Despite being around for almost three decades, Truck Festival has always stuck to its roots. There’s a reason 30,000 people decided to spend their weekend in sunny Oxford. Whether it be the hundreds of talented acts you can witness across four stages, the feel-good, friendly atmosphere found everywhere or the absolutely mental crowds found deep in the pit of smaller tents – the local festival has something to offer for absolutely anyone.
Opening day is always one of mixed emotions. Seasoned festival goers adjust as soon as the gates open, whereas less active music goers may take a few hours to warm up to the atmosphere and feel settled in. Thankfully, Thursday promised a string of eclectic acts to help the settling process, with Balancing Act being one one of the acts to kick off the main stage in style. Despite being early into their career, singer Kai Roberts already has immense stage presence, and the groove across the four members is tight. ‘She Plays The Theremin’ is always a highlight in their setlist, but new single ‘Laylow’ was a clear standout, providing plenty of groove to get the crowd moving early on.
That feel-good atmosphere mentioned earlier is easily one of the main pulls of the festival. Despite there being a crowd of mosh-pitting, jumping and shoving punkheads tearing up the front of the main stage for IDLES, there’s equally a family of five in deck chairs at the back, discussing who they’re looking forward to seeing over the weekend and enjoying each other’s company. The Thursday headliners were always going to be safe bets to put on a chaotic show to get things going, with new single ‘Dancer’ making a strong case for song of the weekend, and ‘Gift Horse’ giving the crowd a reason to bang their heads.
As the second day came around, the clouds in Oxford disappeared, leaving a sunny field for the rest of the week – a stark contrast to the mud show seen last year round. Galway dream pop band Newdad stirred up a massive crowd with their glossy sound, meanwhile indie outlet ‘Overpass’ took their catchy tunes to their full potential, with ‘3AM’ in particular finding its well suited home on a festival stage. Declan McKenna was the pre-headliner of the day, with not much needing to be said on the singer/songwriter about his own brilliance. It’s well known by now in the scene that wherever McKenna is playing, there’s a party, and Truck Festival was no different, with ‘Brazil’ into ‘British Bombs’ giving the crowd a dopamine overdose any act would struggle to follow. Maybe it was due to following such an energetic act, but when Jamie T took to the main stage on Friday night to headline, it took him a while to get going. His laid back hip-hop, spoken word style meant the crowd took a while to warm up to his craft, but as the encore came around they were firmly won over, with ‘Sticks ‘N’ Stones’, ‘Sheila’ and ‘Zombie’ getting played back to back to back with as much energy and nostalgic passion one would expect to please any noughties music lover.
A brief mention must be given to Truck’s Festival admirability in sticking to their local roots, with an obvious desire to help the local community on display. Whether this be the food tent where all money goes to local charities, or local acts such as the Oxford Symphony Orchestra, it’s clear why so many families love to get involved every summer.
As Saturday rolled on, it was a necessity for a top drawer day of music to unfold and cure any two day bender hangovers. Thankfully, there was plenty of noisy rock to help with any headaches, as Soft Play took to the main stage, screaming and smashing their way through their set and even taking the time to run into the crowd to stir the pot. Four piece The Kairos were also at hand to headline the This Feeling stage, blowing the roof off in the process. It’s a clear sign that a band are ones for the future when they have the back of the crowd jumping along with the front, which the scouse band conjured up thanks to their classic rock inspirations and excellent lead vocals. Following on from The Kairos was Isle of Wight stars Wet Leg, and to a lot of skeptics’ surprise, they rose to the occasion. Their 2022 debut album came with banger after banger, but much was made over whether they were truly festival headliner material, having only one album under their belt that lasted just over half an hour. Despite this, their stage presence and an excellent Charli XCX cover (with Rhian Teasdale formally declaring beforehand that it’s a Brat summer) meant that their setlist was a highlight of the weekend, with the thousands in attendance singing along to the catchiness of ‘Chaise Longue’.
The final day of the festival marked a day of appreciation for the weekend but dejection now that it was over. Despite this, Truck Festival decided to go out with a bang in their 27th year, bringing arguably the strongest day of artists of the weekend. Corella into The Royston Club into The Snuts on the Market Stage was a dream conjured up by your typical indiehead and it didn’t disappoint, with the Welsh boys in particular putting on a set to outdo any of their biggest expectations. ‘Mrs. Narcissistic’ is golden for festival stages, meanwhile an unreleased song gave fans a glimpse into a very exciting future. ‘The Streets’ finished off the weekend in style, with Mike Skinner delivering as much of a stand-up comedy set as a musical performance with his crowd work. Crowd surfing and mosh-pits naturally followed the bass and drum sound of a few tunes, but the highlight was the man himself getting on the shoulders of a fan and going deep into unknown territory, rapping as he was carried through the masses of thousands all singing his name.
If your body was broken come Monday morning you can’t be blamed. A four day festival is as tiring as it is thrilling, but there’s a reason we’re all festival goers – there’s quite simply nothing like it, and there is nowhere else that provides the value-for-money, wholesome atmosphere and world class talent like Truck Festival does.
Words by Niall McGreevy