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History

2023

Watch the 2023 after movie here!

Following a mammoth 25th anniversary celebration in 2022, Truck Festival unveiled The Wombats, Two Door Cinema Club, Alt J and Royal Blood to perform across the penultimate weekend in July. The four headliners that span the breadth of the indie, rock and alternative spheres, from effervescent indie pop to primal rock ‘n’ roll with some folk-inflected alt rock thrown in for good measure too. 

Stacked with feel-good fun and bursting with joyful moments, Truck Festival celebrated an unforgettable festival weekend – serving as the go-to hub for the most exciting names in modern alternative/indie culture and a blossoming world of collective festival spirit that sits unrivalled throughout the summer. Thriving with character, hilarious fun and emphatic memories.

Truck 2023 continued to see those strong community elements grow year upon year, whilst maintaining our roots at the heart of the local area.

Kicking off on Thursday night, the likes of dreamy indie-faves Swim Deep alongside the punchy Dead Pony and The Bug Club laid a market down for a weekend where the heartbeat of a modern scene was put front and centre. Headlining the Thursday night with an arsenal of festival-made anthems, The Wombats showcased just why they remain the party-starting force that they are.

Turning Friday into Fri-YAY, Truck showcased its full moreish nature with a mesmerising mix of ridiculous spectacle, beloved indie favourite, thriving new talent and more at a festival fizzing with the best atmosphere in the country. There was the inaugural Truck Gameshow pitting festival-goers against each other for prizes with your favourite indie bands and crowned with singalong masses gathered for The Vaccines history-making set – it set the bar high for a festival Friday like no other. Two Door Cinema Club then took to the Truck Stage for a scorching headline set packed to the brim with hit after hit

Wake up! It’s Saturday lunchtime and Truck Festival started its day in a way no other festival can – with moshpits and pogoing masses greeting the Oxford Symphony Orchestra, who were joined for a special guest appearance from the chart-topping Clean Bandit

After a statement of intent from the likes of DMA’s, Crawlers and Squidalt-J closed out proceedings with a majestic dive through their incomparable back catalogue that demonstrated why they sit apart from the rest as one of the 21st century’s most inventive and forward-thinking bands.

Winding out the festival in style, Sunday brought countless highlights as Truck Festival once again swung into fashion with unmissable hits.  

Royal Blood closed out the weekend in a fashion only they can. With a huge firework display closing out their set, it served as the perfect way to close Truck Festival 2023.

2022

Watch the Truck 2022 after movie here!

The 2022 Truck Festival burst back onto the scene after a two-year hiatus, and it was like a giant reunion of fun-lovers who hadn’t forgotten how to party! What a way to spend our 25th Anniversary.

A scorching heatwave set the stage for singalongs with breakout star Sam Fender on Saturday and Kasabian’s strut-filled comeback on Sunday. 

From The Kooks’ debut to Easy Life bringing the biggest crowd of the weekend, Truck became a playground of musical delights. Shame finally made it to Truck after five years of near-misses, Sam Ryder brought Eurovision energy, and pop queens Sigrid and Kelis shone in the glorious sun. 

We can’t forget the Oxford Symphony Orchestra turning our crowd into the most prima of ballerinas, and Barry (Barrioke)  became a Truck Festival hero by rocking out with Sam Fender in an epic duet.

The festival even threw in its first-ever comedy lineup, featuring Angela Banks, Milton Jones, Ed Byrne, Ivo Graham, and Emmanuel Sonubi.

As the night fell, Bru C and Ewan Mcvicar turned Palm City into a rammed late-night bash, capping off a playful and unforgettable Truck Fest.

 

2021

Existence still pending …..

2020

The year Truck didn’t exist …..

2019

Watch the 2019 after movie here

In 2019 Truck Festival was a wild ride, selling out in a flash and basking in the sunny vibes with the birth of the infamous “Barrioke” live experience. 

The festival saw Foals and Two Door Cinema Club return, from performing in their early years and now becoming fully fledged Truck Legends.

Standout moments included Soft Play rocking the market Stage in 40 degree heat, Foals’ treating us to an epic hometown gig, and IDLES turning the mainstage into an early morning circle pit. 

Kate Nash had the Market Stage bursting at the seams, and Mystery Jets swooped in heroically when Shame got stranded in Japan. 

Wolf Alice headlined Friday with flair, Two Door closed the fest in style on Sunday, and Lewis Capaldi’s new-found popularity caused a meet-and-greet mania. 

Nothing But Thieves declared Truck their favourite festival in the world, sealing its reputation as a diverse and downright delightful musical bash.

2018

Did somebody order some Sun? DEFINITELY the hottest year in Truck’s history, and boy was it a good’un. Steventon didn’t know what hit it! Due to popular demand we opened our doors a day early for the first time, headlined by, probably one of our most requested bands, Peace gave eager Truckers chance to nab their spot early and kick off their weekend in style! That was just the start..

Circa Waves set a fire to the Truck Stage with some of the biggest mosh-pits Hill Farm had ever seen; however, turned up to 11 by the ultimate dance party led by indie-noughties favourites Friendly Fires.

2017

We celebrated our 20th anniversary and with tickets selling out with 2 months it was no doubt the ticket of the summer! Friday saw the heaviest rain in the history of Truck, but nothing could wash away the Truck spirit.

The Truck Stage saw the likes of Hot 8 Brass Band, local hero Willie J Healey and even a Hinds x Slaves mash-up beat of the rain, with a mesmerising trip down memory lane with noughties-legends Franz Ferdinand, The Libertines and a colossal closing firework show by London’s best The Vaccines. Truck LEGENDS Pulled Apart By Horses melted faces in The Nest, whilst Birmingham trio Jaws probably played the gig of their lives in the Market Stage.

On the other side of the field saw a new venue addition in the form of The Rockin’ Chair! From The Mariachis to the Old Dirty Brasstards, our new cocktail bar is where to go for all things fun.

The one and only Idris Elba (yes, Luther himself) christened 2017’s Palm City fully immersive 3000 capacity dance arena and took it until the early hours, whilst Mistajam, SaSaSaS and TQD saw out the night.

2016

2016 was Trucks biggest and best year to date. Throwing it back to the 80s, Steventon was flooded with latex and fluorescent colours alike. With cameos from the likes of Mr Motivator, spirits of the 10,000 strong crowd were high and so was the energy.

In keeping with the 80s theme saw the debut of the brand spanking new Sunset Lounge. A cocktail bar where you could sip on a Long Island Iced tea whilst getting down to anything from Bowie to Duran Duran.
Next door saw the introduction of The Nighthawk Cinema, which offered a more relaxing place to hang as well as the best movies around (Think Jurassic Park, Despicable Me etc).

The popular Palm City returned bigger and better than before, headed up by Entirety Labs & Horizons offering up an all-day dance party of funky house and techno. This, like last year was a hot spot for Truckers.

Friday night really kicked off when Jurassic 5 who had just landed in the UK push out the positive energy with a hit laden set. Following this it was time for the incredible Catfish and the Bottlemen take headline the main stage. The crowd and the atmosphere was electric and this just may have been one of the best sets Truck has ever seen. Elsewhere, Friday was a particularly good day for the up and coming stars of the future, The Magic Gang packed out the Market Stage followed by the extremely talented Eliza and the Bear.

With a huge Friday to live up too, Saturday of Truck did not disappoint. Trucks new venue The Nest, saw the likes of ones to watch Spring King and Basement pack out and arguably play their best show to date. Rat Boy and Circa Waves were insanely popular and filled the gloriously sunny afternoon with their chirpy indie rock and perfectly built momentum for the legends that are the Manic Street Preachers. Who, may we add absolutely smashed the Truck Stage and had us all standing with our hands in the air belting out ‘A Design for Life’.

Not to be beaten, Sunday, yes Sunday! Truck 2016 saw the introduction of an extra day and it was an absolute corker. Everyone’s favourite Everything Everything delivered a truly enigmatic set to a sunny Oxford. As well as Jack Savoretti and Blossoms whose emerging profiles will undoubtedly be quadrupled by next year. Kodaline ended the weekend perfectly, with their Sunday headline slot. Bringing a touch of emotion and passion to the crowd as we all swayed and sang “High Hopes” back to them. Then, for everyone who wasn’t quite done that Norman Jay MBE hit the decks in the Market Stage so that everyone could get every last bit of Truck magic that they could.

With something for everyone and hosting the best talent you can find, Truck 2016 really was the best party of the year.

2015

Another year, another sunny, sunny affair! However, this time with the addition of snow brought to you by the magically transforming The Barn! The 18th edition of the festival welcomed new faces that included Entirety Labs and Horizons who teamed up to bring us Palm City. The stage showcased the most slamming talent and awesome DJ’s that took you from Funky House all the way to throbbing Techno. It was so easy to see why Palm City was a new found favourite.

Local favourites Switch also came to join the party. Bringing their ever popular nights in Oxford to a stinky sweaty cow barn, SHY FX and DJ Luck & MC Neat also came along for the ride making sure that 2015’s evening entertainment was up with, if not better than past classic TRUCK’s.

It wasn’t all about the new stages, TRUCK 2015 also saw some of the stand out festivals sets of the whole summer; Slaves’ Friday show was potentially the most mental show Oxfordshire has ever seen. For those who were lucky enough to get in to a packed Barn saw the show that was reminiscent of the classic Foals set of 2007 with crowd surfing and sing-a-longs a plenty to the back drop of a dancing mantaray and some of the most on point and culturally aware Punk since the Pistols.

Other stand out sets during the day come from the returning Darwin Deez, bringing dance moves and classic indie tunes a plenty. The wonderful (relatively local) Lucy Rose played to a mesmerised market stage. While Public Service Broadcasting played to one of the biggest crowds of the weekend showcasing their answer to monotony of current dance pop. The much talked about Rat Boy, came, conquered and caused a stage invasion.

Now was the turn of the special guests Clean Bandit, who belted out there chart conquering album to an ecstatic audience on the TRUCK Stage, proving that there’s no place they’d rather be than TRUCK 2015.

2014

2014 was the year everyone went bananas, as the Barnival came to Truck. Blazed by the glorious sunshine, Steventon was blessed by the likes of Catfish And The Bottlemen, indie dreamboats Swim Deep and local lads Stornoway. Not only did they bring their blissful Rock n Roll to the main stage, Birmingham’s Peace took over the Mussel Beach bar to serve personalized cocktails whilst non-other than Andrew WK brought his party spirit to the Barn.

This year saw the first taster of late night stages at Truck, with the main ninja himself Jaguar Skills blowing the minds of everyone in attendance. The Market saw jam-packed sets from Los Campensinos!, Circa Waves and Roots Manuva. The Truck Stage saw cracking headliners The Cribs and White Lies – both bringing huge sing-alongs with hits after hits, from long standing back catalogues. Still in its 16th year Truck is pure delight; Sun, Music, Fun – what more could you want?

2013

Truck 2013 came, saw and conquered. Bringing delicious weather, a brand new food area and a sweaty swinging Saloon bar. With action packed sets from headliners The Horrors and Spiritualized, local hero Gaz Coombes bringing the Saturday afternoon sun down to a wild audience, as well as rammed sing-alongs in the Market Tent for Dry The River, 2013 was a great year for music.

Truckers where also delighted to wake up on the Saturday morning to find the Barn no longer being a stinky moo cow barn but a delightful sandy paradise AKA “The Copacabarna”. An image that best sums Truck 2013 up was sight and sound of the massive crowd at the late night disco singing Hey Jude long after the DJ’s had left the stage, in fact long after the lights were turned off!

2012

With new organisers in place, the team from Y Not Festival in Derbyshire, perhaps the surprise for many was how much things were just like they used to be, the elements all in place but also moving with the times; the barn, after a year off, was back, and this time with a new roof covered in pristine solar panels.

I saw members of The Low Anthem, after a storming set, queuing along with everyone else for a Rotary Club burger, Tim Minchin leading unlikely singalongs, the farmer’s daughter serving legendary banana smoothies to hungover teenagers of all ages, some of whom were probably wearing nappies back when this all started. I’d like to remember all those who have been part of it, some every year, some just for a short while, and those like Simon, the original leader of the Truck bar, who are no longer here, but who shared many special moments at Hill Farm. The convoy just keeps on rollin’, just as they would want it to.

2011

There was so much going on at this festival, and so much quality music, with headline sets from Gruff Rhys and Bellowhead and even a solo set by Phil Selway of Radiohead. A standout for many was Fixers’ set on the main stage, positioned in a different field for the first and perhaps only time, with singer Jack wearing a strange false beard.

It was certainly a time of flux – the old dead tree that had stood by the stage for 13 years was now thoroughly rotten and finally had to be taken down, and there were some well-publicised difficulties behind the scenes; but the heart and spirit of the festival was very much present in the big top stage on the Sunday night as the Truck All-Stars, a gang including The Magic Numbers, Sarah Cracknell of Saint Etienne, Trevor Moss & Hannah Lou and The Dreaming Spires, performed Fleetwood Mac’s album “Rumours” in full, because…. well, why not? Perhaps the finest moment was ‘Guitar’ George Borowski, who we’d had the pleasure of ‘discovering’ when he attended the previous year as Teenage Fanclub’s guitar tech, romping through “Don’t Stop” as 2000 people in the tent grinned uncontrollably.

2010

A diverse and interesting line-up with Mew and Teenage Fanclub headlining alongside many returning heroes – 65 Days of Static, Blood Red Shoes, Stornoway. Fionn Regan appeared with some Truck regulars in his band – he’d played at the festival in it’s early days too, and he was this year’s mystery appearance, being listed as Near Fog Inn.

Teenage Fanclub and Fionn joined in the aftershow sing-song, leaving a small tent spellbound as they sang some of their best tunes. We recall one of the Fanclub leaving at 5 or 6 am having injured his foot kicking a bottle. No glass on site gentlemen! Bellowhead stepped away from the folk circuit and found that their music was much appreciated by the Truck crowd too, so much so that they returned to headline the following year.

We finally got Mercury Rev to play, and in true maverick style, Jonathan Donahue and Grasshopper decided to play an instrumental soundtrack to the Kenneth Anger movie “Lucifer Rising”. Look it up, but not if you’re at work. Jonathan decided not to be on stage at all, operating the sound desk instead, and those that could get in to the barn were treated to either the best gig ever, or the worst, depending on who you asked. That’s the way we like it. Because of council limits that year, the Barn capacity was rather low, which had become a problem; when Ms Dynamite played, the queue stretched round the block, but it was worth it for those who did get in, by all accounts. I couldn’t get in. The Friday night opening was becoming popular, with BBC Oxford Introducing running a packed-out stage on that night (the festival itself was still Saturday & Sunday).

2009

Starting out playing garage rock, naturally in your parents garage, you need good simple pop tunes to play, and talented peers around your age to look up to. Growing up in Oxford, we had some kids called Supergrass who went to number one whilst barely past their GCSEs, and over in Belfast they had Ash. Now, years later, we had both of them at Truck, a little older and wiser, but still rocking and both with an arsenal of great tunes.

Gaz Coombes was by now joined in Supergrass by his brother Charly, who had appeared at the very first Truck with his band Tumbleweed. He’d also played on the inaugural Truck them tune, “Truck 98”. Someone must have a copy. Danny Goffey, Supergrass drummer and modern-day Keith Moon, arrived with a dog, but no lead. Of course, it’s a no-dogs festival, but an exception was made and a lead was borrowed from the farmer. Gaz and Danny also found time for a set by their Hot Rats side-project in the barn. Ash’s Tim Wheeler was thrilled to join in with Damo Suzuki of Can’s all-star jam on the main stage, pronouncing that he’d never taken part in a jam session before – certainly not one in front of thousands of people. Also joining in were Mark and Loz from Ride, a string quartet, Jason Sebastian Russo of Mercury Rev and all sorts of others, making an undulating racket you’d be unlikely to hear on the main stage of any other festival. This year’s ones to watch: Wild Beasts, Fanfarlo, Joy Formidable, Pulled Apart By Horses, and a secret set by Funk Tanker. You work it out…

Steventon’s own broadcasting legend ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris presented a stage, with notable sets from the Incredible String Band’s Mike Heron and Gary Louris & Mark Olson of The Jayhawks. Standing in the chill-out lounge for a sing-song as the last campers went to bed, we had Gary standing on a chair singing ‘Blue’ to anyone who would listen.

2008

We were excited to get The Lemonheads to perform their album “It’s A Shame About Ray”. For some, the set was a little flat, but we enjoyed it very much. Perhaps remarkable that they could play at all, given the variety of medications that had to be found before Evan Dando could go onstage. He’d arrived a day late, completely missing a scheduled warm-up gig, even though his two band-members and long-suffering tour manager were already in Steventon. A few hours before showtime nobody was really sure whether Evan would arrive at all. But he did, just about. For the second year in a row, there was a legendary rock keyboard player on site: this time, Ian “Mac” MacLagan, of the Small Faces, the Faces, and even (for a time) the Rolling Stones. He was playing with his own band, and stood appreciatively at the side of the stage will other acts played. What a dude. Danny and the Champions of the World made a very memorable first appearance proper on the Truck Stage, accompanied by many bearded and face-painted types including Romeo of the Magic Numbers and the giant furry Truck Monster, newly installed as the festival mascot. Maps blew the cobwebs off the Barn during a day curated by Sonic Cathedral, making clear their shoegaze roots with an epic cover of Ride’s “Leave them all behind”, while Rolo Tomassi holy-roared the place down, linking their set with that of regulars Youthmovies with an improvised freeform jam. Yacht were incredible and got everybody dancing, while Dodgy got everyone singing (in fact, such a large crowd gathered outside the market stage singing “Staying Out For The Summer”, etc, that the following year the stage had to be moved. Some promising newcomers Noah and the Whale and Laura Marling played.

Get Cape returned to headline, preceded by Frank Turner and Rival Schools’ Walter Schreiffels, for some reason playing as Blimey & the Governors. In those days it was hard to keep up with exactly who was playing where and when, as everyone was so busy having Truck fun. If you can remember it, you weren’t there.

 

2007

This one will go down forever as the flooded one. There will probably have to be a book about this so we’ll keep it brief:

Tickets sold out in a couple of days, and expectation was building- but then, on the day before the festival was due to start, freak floods hit the area and the brook running through the farm burst its banks, rapidly submerging much of the already-built festival site under many inches of water. By the evening, many houses and roads in Steventon, and indeed in Oxford, were also severely flooded.

Music legend Garth Hudson (of The Band/Bob Dylan’s band) and his wife Maud had already arrived at Heathrow and were on their way. They were due to to play with a band consisting of Goldrush and Grand Drive, who were also present waiting to rehearse, and to celebrate Garth’s 70th birthday; they arrived into total chaos. While Radio 1 announced that the festival was cancelled (or rather, postponed), the plucky team threw together a last-minute benefit at the now-closed Oxford Brookes Student Union venue, mostly featuring American acts who had already arrived, a few Oxford bands and the odd stray DJ.

Of course, Garth & Maud played, with a great many going them onstage, and Brian Jonestown Massacre played a typically loud droning set; Mark Gardener and Andy Bell, Ride’s twin singer-songwriters, made an odd appearance, sitting onstage with BJM on an old sofa, while Anton Newcombe announced he would come and help with any replastering that needed doing after the floods.

Sure enough, many of the organisers’ homes were severely damaged and time and energy was used up attempting to clear up the mess; but while the Brookes benefit was a great help, the festival still had to be re-staged that September. Some bands dropped out for scheduling reasons, but many appeared. Some bands had become a lot bigger between July and September, notably Foals, who were due to play the small Trailerpark tent, but their set had to be pulled for safety reasons (hundreds trying to get into the tent).

Fortunately, James Rutledge (a.k.a Pedro) gave up his spot in the barn so Foals could have a triumphant homecoming show which you can find on Youtube. Also in that tent were F@*&Buttons (now officially sanctioned Olympic opening ceremony sound trackers). Garth & Maud came back for the rescheduled event, and Idlewild appeared (having been on our wish list since 1998), with the singer Roddy Woomble arriving from a wedding reception moments before he was due onstage. It’s hard to be totally sure who played, as the printed programmes from the July event were re-used! Some promising local newcomers Stornoway joined in too, playing the flood benefit, featuring a trumpeter wearing a horse’s head, and the rescheduled festival.

2006

Memorable for music media overload, Truck was poster-boy/girl for the micro-festival revolution and this year’s event was filmed for Channel 4 (and even MTV) and broadcast live on BBC 6 Music, who had their DJs stationed in the recording studio at the farm. Many of the bands who had played early sets at the festival were now on TV and signed to big labels – Young Knives, Fell City Girl, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, iForward Russia!, and so forth.

Mystery Jets headlined and by now were very accomplished whilst still charmingly eccentric, while the Futureheads brought the Hounds of Love to the main stage and Hundred Reasons brought the hounds of rock, while Seth Lakeman played the fiddle and Chicks on Speed and 65 Days of Static pushed the boundaries in all directions. Not all at once. As much the stars of the event by this time were the charmers, oddballs and eccentrics who populated the smaller tents: Luke Smith, performing misanthropic but uplifting piano ballads with his dad, Dave the Drummer; the twitchy electronica of Nervous test_pilot, the home-made horns of Thomas Truax, Piney Gir’s country-dancers, Canadian Hip-hop-noir raconteur Buck 65, and so forth. A local band called Foals performed in a tent, another one to watch!

Regina Spektor played a still-talked about set in the barn (she doesn’t like playing outdoors), turning the slightly pungent cowshed into a hushed cathedral, for an hour at least. We heard her set on 6 Music the other day, actually, still sounding great. Ninja Banjo Handjob played- can’t remember a thing about them, but what a name!

2005

Truck had developed a reputation for finding and promoting great music, but 2005 was probably the year the start aligned for two epic headline sets- Biffy Clyro, when they were still a few leaps away from their current arena-rocking status, headlined with a snarling main stage performance one night; then, the Magic Numbers closed the festival the very week their debut album reached number one in the charts (these things still mattered back in 2005!). Photos of the Numbers taken in hay barns at the farm graced the cover of NME the following week, too, and they would be back as friends and guests in the years to come.

Perhaps even more memorable was the singalong in the Market Stage as the American songwriting legend Chip Taylor and his partner Carrie Rodriguez played “Angel of the morning” (yes, the same one sampled by Shaggy, but Chip wrote the song). Mystery Jets made an early and slightly chaotic appearance, multi-membered troupe Do Me Bad Things played, kicking off their moment in the sun with considerable flair, and Patrick Wolf made an early (and excellent) appearance. There was much debate about Brazil’s DJ Marky appearing in the barn, especially as he arrived rather late, but almost certainly Truck was the only festival that summer you could see both Chip Taylor and DJ Marky!

The opening act on the main stage was a lad we’d found in Southend, Sam Duckworth, a.k.a Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly – one to watch for the future! Eamon from British Sea Power, Marc from the Tenderfoot and Tom & Alex from Electric Soft Parade appeared for the first time with their indie supergroup Brakes, who found their loving second home at Truck Festival for years to come. Over in the barn, Towers of London – remember them? no? walked around looking silly, while iForward Russia! rocked the Trailerpark tent with their hand-numbered songs.

2004

“Ah, Truck Festival, now in its seventh year and still the perfect antidote to any bloated, highly corporate weekend-long rock event… ” (Drowned in Sound) Quite a lot to report this year, so let’s go straight to the end of the festival; Simple Kid playing his very mellow country-rock including an unofficial anthem for the year, the suitably titled “Truck On”, followed by the Japanese power trio Electric Eel Shock, enticing the crowd (as is traditional, full of orange-shirted stewards having completed their final shifts) to “do the metal”, while their drummer stands up in rock triumph, wearing nothing but a well-placed sock. The next time we encountered them, in Hong Kong, the same thing happened and the poor guy ended up in jail for the night.

Norwich’s finest, KaitO made one of their regular and highly enjoyable Truck appearances – the guitarist Dave was a Norfolk pig farmer, while singer Nikki is now in Factory Floor. Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster headlined the first night most capably, continuing the Brighton invasion of Truck, having spend the whole day wandering around in full make-up.

2003

Fast-rising bands such as British Sea Power (hereafter, BSP) and The Futureheads graced the Truck, while founders Robin & Joe’s band Goldrush teamed up with Mark Gardener of Oxford legends Ride, who had arguable got the ball rolling for the Oxford music scene in the early 90s. The main headline set was billed as being by “The Brotherhood of Fish”, in fact a sort of deranged revue put together by recent Mercury Prize nominees The Electric Soft Parade, performing under an assumed name for mysterious security reasons.

Quite a number of fairly eccentric Brighton musicians joined them onstage for various antics, and they still found time to play ESP’s own great tunes, although the stage ran several hours late, long into the night… we remember encountering members of ESP & BSP enjoying their trip to the country, gazing blankly across the fence into the eyes of confused sheep sometime around 5am. That’s festival fever for you.

2002

TRUCK 2002 was billed as ‘I am Five’. The dynamic Jetplane Landing, who exemplified the festival’s independent ethos, headlined the main stage, while the festival’s penchant for Americana (perhaps it’s the rustic setting) meant gothic country twosome The Handsome Family appeared on the main stage, and indie heroes Seafood featured in the sweaty confines of the new Trailerpark stage, appearing for their third year in a row, while many bands from Truck Records appeared, including the Four Storeys, Black Nielson (who still faithfully washed out the cowshed each year), and Fonda 500.

That year was also notable for an appearance by Young Knives, very early in their career, and bangin’ drum & bass sets in the barn from Kenny Ken and DJ Zinc!

2001

Quite a few regulars from the preceding years again feature heavily; the diverse local scene in Oxford was giving rise to a great many bands, and Truckers had started their own label, working with several of the festival regulars with some success. The Rock of Travolta closed the show with their epic instrumental rock, preceded by Goldrush (previously Whispering Bob), and both bands attracting national airplay and interest. Black Candy’s nu-metal was the main draw on the main stage, with Nottingham’s Six By Seven providing a dash of class and chart-conquering John Otway hurling his guitar around the main stage. In the Barn, Menlo Park amazed with their dashing suits, big hair and general showbiz.

Tickets were a cosy £15. The fantastic Grand Drive played, featuring future Champ Danny George Wilson and his brother Julian.

2000

A definite step onto the national stage with this year as the festival expanded, with a very diverse lineup. Indie darlings of the time Seafood headlined the Saturday and brought with them a scale model of Stonehenge to place in front of the stage, which was a flatbed truck with a scaffolding roof. The legendary Blue Aeroplanes filled the Truck stage on the Sunday with numerous members, some of whom were very tall indeed, while Inspiral Carpets frontman Tom Hingley, who had grown up in nearby Abingdon, also appeared, and fellow Abingdonians Unbelievable Truth headlined. Jim from the band wrote the most enduring Truck theme tune, “No Sleep Til Steventon”, which must be due a revival. The festival CD was now a regular feature, and came out on the fledgling Truck Records.

Rothko headlined the Barn with their line-up of 4 bass guitars, and the barn also featured a debut for The Edmund Fitzgerald (some of whom went on to become Foals). A full day of metal in the barn, now titled The Barn That Cannot Be Named, on Sunday, with band names including Defenestration, Brutal Delux and the unforgettable Waste Monkey.

1999

The headliners King Prawn were fronted by a man with an expansive beard and wearing an orange tunic of some kind. The line-up is a mix of local country-rock, heavier stuff, and grunge/indie. And Frigid Vinegar– remember “Dogmanaught 2000”? we were all obsessed with the year 2000 and the millennium bug in those days, though it eventually passed without incident.

A lot of the bands on the Truck Stage had featured on the Oxford-based Shifty Disco singles club, a CD-single subscription which released a different artists each month, including Four Storeys, Dustball, Samurai Seven, Whispering Bob (featuring the festival organisers), ATL?, Overground – in fact, pretty much all of them.

Southampton’s Orko played in the Barn (still the small side-barn at this point) and arrived early to help clean it out and sweep the farmyard. A friend of theirs had a few ales at the local pub and careered his car into a fence at the farm on the run-up to the festival, nearly getting the whole thing (and probably all subsequent festivals) cancelled. Members of Orko became Truck regulars and label signings Black Nielson, and 2 of them are now in Co-Pilgrim.

The Barn on the Sunday was already ensconced as the home of metal, with local heroes Black Candy and Mindsurfer appearing, while Saturday was more indie, with bands travelling from as far afield as Reading, Southampton and Wokingham.

1998

Headlined by the very noisy Nought, who also posed for the cover of local music magazine Nightshift holding a miniature Truck. They were also the first band of any note to accept an enthusiastic teenager’s request to appear. The shield logo was based on a Route 66 road sign to suggest the Truckin’ lifestyle (which the organisers had of course never experienced). T-shirts were printed on the family kitchen table. One oddity on the bill of mostly local bands is the New Yorker experimental rock group Fan Modine; they featured Jeff Buckley’s drummer amongst their number, and had been sent our way by David Stephenson, part of the Rocket Gallery which was stationed on the farm at the time. That certainly set the precedent for American bands playing a big role in the event. Gathered round our kitchen table with Roo Bhasin (now of Fixers) trying to get bands to play, we had written to Grandaddy, amongst others, and they had sent back a reply saying they’d love to, only they lived 3000 miles away.

Tickets were £3 advance, with profits split between Amnesty International and Helen & Douglas House.