It had been three years since Truck Festival had given us a weekend experience to remember so it was with a frothing anticipation that Truck 2022 returned.
And with a growing roster of friends recruited with promises of the best festival weekend, we headed off to Steventon to watch the likes of Sigrid, Bombay Bicycle Club, Bru-C, Sam Ryder, The Kooks, Sam Fender, Kawala, Easy Life and Kasabian.
“Such a big line up on such a small site means Truck is the best of both worlds”
With Truck HQ aiming to make their festival as environmentally friendly as possible, there was a plethora of low-carbon transport options from almost every UK major city, which were both seamless and cheaper.
So we arrived at Hill Farm to see the reassuring kaleidoscope of brightly coloured tents and banners, alongside the multiple fields of 25,000 happy campers (Standard, Zodiac for those that like it Boojie, Family for those with young’uns).
After a relatively quick and queue-free entry, we opened our only ‘cold’ one of the weekend, eagerly anticipating the upcoming evening of music.
The afternoon started with Truck’s distinctive genre of indie rock, Only the Poets, playing on the mainstage. The small and compact layout at Truck meant we were tent door to dance floor in under 10 minutes. Friday further improved with Sea Girls (a personal favourite), Sigrid (an upbeat, poppy number that got everyone moving), before Bombay Bicycle Club topped off the main stage (big brass band and light show immersed the senses).
“we arrived at Hill Farm to see the reassuring kaleidoscope of brightly coloured tents of 25,000 happy campers!”
With the families off to bed, the young crowd slipped out of the shadows and headed to the Market Stage, where MC and rapper Bru-C gave an unforgettable EDM experience to those with any energy left.
Saturday morning and afternoon gave us opportunity to sample the round-the-globe range of cuisines on offer (the burrito’s were a big hit, one friend having three), as well as chatting with the neighbouring young and friendly camping crowd that makes Truck such a pleasure to attend.
At 6pm, the Nest Stage was nurturing some up and coming acts, and Bloxx played some of our favourites songs of the whole weekend (all the better standing only 5 metres away) before it was back to the Main Stage for a back-to-back sing-a-along with the nostalgic ‘The Kooks’, followed by man-of-the-moment ‘Sam Fender’ giving it large to the crowd as far back as the eye could see. ‘Why-ay Man’!
Last but not least, Sunday rolled around and Truck may have been saving the best to last. Two days of dancing and singing had left my body tired and voices hoarse, until out of nowhere ‘Kawala’ picked me right back up with their lively performance, as happy to be there as the rest of us. Newcomer and Eurovision hero Sam Ryder made a big impression on the Market Stage with his huge voice, still hitting all the high notes.
“ONCE A TRUCKER ALWAYS A TRUCKER“
Then it was on to the big hitters: Easy Life and Kasabian, with a great stage presence resulting from high energy and years of experience, respectively. A huge firework display signalled the end of Truck’s 25thanniversary special, and we all crawled back into our tents thinking it was well worth the three year wait.
Our Truck virgin friends could only ask when the next tickets were coming out’ (today at 12pm by the way), as they planned an immediate and definite return. Once a Trucker always a Trucker!
Such a big line up on such a small site means Truck is the best of both worlds. So see you there for Truck 2023, in 358 days and counting!
Truck Festival’s Super Early Bird tickets for 2023 are released today at 12 noon. https://truckfestival.com
ALISTER HENDERSON
