Truck festival has seen a lot of changes since it started 13 years ago

Truck festival has seen a lot of changes since it started 13 years ago, and it was back bigger than ever before with some radical changes in place for this year's event.

It's changed so much it doesn't even look like the same festival I first attended as a 17 year old back in 1999. The expanded site now sees the famous barn stage gone with the 'Clash tent' sitting outside it in its place, and the main stage has been moved into the adjacent field leaving the old main area free for food stalls, merchandise, toilets and the like.

In the market area, the Boxford late night area has been expanded to a full stage and cocktail bar, and there has also been the addition of a last.fm tent and a cabaret tent in the camping field, wood stage and an array of stalls and workshops for everyone to get involved with.

However this expansion hasn't seen a massive rise in demand, and despite the organisers now offering a full 3-days worth of musical entertainment, nearly 1,000 tickets were sold off in the week running up to the festival with a massive 70% off the face value of £99 per ticket.

We arrived in Steventon late on Friday afternoon against the backdrop of the hazy summer sunshine and travelled past quaint thatched cottages, over the railway line and local church whilst fellow festival goers laden down by bags and crates of lager trudged along the side the road towards the site entrance.

We arrived at the new drop off point, which was now positioned at the bottom of the field rather than at the top next to the ticket exchange tent, quite why that was I don't know but it was none too helpful. After getting our wristbands, meeting our friends and setting up, we kicked back with a refreshing cider and awaited the arrival of our other friends whilst taking a short walk round the site to get our bearings after the changes to the layout.

What struck me first was that the organisation seemed a lot more professional than in previous visits to the festival, with designated cooking areas, better toilets in the shape of proper urinals in portable vans and security staff complete with sniffer dogs.

A big plus was the addition of two new bars (there has previously only been one on the entire site) although there is still the lack of a stall that sells items such as tobacco and sun cream which would be a lot more helpful than having to walk out of the site and into the village each time.

We made headway for the new main stage which now faces uphill on the site and lets the festival goers watch the action from a great vantage point. First up for us was The Duke & The King who come all the way from the Woodstock in the US. They set the tone for the weekend with their laid back performance, with 'Shine On You' a standout highlight of their set.

We hang around the main stage to catch Oxford's Bellowhead before making our way to catch the big draw of the evening in the shape of Blur's Graham Coxon who is performing a solo set complete with his backing band. I must admit I have little knowledge of Coxon's solo material and so it seems do other festival goers who I overhear wondering if he's going to play any Blur songs (it turns out he doesn't).

What we are presented with is what feels like a quick blast through the best of his seven albums he's completed since the end of the 1990's. Despite his soft voice, Coxon bellows out his vocals loud enough to be heard virtually through the entire main area with 'Escape Song' and 'Advice' getting the crowd really going. Just before the end of Coxon's set we head for the late night dance area which has really taken off this year.

After my last visit to Truck in 2009, the site was still very bereft of any real late night area. However this has been improved drastically with the introduction of an expanded 'Boxford' area which showcases local DJs and comes complete with a cocktail bar, fairground rides and café (which plays its own music). The party atmosphere was in full swing, with various DJs providing house, dnb and re-mixing old classics such as 'Skee-lo' and 'The Fugees' for the crowd to keep everyone entertained well into the night.

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