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| Truck Festival | |
|---|---|
| Location(s) | Steventon, Oxfordshire, England |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Date(s) | 3rd weekend of July (2 days) |
| Genre | Rock, Indie, Drum and Bass |
Truck Festival is an annual independent music festival in Oxfordshire, England. It was started in 1998 by the Bennett family (including the brothers Robin and Joe of the band Goldrush), who decided that mainstream festivals such as Glastonbury had become too commercial and predictable. It is held in July at Hill Farm in Steventon, near Abingdon. The festival also gave birth to the Truck Records label in 1999.
The main stage is constructed from three large flatbed trucks, and a common misperception is that this is where the name of the festival comes from. However in 2007 Robin Bennett wrote on the official Truck website: "Contrary to popular belief, the name Truck actually came from a compilation CD I picked up, 'Ten Trucking Greats', the soundtrack of the movie Convoy."[1]
Truck has grown somewhat since its inception, but with an annual attendance of around 5,000 it is dwarfed by the likes of Glastonbury (around 150,000 people) and Reading/Leeds. Part of Truck's appeal for fans is that it can be viewed as a microcosm of these larger festivals, with a similar layout and facilities but on a more manageable scale. Due to a variety of factors, chiefly the layout of Hill Farm, it is highly unlikely that Truck has any potential for significant growth in the near future.
Hill Farm remains very much a working farm, shutting down only temporarily to allow the festival to take place each year. One of Truck's six stages is the so-called "Barn That Cannot Be Named"—a cow-shed with a stage set up at one end—which, despite the rich smell of manure, remains an ever-popular place to watch bands at the festival. The Barn mainly plays host to metal, emo, hardcore and punk acts during the day, then on Saturday evening turns into an arena for drum and bass and other dance music, returning to its rock incarnation on Sunday.
Other stages include Trailer Park (renamed The Village Pub in 2008), a marquee in the main arena which features the more esoteric indie bands during the day, and breakbeat on Saturday night; the Lounge (renamed the Beat Hive in 2008), a smaller marquee which used to specialise in more ambient and chilled performances during the day, and trance during the night but now plays host to a number of local, national, and international bands and DJs as well as a range of electronic music; the Market tent, which is set in the market area a short walk from the main field and features mainly folk-oriented music, becoming a retro disco/karaoke venue on Saturday night; and the Theatre/Fringe tent (renamed the Pavilion in 2008), which hosts non-musical acts such as theatrical performances, stand-up comedy, performance art and spoken-word performers.
The festival prides itself on its family atmosphere, with all of the site services being provided by local groups: the food stall is run by the local Rotary Club, and ice cream is sold by the local vicar. All profits from the festival go to charity.
A compilation album is released each year on Truck Records to coincide with the festival, featuring tracks (mainly studio recordings) from various bands playing at the festival.
A number of sister festivals have been launched in recent years. The annual Wood festival, at Braziers Park in Oxfordshire, was first held in 2008 and is run with an emphasis on the environment. EquiTruck has been held in January every year since 2006[2], at the mid-point between Truck Festivals, and is run by the Truck Festival bar staff. UniTruck was created out of the abandoned 2007 Truck Festival, which had to be moved to Oxford Brookes University at short notice. The first two festivals (in July and November 2007) were held at Oxford Brookes, followed by an event in December 2007 at Bucks New University in High Wycombe, which has become an annual event (now in November)
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Truck One
Was held on 22 September 1998.
Truck Two
Now extended to two days, Truck Two was held on the weekend of 10-11 July 1999
Sunday night headliners were King Prawn. Other acts included Black Candy, Lab-4 and Dustball.
Tickets cost £5 for the weekend.
Truck Three
On the weekend of 22–23 July 2000
Tickets cost £10 for the weekend.
Truck Four
On the weekend of 21–22 July 2001, Truck was headlined by The Rock of Travolta, who had recently supported Radiohead on their homecoming concert at South Park, immortalised on Radiohead's live album I Might Be Wrong. The lineup included local bands such as Four Storeys and The Samurai Seven, as well as cult Glasgow band, Cannon and the infamous John Otway.
Tickets cost £15 for the weekend.
Truck Five
Truck Five took place on the 20–21 July 2002. As usual, the lineup was largely taken from the local music scene, including bands like Meanwhile, back in Communist Russia... and Eeebleee, but also with upcoming bands from further afield such as Lapsus Linguae.
Other acts included were; Antonia, Black Nielson, Caretaker, Cat on Form, Chris TT, Dustball, Finlay, 5ft Edible smiths, Fonda 500, Goldrush, Jetplane Landing, Jim Crosskey, KTB, Lapsus Linguae, Lightyear, Luke Smith,, Mountain Men Anonymous, National Prayer Breakfast, Pug, The Rock Of Travolta, Rachel Dadd, Scott Parker, Six Ray Sun, 65 Days of Static, South Sea Company Prospectus, Toby Kidd, Torqmada and The Young Knives.
Tickets cost £15 if they were bought before the end of June 2002, rising to £20 after.
Truck Six
19–20 July 2003 saw bands like British Sea Power and The Futureheads supporting Goldrush, who teamed up with Mark Gardener from Oxford band Ride to headline the festival.
Tickets cost £20 for the weekend if bought before the end of June 2003 rising to £25 after.
Truck Seven
Held on the weekend of 24-25 July 2004
Acts who played included; Goldrush, Buck 65, Cristian Vogel, Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez, Black Nielson, KTB, Dive Dive, Chris T-T, Kaito, MC Lars, Trademark, Toulouse, Days of Grace, Tiger Club, eeeblee, Villa Real, Nervous Test Pilot, The Evenings, Piney Gir, Luke Smith, Igloo, I Love Lucy, Black Madonnas, Swearing at Motorists, Sunnyvale Noise Sub-Element, The Epsteins, The Shit, Stars of Aviation, Lach, Kate Garrett, Thomas Truax, Chantelle Pike, The Henry Big Band, The Orff Orchestra, and The Schla la.
Tickets cost £25 if bought before the end of June 2004, rising to £35 after.
Truck Eight
In 2005 the event took place on 23–24 July and was headlined on Saturday night by Biffy Clyro and on Sunday by The Magic Numbers. Other acts near the top of the bill included The Raveonettes, MC Lars, Do Me Bad Things and Goldrush.
Tickets cost £27.50 for the weekend if bought before the end of June 2005 and £37.50 if bought after.
Truck Nine
The 2006 festival took place on 22–23 July Tickets went on sale online from 1 March and sold out in a record eight days, although to safeguard against complaints from locals that outsiders were taking over a small, local event, tickets were also available from February 1 at just eight Oxfordshire shops.
The headlining acts were The Futureheads on Saturday and Mystery Jets on Sunday. Other acts near the top of the bill included Hundred Reasons, ¡Forward, Russia!, Goldrush, Brakes, MC Lars, Skindred and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly (Saturday); and Regina Spektor, The Young Knives, Seth Lakeman, The Electric Soft Parade, Buck 65 and Chicks on Speed (Sunday).
BBC 6 Music covered the festival for the first time, with Marc Riley and Andrew Collins among those in attendance. Truck Nine also abandoned the traditional early finish on Sunday night by allowing camping over two nights.
Tickets cost £40 for the weekend.
Truck Ten
Truck Ten was originally scheduled for 21–22 July 2007. Tickets sold out in just three days. However, due to flooding (see 2007 United Kingdom floods), the festival was postponed the day before it was due to start. A replacement event was quickly arranged at Oxford Brookes University, featuring some of the bands who were scheduled to play the festival.
The festival was rescheduled for the reserve dates of 22-23 September (the anniversary weekend of the first festival in 1998), with tickets remaining valid. Most of the original published lineup were able to return, although notable exceptions included The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Hopewell, Jack Peñate, Lethal Bizzle, Chase and Status and DJ Fresh. Oxford Band Foals set had to be rearranged after fear for safety in the Trailer Park tent. Their set on Saturday night saw them perform to an packed barn full of ecstatic truckers. The headliners were Idlewild on Sunday, and Garth Hudson (formerly of The Band) on Saturday, backed by a group including his wife Maud on lead vocals, and members of Goldrush and Grand Drive. Other artists on the bill included Glenn Tilbrook, Goldrush, Brakes, The Electric Soft Parade, John Power, Pull Tiger Tail, Metronomy and Grand Drive. The festival also featured the last performance of The Schla La Las.
Tickets cost £55 for the weekend.
Truck Eleven
Truck Eleven was held over the weekend of 19–20 July, 2008. The Saturday headliners were The Lemonheads, whose performance included the entirety of their album It's A Shame About Ray. Sunday's headliners were Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, who first played the festival in 2004. Other acts included Altern-8, Camera Obscura, Dodgy, The Early Years, Emmy the Great, Fighting with Wire, Fonda 500, Neil Halstead, Eamon Hamilton, Kyte, Le Volume Courbe, Maps, Laura Marling, Ian McLagan and The Bump Band, Ruth Minnikin, Noah and the Whale, Okkervil River, Piney Gir, Ralfe Band, The Research, Ulrich Schnauss, Walter Schreifels (as Blimey and the Governors), Martin Simpson, Spectrum, Television Personalities, These New Puritans, Frank Turner and Youthmovies.
Tickets cost £60 for the weekend.
Truck Twelve
Truck Twelve took place on the weekend of 25–26 July 2009 The Saturday headliners were Ash, while local music stalwarts Supergrass closed proceedings on the Sunday night. Other acts included Red Light Company, Yacht, Errors, Mark Olson & Gary Louris, And So I Watch You from Afar, Broken Records, Sportsday Megaphone, Joe Allen Band, Heloise and the Savoir Faire, Data.select.party, Pete Molinari, Pulled Apart by Horses, Chew Lips, , Calories, Mike Heron, The Candyskins, Detroit Social Club, Panama Kings, KTB, Danny & The Champions of the World, Gabriel Minnikin, Holton's Opulent Oog, Nervous Test Pilot, Jali Fily Cissokho, Andrew Ferris and Ruth Minnikin & Her Bandwagon. On the Sunday Rock Sound magazine and Bob Harris hosted the barn-stage and the solar-powered market stage respectively. A secret set was played by Frank Turner on the sunday night, under the name Funk Tanker.
Tickets cost £70 for the weekend with day tickets costing £40 each.
References
External links
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