm, appreciative and perfectly suited to the surroundings.
As darkness settled over Westonbirt, one thing became abundantly clear: these are bands that have aged remarkably well. Ricky Ross’s voice, in particular, sounds astonishingly close to the records many of us grew up with.
Friday’s audience felt noticeably younger as UB40 featuring Ali Campbell arrived, following excellent support from Bitty McLean and Reggae Roast featuring MC Horseman.
Campbell has one of music’s greatest occupational hazards: audiences remember him as the eternally youthful frontman from countless music videos. Time, of course, catches everyone eventually.
In the heat he wisely paced himself, conserving energy and letting decades of experience do the work. Now comfortably occupying elder-statesman territory, he delivered exactly what everyone had come to hear — that unmistakable voice, still rich, emotional and effortlessly recognisable.
These days I’m proud to call Stroud home, but my Brummie roots revelled in every minute. Every song felt like a classic, the band were superbly tight, and the support acts created exactly the right atmosphere.
Westonbirt has mastered the practicalities too. Getting in is easy, getting out is easy and, apart from the slightly vertigo-inducing elevated walkway that turns your legs to jelly on the way back to the car, the logistics are almost flawless.
Most importantly, it all unfolds in one of the most beautiful concert settings imaginable.
Cardiff had the spectacle.
Westonbirt has something a stadium never can: music beneath a living canopy, space to breathe, and the comforting knowledge that your evening is helping to protect the very trees towering overhead.
Roll on next summer.
