Truck: Highlights, Disappointments & Mud

Truck festival has become a very well loved Festival within the music scene in the past few years. This occasion marked the festival’s 20th anniversary and the line up was there to prove it. Not all festivals are plain sailing, especially not when there’s mud involved. Have a look at our highlights and disappointments across the weekend.

Highlights:

Sundara Karma: As I'm sure you're all well aware, we're massive fans of Sundara and as expected, I was stood on the barrier (Dom's side obviously,) crying through the majority of the set. Every time we see them smash out a set to hundreds of adoring fans it really fills us with a sense of pride having watched them grow so rapidly since their support slot for Darlia back in February 2015 with Dom and Ally's shit shirts and Oscar's considerably shorter hair. Lyrics are a massive strong point for the band, dare I say even comparable to the work of Alex Turner, and it may have been raining and generally a grim day but the crowd just looked up to them in awe as if they were singing the Bible. My only little vexation for the set was the lack of old songs but with the new album out and flourishing it's what was expected. They went out with a bang finishing with Explore and I'm just praying to the Devine Spirits that this is the direction we can expect from them in the near future. - Grace

Moonlandingz: Everything I expected a Fat Whites side project to be. I foolishly confused Moonlandingz with The Big Moon and initially dismissed the band but luckily a friend corrected me a couple of hours before they headlined the Nest on Saturday night, so off we went. It was dark, sweaty and ketty. The intervals between songs were filled with someone blowing giant bubbles and front man Lias Kaci Saoudi taking the opportunity to ask the crowd for cigarettes and drugs, really where else could this have happened? Their only female member looked straight out of a sex drugs and rock & roll film, she was in such a daze no amount of the fucked up shit on stage could snap her out of it. The band had us all wrapped round their slimy fingers and we were living for it. - Grace

Will Joseph Cook: This one surprised me quite a bit. I love Will’s songs and I’ve seen him live before but I didn’t expect him to put on the performance he did. The weather was no way in his favour but he still took the main stage by storm, excuse the pun. Embraced by his brightly panelled jacket he lit up the stage with his summery tunes which made the crowd forget about the rain for his 30 minute set. Spirits were uplifted when classics such as Girls Like Me were played giving a real chance to have a boogie. We got to pretend we weren’t in a typical British rainy summer. - Georgina

Palace: I’m forever lost for words after every Palace performance. I come away feeling mesmerised and their Truck performance amplified this completely. The Market Stage was full of eager eyes and ears to witness the beauty they produce. The soothing vocals of Leo Wyndham filled the tent where you could almost hear the swoons from the crowd. They band don’t need to perform much on stage as their music says it all. As one of the last bands I saw on the weekend I couldn’t have asked for a better finish. - Georgina

Slaves: Slaves were no doubt the highlight of the entire festival for me. I've come away from Truck a far bigger fan of the Kent duo than I was before. Though my memories are extremely blurred, I can vividly remember having a feeling of pure joy throughout their hour-long set. Situated right in the centre of the crowd, I somehow found my way into mosh pit after mosh pit, and I loved every single one. As always, Isaac and Laurie put on an incredible show and the crowd thrived off their energy, screaming every word back at them, and although it was pouring with rain no one seemed to care. If I could I'd relive Slaves' set for the rest of my life. - Kirsty

The Wombats: The first word that comes to mind when I think back to The Wombats' set is lovely. Over the years this band have produced some absolute bops and I had a fantastic time dancing away to them in the mud bath that used to be the area in front of the main stage. Everyone in the crowd seemed to know every word to favourites like Greek Tragedy, Tokyo and Moving to New York and being a part of it was something special. They played a great set and really hyped up the anticipation for The Libertines, who also smashed it. - Kirsty

Disappointments:

Libertines: Its bound to happen that something isn’t going to go to plan at a festival, but when its during a headline act it becomes quite annoying. I can’t fault The Libertines set as there’s no doubt they know how to put on a show, but when they disappear from the stage mid set with no indication of return, it certainly ruffled the crowd slightly. This is simply nitpicking as there’s very little to complain about when it comes to the world class band. Either way we love The Libs and the show didn’t fail to pick up after this slight mishap. - Georgina

Weirds: Again nothing todo with the band, Weirds proved a disappointment after hours of anticipation because they came on early! We were careful to plan out our lineups and came with it printed and ready to go so I was more than a little upset that we only caught the last two songs. However saying that, the last song is always the best with Aiden running rampant round the crowd. An amazing set I'm sure, but that only makes it more disheartening for us that we missed out. - Grace

The Magic Gang: Being one of my favourite bands, I became quite annoyed when I realised I had no chance of seeing The Magic Gang at my favourite festival. I turned up to The Nest on time for their set to realise the tent was heaving and people had to leave due to how cramped it was inside. The Magic Gang are a popular band so why not put them on a bigger stage? It also appeared that their set started late which meant I had to leave before they even started to catch other favourites Sundara Karma. There’ll be many more chances to see The Magic Gang but this was one I had to miss. - Georgina

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