Truck showcases a wealth of crowd pleasing acts on the bill

Truck Festival 2014

Friday 18th to Saturday 19th July 2014
Hill Farm, Steventon, near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX13 6SW, England MAP
£74 weekend

Daily capacity: 3,000

I would like to say that the journey to Truck was smooth and uneventful, but that would be a lie!

I booked train tickets for London to Oxford, but got off a stop earlier at Didcot Parkway, only to be told I was not allowed to get off the train early as I had an advance cheap fare, one station operative said we had to pay an excess fare, fine I said, until the next operative told me I had to pay the FULL fare of nearly £30 so back on a train to Oxford it was. As I had no idea about the bus and I was running late I looked at cabs, had a quote of £60 before deciding to get a ticket to Didcot Parkway for the train and go back there, what a waste of time all down to a jobs worth at the station, so my first thing about Truck is : sort out shuttle buses please! (Also for the sake of the locals it would be nice as on the way home I saw so many local people waiting on the hourly service X2 only to have to miss it because it was full of festival goers, which I felt was a bit unfair.)

Finally got to Truck Festival and after set up it was time for a look around, once going in via the main gate, the camp site is the first thing you see and then a 24 hour Tea and coffee tent (24 hours!!! great idea), all proceeds go to the Ronald McDonald charity which helps support families with children in hospital.

As you go into the main site it soon becomes apparent that this festival is very much geared toward charity, most stalls are run by volunteers with all proceeds going to charity, they have some brilliant stalls, such as 'Appealing Food' serving Asian snack food, I had a lovely Lentil Dahl with 2 onion bhaji's and a chapati for £5 and this stall had lines of people from day one, all money goes to The Rotary Club of Oxford Spires which will then be distributed to local, national and international charities. There was a café pod, which was a huge tent that had different food and drink available including a burger stall, a smoothie stall (which made an awesome banana smoothie for £1) and a great coffee, a salad bar, an ice cream stall, a pizza stall and more all with charity in mind and all at great prices, Way to go Truck festival!

Another great thing about this festival was the kids tent which had kids activities happening every day, what a great way to make it a happy time for the little ones. Truck also had great pull along carts for you to pull the kids around with you, so again, Way to go Truck!

There were several bars and I had strawberry cider which was only £4 a pint (or half pint at £2) which I thought was reasonable. They had a beach bar which had sand and deck chairs and sold cocktails too, sadly I never had any cocktails this time!

There were also other traders, stalls selling glow band and such and another selling clothes, one stall even sold guitars, these stalls weren’t all selling for charity though but none the less good stalls for a festival. You could also buy cigarettes at one stall, I have no idea what price they were as I quit in 2003. Another great thing was a phone charging place that also hired out lockers, I had my phone charged for £5 and it was a very secure place with not much chance of misplacing your property or having it stolen!

The set out for Truck was great, the first stage you come across is The Market Stage ( a stage in a tent), after that it was The Great Western Saloon Bar which was awesomely set out like an old western saloon with a stage and bar and tables and chairs and it all looked really cool, you pass in to another area and hit the entrance to The Barn Stage, this was a stage in a barn (no surprises there) and while it looked every bit like a modern day arena venue, it still smelt every bit like a barn! The stage was higher here and there was a barrier, it all looked good and it was the coolest place to be that weekend! Next stage you came across was The Veterans and Virgins stage which was a tent with a stage, basic set up. Then you came across Truck Stage, the main stage. It was huge and pretty high, the only snag to this stage was there was no shade and it was a very hot weekend. There were also performances in the Merch tent by various artists and also in the Ronald McDonald charity tent.

On to The Music, the bands, their performances and the sound and lights! The first band I got to see at Truck was Flyte. They played an impressive set on The Market Stage , with a hint of Athlete and Keane and a fair bit of themselves, it was a pretty cool sound and I have to say the lights and sound were spot on at this stage. Next was ToLiesel on The Veterans and Virgins stage. The music sounds like a mix between country, rock and pop with some great guitar parts and they 5 piece gave a great performance. Not bad at all! And again, the lights and sound were brilliant. Back to The Market Stage for Little Comets, or as near to it as I could get. The crowd for this band were not only filling the tent, but also surrounding the outsides and chilling on the grass, everyone I looked at seemed to be singing along to the songs. Great tunes from where I heard them, just a shame I couldn't get in to see anything, note to self for next time, get to place they are playing earlier in future!

Next for me was Kids in Glass Houses on the Truck Stage, I first saw this band way back in 2007 when they played in Zavvi record store in London for a Kerrang day of rock and they really impressed me, but what I saw today was a far cry from that in the wrong direction. Musically it was OK, but I always find the singer makes or breaks any song and sadly I felt lead singer Aled Phillips broke every tune they done that dayeven the track 'Me Me Me' (Give Me What I Want as it was originally called) Sounded like Phillips just couldn't be bothered. Phillips also said to the crowd on various occasions, 'you don't even know who we are' in sentences and I found that a disturbing thing to say to the crowd. How did a band who once impressed me so much come to this??

The Brickwork Lizards however were very impressive with 8 players playing instruments such as an Oud, Cello, Trumpet, Keyboard, Congas, Violin plus much more. Music is very upbeat and beyond description, very alternative and unique and the crowd loved them. After a quick change into something warmer for the evening I went to The Barn to see Blood Red Shoes, who ended up coming on stage 20 minutes late due to technical issues. They had a huge forgiving crowd though and no fault could be found with them once on stage. The next band I caught was The Cribs headlining Truck Stage, with a clear crisp sound and solid vocals, they had everyone singing and dancing along (whilst the kids were left running around in a hope that they would sleep once their parents get them back to the tent). My only annoyance here was the lighting, I was constantly having to look away as the strobe lights flashed crazily, I couldn't see anything on stage because of it but maybe my eyes have grown sensitive to this sort of thing now. First night over with, time for bed.

Saturday started with me going to see Whales In Cubicles first and my only regret was that I didn't get to the tent earlier, I only caught their last song but that was enough to reel me in, they sounded so grungy and rocky and were a great way to start the day, I shall be seeing them again! The Boy I Used to Be followed, this 2 piece band sounded a bit like Billy Corgan in places, only a little less Electronic. Next I saw my first band in The Great Western Saloon Bar, The Buffalo Skinners, a piece band whose instruments included the Accordion, Violin and Harmonica, were very country sounding mixed with a bit of indie pop and the full saloon bar was very impressed from what I could tell. Alphabet Backwards had an awesome indie sound going on, sounding like a cross between The Magic Numbers and The Streets and turn the tempo up a bit and this is the sound, it was very enjoyable!

Next I went over to the main stage, the sun was blazing and heat was really high, but there was no shade over at the main stage which I found really tough, but I had to hang in there as The Twilight Sad were on next and I really wanted to see them. Within moments of them being on stage I was left wondering why I had never checked them out before, I had been familiar with the name for may years so what stopped me seeing them? With truly epic sounding rock tunes and a singer so in the zone it was not hard to see why they were on the main stage, what was hard to see was why they didn't have a later slot? Amazing. Sam Duckworth was next for me so I headed to The Barn, after the heat for the main stage going to the cooler barn was a God send. Duckworth played as Get Cape Wear Cape Fly (soon to be disbanded)with his computer bringing the extra instruments/music etc and it sounded pretty good, I am more a lover of the full band on stage but I guess when needs must a mac can save the day. The tunes were great and I loved it along with the few hundred odd people who were behind me!

I stayed in The Barn to see Lonely The Brave and despite that barn smell I really loved the cooler temperature. Lonely The Brave started with Black Saucers, and within seconds had the crowd totally captivated, I could hear people behind me saying 'This band are great, who are they?' and I am not surprised, The next song was a testament as to how much love they have out there, as the band blasted into Trick Of The Light, there was a loud chorus going on behind me as people were singing along word for word. By the time 'Victory Line' was played they (meaning the audience) were on each others shoulders singing along, Lonely The Brave's music is probably the most heart felt rock with the most hauntingly amazing vocals that you will ever hear and it seems that the audience already knew this! Gnarwolves, were up next and still playing to a barn full of people they delivered blinding tunes and some gritty awesome rock. Andrew WK failed to impress me, I can't say I ever knew what all the fuss was with him and seeing him live done nothing to change that thought, but hey, a barn full of people seemed to enjoy it and that was all that mattered!

All in all it was a great festival with some great bands and a festival I would love to return too!

review by: Trina Back

photos by: Sam Benamar