Oxfordshire’s Truck Festival came and went for another year, and what a spectacular event it was. 2025 may well have been their best line up yet, boasting headliners Nothing But Thieves, Kasabian and Courteeners, as well as Bloc Party on Thursday for those with early entry tickets.
The festival has such an easy layout, Hill Farm is easily the most accessible festival venue I’ve been to, making it very easy to catch an impressive amount of acts, floating between tents and capturing snippets of everyone.
And my god, did I see a lot of music.
So, let’s get into it.
Thursday:
For anyone wanting to splash a bit of extra cash, the campsite became available from 1pm onwards on Thursday, ideal for picking your perfect camping spot before the masses arrive. Whilst pitching up your tent, you may as well catch a few tunes too, and even with a smaller line up, the music available kept the modest sized crowd entertained for the night.
Despite showing up relatively late, I managed to catch the entirety of Corella’s set. A great way to start the festival, Corella stormed the main stage with a lively setlist. During the last song, singer Joel joined the audience for a mosh pit before being carried back to the stage via crowd, clearly enjoying the night just as much as we were.
It felt like they couldn’t really be topped, but Bloc Party of course came out and belted out many a hit including crowd favourites, ‘Helicopter’ and ‘Banquet’. Despite not playing to full capacity, the audience roared their lyrics back to them and the band set the bar high for the rest of the festival.
Before retreating back to the tent to rest up for what would be a busy weekend, I had a quick look at one of the DJ sets that were playing that night. It proved to be a nice way to wind down the night, and got everyone singing along to classic indie bops. These sets were a regular every night, playing various tents and various genres, up until 2am in the morning, perfect for anyone who didn’t want to call it a night.
For me, it was time for bed though.
Friday:
With energy levels at an all time high on Friday (AKA the first official festival day), I headed down early to catch the first act on the main stage. Jorge was playing, an upbeat old school hip hop vibe that got the crowd ready for the day. Sadly, probably due to it being the ideal time for people to start arriving and setting up their homes for the weekend, the crowd was not nearly as big as it should have been.
Girl Like That played on Market Stage, and despite sounding like an oxymoron, their genre was what I could only think to describe as easy listening-pop-grunge. It was an energetic set that people were thoroughly enjoying, and many were sporting their ‘I love bad boys in bands’ merchandise.
Next up was something a bit different. The Truck Gameshow, hosted by comedian Jack Wood. Playing a range of silly games, two bands at the festival competed against each other, interspersed with games made for audience members, giving them opportunities to win prizes including tickets to next year’s festival. It was a fun way to bring the crowd and bands together.
Elsewhere, The Guest List had got themselves a big crowd with their strong sound, whilst Harriet Rose was bringing the country energy and got everyone moving. Both these acts were on at the same time, so I carefully split my time to see half of each, which was great because they were both amazing.
The Clause, who could easily have played the main stage, really had the crowd in the palm of their hands. The vibes were very traditional festival feels. Actually playing the main stage were Big Moon, whose chill indie sound was a welcome break from the rockier music that was dominating the stage.
Heading over to The Reytons, the crowd was a sea of red smoke as they kicked it off with, you guessed it, ‘Red Smoke’. Despite putting on their usual solid performance, perhaps due to unprecedented appreciation for them, they received a large crowd which meant that further back in the audience, the second set of speakers were out of time making it appear that there were two sets of drums. But I suppose two lots of Reytons is actually kind of cool, so how can you complain?
Catching an equally lively set, I opted to see Rolla on the This Feeling stage, who heavily interacted with the audience and got everyone involved in their catchy tracks. However, I left early to catch a good view of the night’s headliner and positioned myself in the centre of the main stage for Nothing But Thieves.
Beginning with Welcome to the DCC, the band rocked through a multitude of tunes from their back catalogue and it was an incredible headline set. It was a well deserved slot and they were clearly very grateful to be on the main stage. And the confetti canon at both the start and the end was a lovely touch that made the set feel epic.
Saturday:
Saturday at Hill Farm started in a way that every morning should start. Despite it only being 11.30, a huge crowd formed to take part in a Mr Motivator workout. Everyone gave it their all whilst simultaneously having a ridiculous amount of fun, especially those who were in fancy dress for the competition later that day
My first visit to the V&V tent saw Great Bear Radio captivating their small crowd with their grungy guitar driven songs, whilst Maystones played a series of indie bangers over in the This Feeling stage, perfect easy listening stuff for the early afternoon.
Sleeping Together were a cracking indie band that I got the pleasure of seeing twice, once performing, and the other time because they took part in the gameshow the day before. The gameshow made its second appearance as well on Saturday, and was just as much fun as its previous installment.
For a little break from all the music, I caught Tom Ward’s short comedy set, which was both incredibly funny but still incorporated musical elements, which helped it fit with the tone of Truck festival.
Next up, Scouting For Girls pulled in a huge crowd and gave everyone a dose of nostalgia when playing festival anthem, She’s So Lovely, which went down an absolute storm. It was a crazily energetic set that had the audience clapping along and singing every word back.
Wunderhorse’s set was like something straight out of the 90’s, grungy and reminiscent of Radiohead, but more specifically just The Bends. It really is no surprise that their fanbase was so huge and that many people were rocking their t-shirts. It was a shame that the set ended 10 minutes early when the band walked off in a huff having not been able to hear themselves playing the whole time they were on stage.
Onto the next band, when The Last Dinner Party came out, they were met with thunderous applause, and proceeded to put on both a visually and audially amazing performance. There was gorgeous harmonising and performative elements that made everything appear just plain brilliant. Nothing Matters of course had everyone singing loudly but was sung slightly wrong by the band because lead singer Abigail was too busy laughing at how literal some had taken the instruction ‘stand on shoulders’ when she meant to say sit. Ah, got to love a festival.
Finally, it was the headliner of the night, Kasabian. I had been woken up by their soundcheck early that morning and if anything, it had made me eagerly anticipate the actual performance. They did not disappoint.
Playing basically every one of their big hits, the band absolutely dominated the stage, jumping about and giving every ounce of energy they had. Trying to go for a record number of people on shoulders and the most amount of insanity pumped into a finale when they played ‘Fire’, Kasabian wanted to ensure that the vibes were immaculate and that everyone was enjoying themselves.
I for one definitely did.
Sunday:
The last day of the festival rolled around, and by this point, everyone’s energy levels had seriously depleted. We were all ready for a proper bed, a proper shower and a proper toilet, but you could tell we were all determined to make the most of our final day.
A bit of a later start for me when I eventually managed to roll out of my tent, I headed down to the festival area. Luckily spirits were raised instantly by the Oxford Symphony Orchestra who had one of the biggest crowds I had seen all weekend. It was a very wholesome set. They played a range of classical music and modern day hits to an audience who were eating it up. Making up their own dance moves in unison and creating more of a jig pit than a mosh pit. 10/10 vibes.
Gents & Ginger in The Nest were gloriously funky and fun and the fun vibes continued during Lime Garden’s set on the main stage, who played a dancey, indie pop setlist that lifted everyone’s mood.
Before them though, The Slow Country took to the stage and was the perfect sound for those lounging around on the ground. Loved that they dedicated a song to the audience, titled ‘Fundamentally Fucked’, knowing that we were all absolutely shattered from too much partying.
Seb Lowe, who appeared many times across multiple stages across the weekend, provided the soundtrack for the paint party, as many waited to take part. I chose to head off to see Rachel Newnham’s bubbly pop tracks, which was broken up with a really beautiful, poignant composition in the middle, dedicated to those who lost their lives during the stabbings in Southport last year. As this was her hometown, it was something that really hit her hard, and the lyrics really portrayed her feelings.
Over to the main stage once more, which is where I pretty much stayed for the remainder of the night, Maximo Park graced the stage. They played many mid-noughties indie classic including ‘Apply Some Pressure’ and ‘My Velocity’. Frontman, Paul Smith charmed everyone with his wit and casual chit chat and it was a shame I didn’t catch his DJ set later that night.
Maximo Park’s vibes lead nicely into the next set; Scottish legends, Franz Ferdinand. They smashed their setlist, playing songs from all six of their albums and ‘Take Me Out’ was of course a big highlight for many. The energy was up from the beginning and it never left, from both the crowd and the band. Even more so when the result of the Women’s football came in, courtesy of Alex Kapranos telling us, and of course the Lionesses won. Come on England!
Finally, Courteeners led the whole festival out, which seemed like a surprising choice, especially after Franz Ferdiand gave such a headline worthy set. They played a host of tracks that people showed vague interest in, clearly just awaiting ‘Not Nineteen Forever’. There was limited crowd interaction, which made the set feel a bit stilted in places, but they won everyone back with a cover of ‘It Must Be Love’.
Even more interestingly, the band chose not to end with their biggest track, which meant that after hearing Not Nineteen Forever, many opted to leave, meaning they missed out on a firework display that could rival London’s New Year display. If only the soundtrack had been more memorable. It didn’t feel like the most epic of ways to end what had been a constant banger fest all weekend, but the band gave it their all and ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ did at least have the crowd going mad.
And with that came the end of the festival. It was an emotional feeling because the enjoyment I had experienced at Truck had been so incredibly high. I genuinely cannot wait to see who will be there next year, but it will be hard to beat what happened in 2025.
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