You are massively, and I mean MASSIVELY, underestimating how many 18-24 year olds that have favourite bands / artists that were formed before they were born OR released music during the early to mid 2000s when they were only toddlers / primary school age. I genuinely can’t believe you claim otherwise. Liam Gallagher, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys were rammed with that age group.
My time to shine. My group of fest-heads left gave up on Reading Fest after 2017 seeking indie pastures elsewhere. After reading Facebook threads and forums on here we chose Truck. I have been pleasantly surprised (other than the usual nags) that it's gotten better every year! They have had problems with rain and mud in the past, but have a better system in dealing with it. (abundance of straw)
Nags - previous years had terrible options for shade - no longer allowed gazebos so you will cook in the sun. Fix - Go to the Thatchers Haze tent/ The Tap Room, The Barn for endless daytime to late evening entertainment. Taproom always has an event, a talk or an acoustic band playing tunes. It's also good for late-night entertainment for the slightly older crowd. The younger's all go to the indie Landfill disco.
Nags - the Market stage for dance music had terrible speakers last year - absolutely lacking. Fix - Mixtons bar and music area open until late. My friends and I stayed at this brand until close each night as it was better than the indie dance tent and normal dance tent combined! Con - you will spend a lot of money on Mixton's cocktails 🤣 But it felt slightly more adult as it was a bar and great vibes, and good music all night. A lot of modern dance bangers, and old pop and hip-hop mixed in. I couldn't recommend this place enough. (I should get an affiliate link tbh) We went to Victorious the next month, and spent 3 nights at the same Mixtons tent all over again!
And this year there were several brands with popups providing freebies. It didn't feel over-commercialised and fake like a lot of Reading's pop-ups I have been to before. (yes Hewlett Packard, when I am off my nut in a field in 2016 I really care about a new notepad laptop to do work on???) My group went to the Pretty Green area/tent in the Truck arena on day 1, sat down and played the free acoustic instruments they had there, got some free merch, and loved it so much that we returned once more each day. I still have the stickers and Truck Festival exclusive free postcards on my wall which is a great reminder of my fave festival each year!
Long answer to a quick question - yeah there's plenty to do and it requires little searching as Truck is a smaller better reading. It's not vast open areas, but the difference is yes, the arena is the main selling point, few hangouts outside it. But it's so small and quick to get around it never feels empty. At Truck, I can get some freebies, walk them back to my tent, and then get back into the arena in under 10 mins total, and the clientele are a lot better. (I have never seen a group of 12 year old roadmen actively spitting on people waking past at Truck festival!)
You get what you give, build it and they will come and other such platitudes. See you all in the fields. Updating the setlist playlist as we speak 🤘