Truck 2026

[DangerousBrian]

3rd year at Truck for me and never go for the headliners, but deary me, those 3 this year were hard work.

Let me just premise that 20 years ago, I wasn't massively into the Indie scene. I liked what I liked at the time and never really sought out new bands like The Maccabees, TDCC, Wombats etc, didn't like The Libertines at the time and was spending more time at festivals like Download and Reading, when it was good. Was socially aware of bands like Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, the Streets etc and some of the bigger names at the time I guess. 

So, when I saw the headliners announced, I of course went to Spotify and listened and knew of a couple of tracks by each but nothing majorly stuck out for me. There was only those couple of tracks that were probably radio friendly and appeared on TV at the time, Inbetweeners for example. 

 

So, Truck 2026. Thursday was ok for me. Highlights being Leazes, CMAT and The Slates. The rest of it was pretty unspectacular. Etta Marcus was an easy listen in the sunshine. I didn't feel the Thursday would go down as one of the most memorable days if I'm being honest and walked away underwhelmed. 5/10 day

 

Friday enjoyed sets from The Love Buzz, Girl In The Year Above and The North to start the afternoon, but things really kicked off with My First Time, who I have followed for a while now, but not had the chance to see and they really delivered a brilliant set. That led nicely into The Lilacs who I've seen grow from a 60 cap venue to packing out The Market Stage with everybody singing along. then caught a little of Good Health Good Wealth and The Cribs ahead of the highlight of the whole festival for me, Getdown Services who were spectacularly great! Managed to have a chat with the lads from The Bracknall ahead of their set as Primal Scream were starting up and then managed to see them for a few tracks, returning for a barrier spot for The Bracknall. Primal Scream for me could and should have been the headliner. Watched almost all of The Maccabees, but had there been somebody on in a different tent we'd have definitely gone to check them out over persisting with them. 8/10 day

 

Saturday Made the early journey down for the Orchestra which was a lot of fun. Pixie McCann and Florence Road gave us really enjoyable sets before another of the weekend Highlights, The Lottery Winners hit the main stage. Another band that I've been meaning to see but not got around to, but definitely delivered both musically and comically. A must see for any future tour for me. The Rosadocs seem to be one of these bands that are getting a lot of traction in the north, but less so down these parts, they've got some great tracks and should be playing to more people for me. Adult DVD were another fun watch. the Vaccines were fine, but we unearthed a real gem in Madra Salach in The Nest Saturday evening. I feel like this is a band that will or could get some real big interest and be headlining these type of festivals in a few short years to come. Then it was back to the main stage for The Kaiser Chiefs who on a different day, probably should have headlined because TDCC were just a real borefest. Stuck around for their whole set (after catching most of The Royston Club who will likely be future headliners) to play the 2-3 tunes I did know right at the end, but we'd long made our way to the back of the main arena by that point. Another example of clock watching and thinking, if somebody was on in another tent, we'd have absolutely gone to check them out. 8/10

 

Sunday Ventured in with a bit of a hangover as well as after taking down all our awnings and wind breaks and saving strangers gazeebos from taking off and hammering them back into the ground, to see Wooden Dog who were entertaining, as were Lemondaze, who were musically superb. Gave me Sigur Ros type vibes which I'm a big fan of. Also saw a bit of Deco, all of Keyside, Vanessa Carlton (Play the one song we know already!), Picture Parlour who were a nice new find ahead of catching up with CUSP. Caught most of the K's who were fine, but didn't deliver that Main Stage bang I thought they might have done, having seen them in a number of smaller venues. Again, a bit like The Rosadocs, I wonder if they have some kind of weird North/south divide on fans as they will probably be future headliners. I also wonder if their second album was forced out a bit quick and then they're burning out a little bit? Might just be me. Libertines were boring, left them early to go and see Kid Kapichi who after a number of setup issues, put together a blistering set in the Nest Tent. The Wombats were the most entertaining of the 3 main day headliners, but I didn't get any vibe of, must see these again from watching them. 7/10 day

 

All in all, another great festival that we'll most likely return to as it's local, but in the 3 years we have now been, there's only been one headliner I've really enjoyed which was The Streets.  

[DangerousBrian]

With regard to the busyness, it did seem busier in places and we spoke to a few different people over the weekend who also commented that they felt it busier and with the gate searches, we noticed that there were no alcohol checks for Camper Vans, even though  we took our allowed quota, plus some extras and the gate searches going into the arena were almost non-existent, I took in additional alcohol and cans of pop with me every day. Until they stop ripping off customers at #3.45 a can for coke, Fanta etc, then I'll find a way of getting it in for free. 

[gooner1990]

I thought The Maccabees were very dull!

[one_true_casual]

7th Truck in a row & 10th overall

 

have loved seeing this festival grow but didn’t quite enjoy this year as the previous few which have been brilliant.

 

Expected more of a wow factor this year (given no Glastonbury), but repeating headliners very few years is getting a bit boring / dull.

 

Plenty of smaller / up & coming highlights as usual which is one of the great things about Truck!  General vibe on the smaller stages is brilliant!

 

With regards general experience - forever increasing food & drink prices are a killer (the £1.50 cup charge which you can only get back at a few bars is super annoying)

 

Premium parking (coming with extra charge) didn’t seem to exist 

 

First world problem -> Boutique camping being even further away is super annoying - given the price paid would love in there could be an option to be closer to the venue (walk can be a killer on last few days!)

[gooner1990]

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/26421082.uk-truck-festival-goers-hit-food-poisoning-seller/
 

😟😟😟

[Nickyboy]

17 hours ago, gooner1990 said:

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/26421082.uk-truck-festival-goers-hit-food-poisoning-seller/
 

😟😟😟

There's been a lot of talk on the FB Group about that Yorky stall.  Some people were very ill and had to leave the festival.  It wasn't just a case of the sh*ts.......pretty poor reflection on Truck tbh, who should be checking out these vendors before allowing them to trade.  Appreciate it was incredible hot this year, which wouldn't have helped with food storage, but even so, not good

[LazyDavid]

Would highly recommend anyone who had to leave/miss alot of the fest contact Truck, I had the Yorkshire Pudding disaster a couple of years ago at Download and I got complimentary tickets for the following year

[Nickyboy]

On a happier note - a few photo's from me.  Aside from being a bit hot, we had a great festival.  Discoveries included, Opal Mag, Sarah Crean, Pixie McCann, Radio Free Alice, Florence Road.  Highlight for me and my mate was probably the Lottery Winners, closely followed by the Royston Club / Circa Waves.  Fantastic Secret set from Ellur in the Tap Room Sunday afternoon

[FrogStupid]

First time for me, really enjoyed it. Nice venue, nice weather, good vibes, etc.

 

Notes on performances:

CMAT's a great performer - seen her live twice now. 

GANS are my favourite new act since Big Special, and live they're fantastic. Fellow Brummies too, so I'm all about that. The album's a bit disappointing though.

Primal Scream were great, although I felt the crowd seemed a bit muted.

The Libertines sounded knackered. Not sure they're suited to a festival.

First time seeing The Royston Club, thought they were very good - the tent seemed to be full of kids on each others shoulders singing along. I'm all about that.

First time seeing the K's, a bit disappointed. Didn't like his voice, and I felt like every song sounded the same as the last one. Sarajevo is a good tune, though. It still sounds like all the others, just a bit better. 

The Maccabees and Two Door Cinema club were a but underwhelming, but Pelican by the Maccabees is a banger. It all sounded a bit Travis/Early Coldplay to me though.

The Wombats took me by surprise - I expected 1 1/2 hours of 'Let's Dance to Joy Division' style indie-landfill, so I was surprised to hear that some of the rest of their stuff had dynamics and range. I still don't think they're any good, but I can't say they didn't surprise me either. Just not my thing.

 

Surprise of the weekend for me was Rizzle Kicks. Never listened to them before, but they got me out of my tent and into the arena as I was trying to nurse a hangover and I thought it was a blast. 

 

Will probably go next year too.

 

[FrogStupid]

^ and oh yes one of the other highlights for me was all the Red Kites hovering over the campsite all weekend. Amazing. 

Edited 3 hours ago by FrogStupid
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