Instead of getting on a flight to country slightly toastier than here, I decided to make the journey down to Oxfordshire for a weekend of emerging musical talent and huge indie stars as my Summer holiday for the year. First launching in 1998, Truck Festival was now in its 27th year. Coming a long way from an actual truck as a stage and £3 tickets, headliners this year included CMAT, The Maccabees, Two Door Cinema Club and The Wombats.
After putting my years in on regular campsites, putting up many a tent and sleeping in many a field, I decided to fork out on fancy camping. This definitely took the load off a long journey down (8/9 hours) knowing a tent was there ready and waiting and also helped with the ailments of just being older at a festival. Once I made it to my pitch for the weekend, it wasn’t long before I was heading into the main arena.
DAY 1 – THURSDAY
Opening the This Feeling stage was Heidi Eldest with a set of pop-rock tracks. For the first act of the day and on one of the smallest stages at the festival, she had a respectable turn out. She Might Be Pretty (Everything You Need) was a standout track that I’ve enjoyed during my pre-festival research. The excitement of the occasion may have affected her live vocals but with a solid band backing her up and range of memorable tracks, she has potential.
Opening the Truck (Main) Stage were competition winners, O’Phantom. Based in Hull, the band cite Parquet Courts and Deerhunter as some of their influences which can be heard in their post-punk tracks. They had a fantastic live sound and I was really taken in by their performance.
Coming all the way from Newcastle, Leazes were next on the This Feeling stage – the feeling being HEAT. It did feel like being on an actual holiday with the temperatures we were dealing with. They brought infectious energy to the start of the weekend and the tunes to back it up. I enjoyed the Busted-esque jumps for Sun’s Out and Melissa In Action is an insanely catchy indie bop.
Back to the Truck stage it was for some chilled tunes in the sun. Marie Franc describing themselves as ‘heartbreakers from Manchester’ brought their dreamy folk-pop to the masses, unleashing a bit of zen to the day which was welcomed in the heat.
Next up on the main stage with stunning vocals, was indie singer/songwriter, up and comer, Etta Marcus. After following her for a short while, I was highly anticipating her set and was not disappointed. Tracks from her 2025 EP ‘Devour’ were devoured by the audience as well as those from her debut album ‘The Death Of Summer & Other Promises’.
The talent must be absolutely brimming in Newcastle, because fellow Geordie, Lizzie Esau, joined Leazes on the This Feeling line up for the day. She performed a professional set with the ingredients to go far. Bleak Sublime created a special singalong moment especially considering the size of crowd she garnered. One I was glad to catch before she explodes in popularity.
It was then time for one of my all time favourites: Everything Everything. Clad in matching bright yellow boiler suit-esque outfits, a brave choice considering the weather, the band powered through a set covering most of their career. There was a particular focus on ‘Get To Heaven’ with them touring its 10th anniversary in the past year, but no matter the track, the crowd were bouncing and singing along with every word. The best live experience I’ve had seeing them. Absolutely breathtaking.
Last live act of the night was main stage headliner CMAT. With a talented band behind her and a catalogue of crowd pleasing tunes, CMAT had the charisma and outstanding voice to look at home in a headline slot. This was my first time seeing her in action and I was absolutely blown away. ‘EURO-COUNTRY’ was the first album of hers which truly clicked with me and those songs certainly popped within her set. A great way to start the weekend and a fantastic booking from Truck who sealed the deal ‘before she was famous’.
As it was my first night on site I also decided to check out some of the night-time entertainment in the form of the famous Truck Silent Disco. Everything Everything even made a DJ appearance on one of the channels. A super fun idea which helped the funnel of traffic out of the main arena once the headline acts are finished and also a tonne of fun.
DAY 2 – FRIDAY
INDIYAH opened up the V&V (Veterans & Virgins stage) with a set of sweet songs written as a young teen. She had a beautiful voice to match and was endearing with her storying telling both during and between her songs.
Daisy Peacock from Sheffield, now Birmingham based brought out some incredible pop songs to start the day. The Middle and Girlbestfriend have been in constant rotation during my lead up listening to Truck and with some polish on her live performance she is going to be a force to be reckoned with.
Another set of competition winners were on the main stage today The Love Buzz from Cork not only provided the crowd with some well-needed primal scream therapy (apt for the day Primal Scream were playing) but also a range of fun tracks with Pretty Happy Alone being a standout.
Twat Union PACKED The Nest tent out making it quite the mission to get anywhere near their feminist punk rock. Their set was full of satirical tongue-in-cheek songs covering topics from red flags to period sex. There was even the chugging of a carton of cranberry juice during UTI and a cisgender white male invited to the stage to play the tambourine for Singer Of The Band. Such a fun set which was all the more empowering for all females in the vicinity.
Girl In The Year Above took to the Truck main stage with their atmospheric folk-rock. They gained some recent popularity through their cover of Massive Attack’s Teardrop appearing on the Peaky Blinders film soundtrack. Despite not having a huge number of releases, they are ones to watch.
Love Rarely were outliers on the lineup as one of the heaviest bands of the weekend, transporting me back to Slam Dunk earlier in the year. The talent alone displayed by the guitarists of the band blew all other musicians I’d encountered that weekend out the water.
Eighty Eight Miles or EEM were veterans of the festival, working their way up from opening the This Feeling stage, to headlining the This Feeling stage to eventually making their way onto the mains stage line up. You could tell from the crowd response that they were local favourites. Their song Diana has been stuck in my head since the festival.
Divorce were another highly anticipated act of the weekend for me. I think I audibly shrieked with excitement when I saw they were added to the lineup. Singles Antartica, Hangman and Checking Out were standouts of the weekend and the audience were also treated to an early performance of new track Christmas.
Delta Sleep stormed through a set of intricate guitar lines and crazy time signatures. The math rock band based in Brighton produced an incredibly impressive performance, showing how how extremely talented they were both as individuals and as a collective.
We Are Scientists were another highlight of the weekend due to the enthusiasm of the crowd alone. I opted to miss my fellow Scots in Primal Scream to gain a prime spot at the barrier to see my favourites in action. The crowd went wild not only singing lyrics but also guitar riffs back at the band to the point where Keith Murray and Chris Cain were clearly taken aback. The set was a strong mix of tracks old and new and with such a huge catalogue of repertoire to choose from there was something from every era of the band.
The Maccabees were second headliners of the weekend and with live performances being few and far between in the past year, this was the hot ticket of the weekend. The set was front heavy with tracks from albums ‘First Time’ and ‘Wall of Arms’, the latter working particularly well in the live environment. I did miss the inclusion of more tracks from ‘Given to the Wild’ and felt a slight lull towards the end of the set despite the excitement of a new song, but overall, this was an electrifying performance surely going down in Truck headline history.
Before heading to the campsite, I of course had to sample the Shrek singalong silent disco, some of the most fun I had over the whole weekend.
DAY 3 – SATURDAY
The Lottery Winners were the true meaning of festival fun, putting smiles on all the faces of those attending Saturday’s Truck Festival. Turn Around had ultimate crowd participation and you could tell they were over the moon to be there performing. There was also a very sweet moment with a fan getting to join them to perform Letter to Myself. I was truly charmed by their performance.
Office Party had their first ever festival slot at the This Feeling tent. Dressed in office attire, they produced a set of fun pop-rock with latest single Alone being a standout of their performance.
Having not seen Friendly Fires since 15 years ago on the festival circuit, I was intrigued to see if they could live up to their past performances which have stood firmly in amongst my favourite sets of all time both at T in the Park and Rockness (R.I.P. to both those festivals by the way!). I was not disappointed. Over a decade later, the band may not still be in their Hawaiian attire from their ‘Pala’ promo but they are most certainly still cutting epic shapes with Ed Macfarlane putting all frontmen to shame. Their back catalogue has aged nicely like a fine wine and songs like Jump in the Pool and Hawaiian Air gave me actual goosebumps. Despite a small break in the set due to a problem offstage, this was still one of the best of the weekend. It helped getting a sneaky barrier spot before the end which was not on my agenda at the start of the day.
The Vaccines were another hot ticket booking this year, performing their debut album, ‘What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?’ in full. This brought so many memories back of seeing them live when they first emerged and they still managed to produce the same magical energy that I witnessed in my first live experience with them 15 years ago. They lost a little sparkle in some of their newer tracks but that did not take away from the ingenious of their bottle rocket debut.
Finally I was incredibly lucky to catch the end of Silver Gore’s set which was impressive to say the least. Peculiar is an absolute banger of a track!
DAY 4 – SUNDAY
Having heard My First Time and Adult DVD whilst sourcing some fuel earlier in the weekend, I was pleased to finally make it into The Market tent to catch PUNCHBAG’s set. This was full of powerpop-rock energy and brought a smile to my face at the start of my day. Safe to say ‘I Am Obsessed’ now with both of their EPs.
Vanessa Carlton brought a calming energy to the afternoon with lovely mid-tempo tracks from her new album ‘Veil’. Obviously the main event was her huge hit A Thousand Miles, but the crowd were respectful enough to stick around to enjoy her gardening tips as well as her newer material. Perfect vibes for the last day of a festival.
Rizzle Kicks were another band to bring the festival fun, despite standing out from the majority of the main stage line up. The crowd were willing to meet them with their high energy and they proved they had earned the right to be there, bringing nostalgia, fun and a great party atmosphere.
I slowed the pace back down, heading to see Oxford based Americana group Steady Habits at the V&V stage. Their songs were full of thoughtful positive messages and the band created a welcome and inclusive environment for all those who wanted to enjoy their music. A hidden gem of the weekend worth checking out.
My last visit to the This Feeling tent was to see cheeky chap from Sunderland, Tom A. Smith. With a sound similar to David Byrne of Talking Heads it was going to be impossible for me not to enjoy this. He gave an explosive performance to a packed tent despite a nasty clash with Westside Cowboy and Keo. Put On A Record Tommy was another top tier moment. This guy’s going to be huge.
On my way out I was lucky to catch the last parts of Westside Cowboy’s set. They had an impressive live sound and you could barely get near the tent to see them. With a new album on the horizon in August, they are bound to hit your radar sometime soon.
Overall this was a festival I would recommend to all guitar music lovers. There was a great atmosphere over the weekend and an overwhelming amount of acts you could choose to see.
Enjoy highlights and sets from the festival in the playlist below!