In Review: Truck Festival 2019
The hills were once again alive with the sounds of awesome music at Hill Farm in Steventon for the 2019 edition of Truck Festival. Local bands stole the show with a fantastic headline set from Foals, as well as a brilliant line up in the Virgins & Veterans tent including post punk indie Junk Whale, gothy pop rockers Death Of The Maiden and family favourite Nick Cope.
Highlights this year included indie pop Liverpudlians Clean Cut Kids, dark rock anthemic Yonaka and the force that is Lekiddo: Lord of the Lobsters who took to the Blue Rinse Rockin’ Chair stage on Friday night, followed by crowd pleasing The Mariarchis who closed the night to a packed out barn.
A drizzly Saturday morning soon cleared with revellers donning their best fancy dress for a day that kicked off with the Oxford Symphony Orchestra, Nick Cope & Swindon based Basement Club opening The Nest stage.
Despite the rain the site remained green and not a mud bath in sight. Young festival goers remained in 90s-esque white Reebok trainers, sports wear and bucket hats to watch the aptly named Sports Team in The Market stage. A 6 piece indie guitar band capturing middle England through witty lyrics and catchy riffs.
Ten Tonnes followed on the main stage with breezy, summery indie pop from George Ezra’s younger brother.
Johnny Marr played into the early evening on the main stage with the audience singing along to Electronic favourite Getting Away With It, and Smiths hits How Soon Is Now and Bigmouth Strikes Again.
A last minute drop out meant that the Mystery Jets stepped in at the last minute to headline The Market stage with a beautifully emotive set including songs from Curve Of The Earth like Bubblegum as well as indie pop hits Two Doors Down and Young Love.
Foals stormed a home coming set to finish the night on the main stage with Yanis leading the crowd through hit after hit amidst confetti canons and a dazzling light show.
Sunny Sunday started with the now traditional aerobics session on the main stage led by Mr Motivator. A sea of festival goers joined in with his routine to banish hangovers and warm up for another packed day of music.
Local record labels Big Scary Monsters & Alcopop! took over The Nest stage on Sunday with great sets from indie pop band Cheerleaderz and angsty punk grunge duo Cassels.
Programming on the main stage was perfect for a lazy festival Sunday afternoon with sets from Deco – feel good indie pop, Cassia channeling summery early Vampire Weekend vibes.
Despite the fact that Truck has now grown to a capacity of 18,000 people, it still supports many local bands, as well as local charities in the Feel Good Food tent. It was great to see Foals return to the site where they had cut their teeth as a band, and see the next generation of local talent coming through on the BBC introducing stage.
It’s great that we have such a music focused festival right on our doorstep that heralds in the holidays. Summer has now truly begun.
Love, Rosie
xxx
