FESTIVAL GUIDE: Truck Festival

Name: Truck Festival

Where: Hill Farm, Steventon, Oxfordshire

When: 17 – 18 July

Headliners: The Charlatans and Basement Jaxx

Also featuring: Clean Bandit, Temples, Darwin Deez, Peter Hook & The Light, Lucy Rose, Fat White Family, Slaves, Pulled Apart By Horses…

A Brief History: Truck Festival is one of the UK’s longest running and most popular small festivals. It was founded back in 1998 by Robin and Joe Bennett (of the band Goldrush) on their family farm in Steventon, Oxfordshire, who had decided that the big, mainstream festivals like Glastonbury had become too commercial and predictable. Over the years Truck has played host to acts such as Foals, The Horrors, Supergrass, The Lemonheads, Ride, Mystery Jets and The Temper Trap. The festival also gave birth to the Truck Records label in 1999, which has worked with the likes of Goldrush, The Electric Soft Parade and MC Lars.

How To Get There: Just a 20 minute journey on the X1/X2 bus (timetables here) from Didcot Parkway Station, it couldn’t be any easier using public transport. With trains coming from Reading, London, Bristol, South Wales, Birmingham and the North, there’s little excuse not to be at this year’s festival.

Gigslutz Top Tip: Even with the killer big bands on this year’s line-up, Truck is more than just about the music as it boasts kids activities (though anyone could have a go at tightwire walking and learning to juggle), fairground rides, a paint party and reggae aerobics. Also after both days of music from 11:30pm to 3am, there will be a silent disco, so if obscenities from Fat White Family or a Joy Division and New Order packed set from Peter Hook hasn’t quite tired you out, then you know where to head.

Memorable Moments: Truck has seen many great headliners over the years and has even nurtured many themselves. Who’d have thought The Edmund Fitzgerald back in 2000 would go on to become Foals? Also, last year’s conversion of the Barn Stage into a carnival centre, topped by the king of partying himself, Andrew WK has to be remembered for a long time to come.

We Said Last Year: Highlights for Gigslutz last year include Brum’s indie-rock troupe Peace, angsty power-rock duo Deap Vally and the colourful 90’s-esque offerings from Superfood.

Did You Know? As Hill Farm is a working farm for the rest of the year, it’s not hard to believe that they’ve turned a cow barn into a stage. If you can overcome the rich smell of manure, then it’ll be the perfect place to enjoy acts such as Fat White Family, Pulled Apart By Horses and Slaves.

How To Get Tickets: Tickets are priced at £79.50+fees (free for children under 12) and can be found here.

The Playlist:

Becky Rogers
@beckyrogers29