Truck Festival - Hill Farm, Steventon, Oxfordshire - 22nd - 24th July 2011 (Live Review)
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Written by James Ball & Craig Willis
I have been attending Truck Festival for each of the last four years. Pretty much ever since moving to Oxfordshire, and have always found it to be an essential weekend out in the countryside where everything is so homely, comfortable and exceedingly fair. I wrote an article, detailing the previous thirteen events on Stereoboard a few months back and now it was time to attend the hotly anticipated Truck 14 myself.
Stretching into a full third day for the first time (2010 featured a minimal Friday lineup focused mostly on local acts), and expanding the size of the arena, as well as placing the popular last.fm stage on the fringes of the campsite, Truck explored unchartered seas this year. Seas that would indicate that it may be a little too big, but with every stall, advertiser, bar and food stand being in some way local, honest, and non-corporate, Truck certainly hasn’t lost its way as being the staple true Festival unlike a lot of its bigger brothers.
Pitching my tent right next to the last.fm stage was probably not my wisest move though.
Like previous years, it’s all been about the bands. Truck has always been that place where people don’t buy tickets to see the headline act and then mooch around for hours wondering who else is worth seeing. It’s about seeing as many acts in as short a space of time as possible to discover your new favourite, and that accolade this year, for me personally, has to be local act, Spring Offensive who, despite being unable to see them during their last.fm stage set on Friday night due to incredibly unfortunate clashing with Bellowhead, their set in the merchandise tent on the Sunday was wonderful. As you’ll see Bellowhead get a higher mark, but Spring Offensive surpassed all expectations.
FRIDAY
Anyway, enough gushing. Time to talk Friday, which kicked off with Deer Park (6/10) who basically played a bit of everything. To say they didn’t set the spirit of festivals on fire would be a little unfair, but they were a dimmer switch being turned slowly on rather than a bang to open proceedings. The highlight was, by far, “The Evening Redness in the West”, a glowing alt.country nugget worth a repeated listen. Following this was my first trip to the Wood tent, a tent inspired by the spirit of the organisers second festival, the entirely self-sufficient and green Wood festival, to catch Hortons Opulant Oog (8/10). This little collective don’t play many live shows, allowing the times when they do to become a unique experience. There were a few mistakes in basic playing in this one, but they were covered very well and, most importantly, the group looked like they were having fun. And Perry. They were enjoying their Perry. Good-o.
Admiral Fallow (6/10) were next up on the Main Stage which is still parked up on a large flatbed Truck. Something about this large Scottish collective of musicians didn’t quite click during the first half, but as confidence grew, so did the musical quality to bring the second half up to a more than acceptable standard. A quick trip back to the Wood Stage to catch a little bit of a capella female trio Juice Vocal Ensemble (7/10) who mesmerised all in attendance, with the biggest shame being the few people actually in the tent at this time in the evening. If anything they were maybe a little too loud, but that’s not their fault. Back to the Main Stage for a bit of festival history incarnate, as from the USAs altogether famous Woodstock comes The Duke & The King (7/10), who performed like their lives depended on it, especially as the sun started to come down and the crowd began to really gather for the Friday night headliners.
Following Truck 2010, a survey went out to anyone on the mailing list asking which band people wanted to see back as headliners the following year. The response was a loud “Bellowhead” (main pic) who, following a rip-roaring success of a set in 2010, had to come and close the Main Stage on the first full Friday ever. They did so in style. Bellowhead (10/10) were utterly perfect in every way. It’s exceptionally difficult to keep eleven musicians in check without the whole thing falling apart, but they played every instrument ever made, danced like fools and played a brand of folk-pop that isn’t pretentious of boring, or even samey in any way. It’s instantly accessible, and with tracks like “Whiskey” and “London Town”, an enormous amount of fun and, as the worlds first crowd surfer ever to befall a sea shanty proves, they fully deserve each one of the “Best Live Act” awards that Radio Two have given for five of the last six years. A perfect, yes, perfect way to close a great Friday.
SATURDAY
Rising and shining on Saturday morning we needed something upbeat and fun to shake away the cobwebs, and Alphabet Backwards (8/10) were exactly that. With some tracks falling victim to the old “that one sounds like one you played ten minutes ago” trap, there’s room for improvement there, but people were up and dancing and having a great time to this unashamedly upbeat, fun, bouncy castle of a band. An excellent piece of scheduling. After this, I had to leave the site (with poetry from Paul Askew emanating from the Cabaret tent providing the soundtrack to my exit, poetry that seemed to have the surprisingly large crowd in attendance hanging off every word and in apparent hysterics. Seemed worth catching for a full set) for the remainder of the day, but fellow Stereoboard contributor Craig Willis also attended, offering his thoughts on four of the other acts he caught that afternoon, starting with Roddy Woomble (5/10), who showcased newest album “The Impossible Song & Other Songs”. While his live shows with Idlewild were legendary, going solo seems to have taken some of the spark out of the show, and while it was played well enough, there seemed to be a lack of energy.
Energy was certainly in abundance during Oxfords newest heroes Fixers (8/10) set. Sporting an almost hilarious beard, the focus quickly shifted to the music with the kind of performance that makes their upcoming September album release an absolutely essential purchase. Throwing themselves around the stage they are musical performance in its rawest form and the massive crowd that assembled in front of the Main Stage thrived from it.
An altogether more serene double act of sorts followed next with Kris Dreaver (8/10) in the Wood Tent, accompanied by Heidi Talbot for a delicate rendition of modern folk at its best. Roddy Woomble made up for earlier indiscretions by making a surprise appearance here for a track from 2008s Before the Ruin. After this, Heidi Talbot (7/10) and Kris Dreaver swapped places for Heidis set, her beautiful voice proving to be an iconic backdrop to close this Saturday evening.
SUNDAY
I was back on site Sunday, and wasted no time getting back into the swing of things with an in-store appearance at the Truck Store merchandise tent from local act Spring Offensive (9/10). Despite being a bit too tall and lanky for the tent, the music is daring, bold and intricately written and set closing masterpiece Every Coin would have had Radiohead hissing through gritted teeth wishing that they got there first. The best thing is knowing that they’re not the finished article and when they are, they could quite easily take over the world.
Mitchell Museum (9/10) were more of a curioso that I decided to watch since nothing else I’d heard of was on, and I’m glad I did. Making my first actual foray into the last.fm stage, I was greeted with some of the most pumped up, fun loving gentlemen Scotland had to offer, renaming each track “Truck Song 1 through 8”, engaging in playful banter with the crowd and basically getting on the good side of every single person in the tent. I can imagine many albums were bought in the merch tent as a result. Following this, I took a trip to the Clash tent to check out Treefight for Sunlight (7/10), who were pretty generic and dull with their pseudo-Coral soundings. They didn’t really win many friends prior to the performance starting by demanding everyone “get up” despite the sit-down hippy vibe in the tent at the time. The score would have been even lower had they not, right in the middle of their set, burst out with a pitch-perfect cover of Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights. The tent was about half-full at that point and people suddenly began to rush in just to see if the real thing had suddenly jumped on stage. After this confidence and song quality improved as they embarked on a dishevelled trip to the end of their set.
Next up was Little Fish (7/10) doing an in-store performance in the Merch tent. Ranting about their former record label no longer producing their (absolutely excellent) first album any longer, they proudly claimed it was still on sale through other means at the back of the tent. Using nothing more than a borrowed harmonica (as their Farfisa was broken) and a borrowed guitar (courtesy of Spring Offensive), they stumbled through their ramshackle set like true heroes against the industry. Original set clearly thrown out the window by the lack of working equipment, they started to take requests, including an interesting rendition of single “Am I Crazy?”, new single “Wonderful” and a series of new songs taken from their bootleg Fishbowl Sessions amongst other nuggets. While the whole thing was a bit of a mess, it wasn’t their fault, and the crowd remained with them right until the very last strum. Heroes.
Another trip was made to the last.fm stage to catch misfits Islet (8/10). They made a whole bagload of noise using absolutely every type of musical influence you can cram into 30 minutes. Math-rock, prog, metal, dance, you name it and it had a place. A surreal tour de force, and one to be reckoned with, but don’t bother trying to find Islet on the interwebs. They’re not there. Find out when they’re playing next and see them yourselves and you won’t be disappointed, which is what I was when I caught Philip Selway (5/10) in the Clash Tent. I own his first album Familial, and it’s pretty good, and I’m a die-hard Radiohead fan too. In fact, I was probably one of the few people in the Clash Tent who genuinely did not expect any other Radiohead members to appear or songs to be played and, as a result, the crowd petered out to near pittance when The Go! Team cranked up on the Main Stage halfway through. Which is sad, really, because Selway was clearly enjoying himself. The tunes though, well, they’re too slow and a bit samey across the board to maintain any real interest for the whole 50 minutes he played for, and while they were all beautifully played, and the instrumental arrangement intricate in its own right, the spark that makes songs project well into the live arena was missing.
So, The Go! Team (8/10) (small pic), were already sending the Main Stage crowd into a right old tizzy when I arrived. Getting the crowd dancing, singing along (even when they don’t know the words), jumping, clapping and generally enjoying every aspect of the set with fun filled exuberance was the nature of their day, and everyone was getting right into it with “Bottle Rocket” proving to be the particular highlight.
Finally for this reviewer, The Dreaming Spires (7/10) closed the Main Stage in almost traditional fashion. While the organisers band hasn’t headlined the Main Stage for quite some time, they do have the right to, especially with the promise of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” album being played in full. This drew a big crowd and, to my surprise, they filled this set with their own material, a slice of alt.country rock with a modern edge. The show itself was fine, energetic and emotional but when it was announced that the rendition of Rumours would take place after this set, in the Clash Tent, my heart sank a little. Their 9:30 advertised slot featured a good set, but no-one really expected “Rumours” to then follow a 45-minute own material set, then another 40 minute soundcheck on a different stage. A few people, like myself, were disappointed as they had to leave to catch their transport home at 11 and thus missed the grand finale, which soured the final experience a little.
However, with that said, from the 20 or so acts caught at Truck, not one was a disappointment. The variety on offer for such a small festival is second to none as folk, country, rock, indie, experimental, theatre, comedy and a tent dedicated to all things dance (which I regret not setting foot into during the weekend) are all featured. All the staff are friendly, all the stalls are at least local or independent and thus offer good, honest merchandise and foods. The community spirit on offer the whole weekend was fascinating and there’s plenty of space to move around without anyone getting crushed or uncomfortable. If you’ve never been to Truck before, make next year your first as it has never, not one in the last four consecutive years I’ve attended, managed to disappoint and everyone involved should be incredibly proud of themselves.
Keep on trucking.
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So, The Go! Team (8/10) (small pic), were already sending the Main Stage crowd into a right old tizzy when I arrived. Getting the crowd dancing, singing along (even when they don’t know the words), jumping, clapping and generally enjoying every aspect of the set with fun filled exuberance was the nature of their day, and everyone was getting right into it with “Bottle Rocket” proving to be the particular highlight.
