Photo: WENN
Small and unassuming, Truck Festival may not have been on the top of your list of festivals to attend this summer. Tucked away in rural Oxfordshire, the annual festival, currently in its 19th year, facilitates just 10,000 attendees.
Yet where bigger festivals like Reading + Leeds falter, Truck shines. Stripped of commercialism and instead focusing on charity and local brands, it can feel more like a village fair. A village fair with some of the most impressive acts around.
These are some of the best things we saw at Truck Festival 2016
COASTS
It is Friday afternoon and Truck Festival is slowly gaining momentum. Between a packed out tent for competition winners The Outside and the pop reggae sounds of Ady Suliuman on the main stage, it's all going well.
Arriving to a sea of haze, Coasts take things to a new level. This is a band who clearly mean business, as they get the crowd moving, sweating and singing along to every lyric. Cans in the air, and even a pineapple brought along for the ride, this is where it all kicks off. 'Modern Love' goes down a treat, rousing the crowd, before front-man Chris Caines encourages audience members to get on each other’s shoulders for 'Tonight'.
CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMEN
Making their triumphant return to the Oxfordshire festival, Catfish & The Bottlemen bring the house down with a collection of tracks from their debut album The Balcony and second helping,The Ride. Two years ago the Lluandudno and Newcastle natives made their Truck debut with a daytime slot on the main stage. Since, their success has sky-rocketed. As just their second headlining festival slot ever, all eyes were on Catfish & The Bottlemen as they closed the first day of Truck Festival 2016.
Arriving on stage and launching right into 'Homesick', the crowd sways and jolts with excitement. At one point a section fall to the ground as the party carries on around them. Keeping the energy high throughout, Catfish & The Bottlemen have the uncanny ability to make every song feel bigger than the last. Encouraging fans to get onto each other's shoulders, to the dismay of security, this is a band who undoubtedly adore the chaos. 'Tyrants', the last song on the band's debut album, closes out the set at just under an hour. There's a reason Catfish & The Bottlemen have become a staple at festivals all over the UK, but for a headliner, they need more songs.
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Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt
MR MOTIVATOR
It's a Saturday morning. You've already popped to the food tent for breakfast, possibly nursing a hangover from the evening before. What better way to get ready for another day of live music than with a bit of fitness and dancing? As drones of delighted festival goers join Mr Motivator for some midday exercise, you can't help but wish the fitness instructor would attend every festival.
SUNDARA KARMA
Reading locals Sandara Karma bring the good vibes as the sun shines brightly above. With soaring choruses and an underlying euphoria, it feels like a breath of fresh air in the scorching heat. Previously describing their sound as 'a healthy blend of depth and shallowness', there is a hint of Springsteen to the band's songs. Spritely and anthemic, with a funk undertone at times, Sundara Karma show why they are tipped as the next big indie band.
CIRCA WAVES
For a band to arrive on stage to an instrumental which seems straight out of 'Jurassic Park', you know it's going to be good. Circa Waves do not disappoint. Stepping on stage and launching straight into a series of hits, the Liverpudlians take control. "I need help with this one", singer Kieran Shudall pleads as the audience chime in for 'Stuck In My Teeth". "Get Away" follows, with "T-Shirt Weather" then ending the set on a high.
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Photo: Robbie Barratt
MANIC STREET PREACHERS
When it comes to demanding the attention of a crowd, Manic Street Preachers are veterans. Taking over the main stage on Saturday Night, the Welsh rockers show everyone how its done. A sense of unity floods the crowd as they make their way through their discography, paying close attention to their older tracks. Despite many audience members not having even been born when Manics came to be, everyone gets involved, singing and swaying along. It is a set full of soars and dips, alternating between upbeat and sombre.
A part of the set is dedicated to former guitarist Richey Edwards, who disappeared near Severn Bridge in 1995 at age 27, as James Dean Bradfield praises "some of the best lyrics he had written". With a career spanning three decades, Manic Street Preachers aren't short of material. Playing the longest set of the festival, the crowd relish in the chance to see such a legendary band in a relatively intimate setting. Chants of "you love us" ring out towards the end of the set, summing it up best. Those who may not have known much about Manic Street Preachers before, sure do now. 'A Design For Life', a perfect ending anthem, closes the show.
Photo: Richard Gray
KODALINE
If there was an award for the most spine-tingling moment of Truck Festival 2016, it goes to Sunday headliners Kodaline. The passion is palpable from the moment they step on stage, providing a stunning end to a beautiful weekend. Experts in infectious melodies and heart-felt lyricism, the band perform effortlessly as the audience breathes along to every word.
Any sceptics of the headliners are quickly silenced as the chorus of 'High Hopes' echoes through the crowd. A sea of cell-phone lights accompany romantic ballad 'The One', before the crowd roars again for a cover of Kygo's 'Raging'. Kodaline might have seemed an odd choice to headline the indie driven festival, but as the audience laps up every moment it would seem there is no better way to end the three day festival.
THE NON-MUSIC
Truck Festival may be all about the music, but for those with some gaps in their schedule, there's plenty of other options to fill in the time. Whether that be the various vintage stalls, a giant food tent or fairground rides, there's a little something for everyone. Paint remains soaked into the grass following a powder paint fight on Saturday afternoon, while a Star Wars marathon drew tired festival goers to the pillow cinema Sunday night.
