Words and photos by Lucy Fudge
As festival-goers continue to trickle in and set up camp, the music is already beginning over in the arena, with artists such as O’Phantom, Etta Marcus and Lizzie Esau welcoming everyone onto the farm. The afternoon turns to evening, and the sun begins to set just in time for CMAT to return to the main stage for the second year in a row.
CMAT, and the Very Sexy CMAT Band, dominates the main stage as the evening’s headliner, clad in lilac polka dots and her trademark cheeky smile. No one can resist her charm as she invites the crowd to two-step with her, getting everyone moving (somewhat) in time with the music as she performs ‘I Wanna Be A Cowboy Baby’.
As the sun shines down and excitement continues to grow, we kick off Friday afternoon in the This Feeling tent with Sheffield-born indie-pop artist Daisy Peacock, performing tracks such as ‘Bare Minimum’ and ‘Girlbestfriend’. Local legends Cheap Suits are next to take the stage, drawing an impressive crowd despite their last-minute addition to the lineup.
It’s impossible not to fall in love with Irish-Cornish quintet Girl In The Year Above as frontwoman Jennifer Ball dances across the main stage. The group’s unique blend of Celtic storytelling and indie-rock pulls people towards the stage like a siren song (with a far more enjoyable fate). They are followed by Eighty Eight Miles, who make their long-overdue main stage debut, bringing their infectious indie-rock to Truck for the fifth year in a row.
Taking a walk over to The Nest, the crowd is buzzing for Brighton superstars Slag to take to the stage. Playing tracks such as ‘Face Off’ and ‘Legs’ from their debut EP, they dazzle the crowd with both their performance and their sequined outfits, the audience reaction proving that for this math-rock fivesome, the only way is up.
Wrapping up a strong day for female-fronted bands, English Teacher frontwoman Lily Fontaine shares a knowing smile with her bandmates as the crowd loudly welcomes them to the stage. The tent erupts in screams as the band take their places and dive into their first song ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’, performing a set entirely made up of songs from their Mercury Prize-winning debut album, This Could Be Texas.
As Saturday rolls around, it’s another hot day on the farm, the sun waking campers up bright and early for another day of chaos. The question “Where’s Wally?” has haunted philosophers for centuries, and I doubt they ever expected the answer to be in an orchestra mosh pit at Truck Festival, yet here we are. The usual chaos ensues as The Oxford Symphony Orchestra put on yet another unforgettable performance, including a cover of David Bowie’s ‘Starman’ sung by Supergrass’ Gaz Coombes.
The perfect antidote to the surreal scenes outside can be found in Pixie McCann’s gentle vocals and calming stage presence over on the Market Stage, as she invites the audience to spend half an hour in her “weird” world with songs such as ‘Living in Memory’ and ‘Rotting’.
Over the past year, Irish rock band Florence Road have gone from strength to strength, so it makes perfect sense to see them on the main stage this year. As if on cue, the wind picks up during ‘Storm Warnings’, but frontwoman Lily Aron carries on unfazed by the hair blowing in her face, letting nature elevate the theatrics of the moment.
While the Kaiser Chiefs are wrapping up their performance on the main stage, the crowd starts shifting towards the Market Stage in the hopes of getting a good spot for The Royston Club. With the crowd spilling way beyond the tent, Tom Faithful laughs and says “I bet you wish you were singing ‘I Predict a Riot’ now,” as the band begin their set with some technical difficulties. These are quickly dealt with, leaving the band to play an extraordinary set, closing with an unforgettable performance of ‘Cariad’, pulling on the heartstrings of everyone within earshot.
As Mr Motivator welcomes everyone into the arena on Sunday morning, I doubt I’m alone in hoping to have his energy levels and optimism when I am 73. Mr Motivator is followed by the equally incredible – though slightly less fluorescently dressed – Sarah Crean, whose dreamy sound immediately wraps audience members in a cloud of indie-pop magic.
Having recently landed from their own trip in the clouds (an overnight flight from America to England), Picture Parlour put on an incredible performance in The Nest. Fuelled by ‘sleep-deprived delirium’ (their words), the band prove that jet lag is no match for their high-energy rock ballads and striking stage presence.
The Name Game is an organisation dedicated to levelling the playing field for female, non-binary and trans people in the music industry, and their Sunday afternoon Taproom takeover hosted by Jodie Bryant offers a spectacular lineup including Hattie Oates, Kayla Grace and Ellur, as well as a more laid-back atmosphere for those starting to feel the effects of three nights sleeping on a deflated airbed in a tent.
If Mr Motivator was the calming sunrise that slowly wakes you, then Rizzle Kicks are the blaring alarm clock which you can’t seem to turn off. As Jordan Stephens and Harley Alexander-Sule come barreling out onto the stage, a switch flips, turning any remaining tiredness into energy, as they kick things off with ‘Lost Generation’. As Alexander-Sule parades around the stage with his son during ‘When I Was a Youngster’, dancing along with the crowd, the picture of unrestrained joy and love is a powerful reminder of the importance of music in bringing us together.
The energy stays high as the afternoon goes on, but a shadow is looming as friend groups are divided as festivalgoers are faced with what can only be described as the Barbenheimer of the indie music world: do you go and see Keo or Westside Cowboy? With both Keo and Westside Cowboy performing tracks from their upcoming debut albums, The Market Stage and The Nest are overflowing, the atmosphere electric across the arena, and the air thick with anticipation knowing that both of these bands are only going to get bigger.
From timeless headliners to brand new talent, Truck is truly the wackiest, most exciting weekend for indie music that the UK has to offer – and as the fireworks take off and strangers continue to dance, it is impossible not to fall in love with this weird and wonderful festival. At the end of the day, where else are you going to find Wally in a field moshing to the Oxford Symphony Orchestra’s rendition of ‘You Can’t Stop The Beat’ from Hairspray on a Saturday morning?
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