Festival Review: Truck Festival
Truck Festival’s enduring charm lies in its ability to grow without losing the youthful spirit that made it a staple for a generation raised on mid-2010s indie anthems.
Blooming from adolescence with crowds that have grown up in the fields of Oxfordshire, and doing so to the sounds of The Libertines, Supergrass, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, occasionally subjected to bands like Towers of London - whoever they were - this mobile village turns 27 this year; and whilst not quite a milestone, it’s proven itself to continually worthy. Having first attended as an uncultivated and fragile 16 years old, the audience, staying consistent to the point time-bending, has remained from my perspective frozen in the age of Kasabian. That is to say at a cool 2010 - 2016, where the Leicester band ruled the airwaves and indie-sleaze had only just begun to rot in its sodden grave.
There is no doubt in my mind that the generation that once cheered God Bless This Acid House when Leicester City won the Premier League pretends not to mourn the death of this time for the same reason a teenager throws away such childish things in the pursuit of maturity, only to realise a short decade later, that once a hit, always a hit. Truck Fest knows this and proved it last week by helping to resurrect a feeling not-so-long-ago forgotten. Although not completing the cycle by donning skinny-jeans and those fucking horrid blazer/t-shirt combinations, Kasabian made a crowd of millenials feel like the ‘new kids on the block’ again.
And perhaps that’s the secret to Truck Fest’s quiet endurance - its refusal to fully grow up. It doesn’t chase trends, nor does it chase nostalgia with the desperation of a festival clinging to its past glories. Instead, it sits comfortably in a sweet spot: a living time capsule that knows its crowd, indulges their memories, but still offers just enough growth every year to keep it evergreen. There’s no doubt in my mind that it’ll last another 27 years if they follow this formula. No one that comes to Truck is coming because they didn’t get tickets to Glastonbury, and as long as they don’t try to become a festival like any other, people (and more importantly, acts) will return; be it every year, or like myself, after a 4 year hiatus.
Truck Festival will return in 2026, taking place between 23rd-26th July with tickets available now at https://truckfestival.com/Photography By: Izzy Challoner