ALL THE SETS WE SAW AT TRUCK FESTIVAL 2024
Photograph by Briony Graham-Rudd
On the final weekend of July, we made our prodigal return to the fields of Truck festival. We were met with familiar faces, big stages and lots and lots of sun. This year at Truck felt different, something I can't put my finger on, but a nagging sense of something not feeling quite right. Maybe it’s because a teenage boy bonked me on the head with a blow up horse - a lot harder than you’d expect. Or maybe it's the constant state of Deja Vu that you find at Truck, some are comforted by it, some are confronted by it. Truck lives in the hearts of the hundreds of punters in attendance, most of them returning annually. It's safe and it’s reliable. But maybe that's not always a good thing. You’re never stepping into the unknown.
With headliners in IDLES, Jamie T, Wet Leg and The Streets, and the supporting roles consisting of Declan McKenna, Soft Play and The Kooks. The mindset is that Truck is never going to be the figurehead for diversity or inclusion in Indie music, but why can't it be? I would love to see a Truck Festival line up with new acts on it, people I’ve never heard of on it, bands who have never played on a Main Stage before getting their shot and yet every year it’s the same bands returning again and again to meet the same crowd.
I’d love to see Truck Festival making more of an effort, in all the ways that matter.
THURSDAY
Photograph by Briony Graham-Rudd
Just moments after pitching our tents on Thursday afternoon, we congregated at the main stage to watch Balancing Act. The connotations of their name made me wonder if they were going to perform some circus tricks for us, but they took to the stage with an indie-rock sound all too familiar to Hill Farm. Their combined energy and frontman Kai Roberts’ vocals transported me back to Sam Fender’s headline set in 2022.
Jana Cservenka
Brighton’s DITZ brought so much noise, and much needed ruckus to the Truck stage. Being a long time fan, I had full body shivers watching their magnificence. I was later reminded of a vintage DITZ t-shirt that I have since lost, by lead singer Cal, the feeling stuck agaiN. Seeing a band be so free yet engaged with their audience is a rarity, and DITZ gave us a masterclass. On a Thursday, no less.
Willow Shields
IDLES
FRIDAY
Katie Gregson-MacLeod transformed the Market Stage into a tranquil sanctuary, for Truck-goers to escape the accelerating pace of Friday afternoon. Performing solo with an acoustic guitar and a keyboard, Katie’s vulnerability seeped into the audience with some adoring fans in the front row reciting her lyrics with blubbery eyes. I was lucky enough to sit down with Katie for a chat after her set, you can find the video on our Instagram: @groupie_magazine.
Jana Cservenka
Photograph by Briony Graham-Rudd
While Peace blessed the main stage with their beloved mid-2010s hits, I found myself fighting the urge to snap some shots for my dormant tumblr. Their set was a sunny nostalgia trip that satiated my long standing desire to hear their music live, especially when they performed their ten-minute long rollercoaster ride of a song, 1998 (Delicious). This was absolutely a highlight of my weekend, even if just for my 16 year old self.
Jana Cservenka
Photograph by Rosie Carne
Warming up for Friday night headliner Jamie T, Declan Mckenna electrified the main stage audience with his boundless energy and a selection of his well-adored indie pop hits. The crowd belted his lyrics back at him while they kept a miscellany of inflatable objects airborne.
Jana Cservenka
On the far opposite side of the festival site, The Nest became home to The Wytches for a little while. Casting a veil of sultry and looming sound over the small tent, while facilitating people to nicely beat each other up in the middle of the crowd. If you didn’t catch Briony’s interview with them on our Instagram, when asked who they’d cast a spell on, both Kristian and Dan answered their fathers, really sets the the tone I think.
Willow Shields
Photograph by Rosie Carne
Upon gathering in the cosy and aptly titled ‘The Nest’ tent we were told that English Teacher were running behind schedule, but given the coolness that they radiated when arriving on stage I would say that they were just ‘fashionably late’. They proceeded to treat us to a tightly rehearsed, faultless performance consisting of songs from their Mercury nominated album This Could Be Texas.
Jana Cservenka
When the main festivals had ceased, and after we had retired to our tent to get changed for the evening and have a tipple. We headed back out into the night to see what was occurring, and what we found was Radio X’s John Kennedy doing a DJ set at the This Feeling stage. Bathed in green light and a very active smoke machine, we listened and danced for over an hour. The people around us falling and swaying like the ocean on a rock, we collectively compared the tunes to Green Door Store’s ‘eighties night.’ It was a tired charade in actual fact, but it was something to do. A landscape for punters to place their drunken bodies and shout along to songs they knew. Aside from some surface level techno over at The Market stage, everywhere else was playing the same playlist, there was no escaping “I bet you look good on the dancefloor.” Knowing John Kennedy and his love of delving into music, I found myself slightly disappointed with one of my friends questioning “do you think they’ve got him in some sort of awful contract?” But without demand there can be no supply, and what the crowd at Truck festival yearned for was Indie Bangers, and we can’t hold that against them, or John.
Willow Shields
SATURDAY
Photograph by Rosie Carne
I started off my Saturday to the ambient electronic beats, striking vocals, and high tempo drumming of new kids on the block, Ebbb. As the three of them worked their on magic on the Market Stage, there were a select few individuals in the crowd who moved their bodies to the music as if they were born for that moment. I swiftly decided that they were my favourite discovery of the weekend.
Jana Cservenka
Following a last minute schedule change to make sure The Pigeon Detectives had their time to shine on main stage, as if they haven’t been around for the past decade, and later had to demand their own applause from their lifeless audience. This all led to quite a pickle that Lime Garden found themselves in. Their ‘we’ve made it’ main stage set turned into a three-song appetiser for their later, newly added set at The Nest. Though they suited the main stage better, the evening set induced palpable excitement amongst the lucky crowd who caught wind of the corrected set times. My thoughts and commiserations go out to the Lime Garden fans who didn’t have signal to find out that information.
Jana Cservenka
Photograph by Rosie Carne
In the penultimate show of their ‘disappearing act’ The Magic Gang concocted a forty-five minute spectacle of pure fan favourites on the Market Stage. The crowd was composed of indie veterans who knew the lyrics like the back of their hands. After drawing ‘How Can I Compete’ to a close they bowed, said their farewells to teary eyed onlookers. And just like that, they were gone.
Jana Cservenka
Photograph by Briony Graham-Rudd
Carrying on our stint at the Market Stage, Willie J Healey was up next. He emerged from behind the blue tent curtain in a white cowboy hat, that he told us was a gift from his grandmother, and tiny little shorts. He mesmerised the crowd with just his line check, so you can imagine how hard they went during the actual set. Willie J Healey is a truly unique voice of a generation, and in my opinion should be further up that lineup than he was, but what can you do. Fan girl side note: In Willie J’s touring band, is Premium Leisure and Callum of Bad Sounds fame.
Willow Shields
Photograph by Rosie Carne
Soft Play took to the stage in the golden light of Saturday evening, having had a glimpse of their warm up backstage, it was sure to be a belter. The photo pit heard the warning ‘this is going to be a chaotic one, if we tell you to move away from the barrier, move.’ A lighthearted warning to be sure. They played ‘Punk’s Dead ’along with a lot of their older songs in ‘Where’s Your Car Debbie’ and ‘Fuck The Highhat’ which sufficiently riled the crowd, but when it came to their slower number ‘Everything and Nothing’ the crowd didn’t slow down with them. Isaac and Laurie made their descent into the frantic onlookers, as they usually do for this intimate song. However, in lieu of seeing this evolve, all that could be heard was Isaac’s slightly panicked, “back off,” “give us some space,” “I love you too, but can you back up.” And then they were back on stage. What should've been a normal interaction with their fans, the crowd in general, turned into a potentially dangerous situation for everyone involved because of the utter disrespect of the audience. I have never experienced a group of people disregard the wishes of a performer so blatantly, putting everyone in danger and tearing away a potentially beautiful and intimate experience for all. They played a an incredible, tight set nonetheless but the taste in my mouth was sour, for sure.
Willow Shields
Photograph by Briony Graham-Rudd
The covetable Saturday night headline slot belonged to the well-deserving Wet Leg who drip fed new songs between tracks from their self-titled album. Needless to say, their 2021 hit ‘Chaise Lounge’ was a crowd pleaser, and fan favourite ‘Loving You’ brimming our hearts with joy as we sung along in our Groupie circle. They dished out their slice of Brat summer with a cover of Charli XCX’s ‘360’. It must be said, however, that Lime Garden’s earlier rendition of ‘Von Dutch’ was debatably more BRAT. It has to be mentioned that Wet Leg were the only band with women in it to even sniff the top step of the line-up. And they were miles better than anyone else.
Jana Cservenka
World renowned DJ Sub Focus is who we spent our Saturday night with, taking over the market stage and welcoming our tipsy selves into the arms of the best drum and bass mixes to have ever been mixed. Jana and Julia began to do cartwheels and star jumps. I, for some reason, chanted ‘Max Verstappen’ over and over again while Rosie sat on the edge of the crowd eating a warm apple crumble. It was the most wistful of nights at Truck, in which I used a backstage port-a-potty and caught only a glimpse of Sun Focuses man bun. All culminating into us running to a festival chippy and stumbling back to our tents only spilling a bit of ketchup on the way.
SUNDAY
Photograph by Willow Shields
Black Honey’s Izzy Baxter Phillips (vocalist, guitarist) stole the Main Stage on Sunday afternoon draped in a satirical-slay union jack balloon dress that impeccably accompanied her political affirmations. On an arid Sunday afternoon at a festival you may expect a dreary audience but Black Honey’s unrelenting ardour provoked a spectacular circle pit and left me with a burst of energy that fuelled me and my bulky bags home for the nap of a lifetime.
Jana Cservenka
Photograph by Rosie Carne
Glasgow’s VLURE were the final band to send me off on Sunday, having spent every second since Thursday either sweating or shivering, I was quite happy to call it quits early. But VLURE made me want to stick around. Their passion and raw energy is unmatched, and they are one of my favourite bands to ever exist. No music has ever made me feel the way VLURE’s does. It’s the perfect combination between post-apocalyptic-glowing-city-club-night and a montage of all the fight scenes in Sucker Punch (2011). They were joined on stage by Psweatpants, and when he wasn’t on stage, he was in the moshpit making sure everyone stayed moshing. All of their set felt like running 100m, energetic, super fast and then it's over too quickly.
Willow Shields
Contemplating it now, we didn’t have a bad time at Truck this year. I just wish it was better. Most of the bands were fantastic, sharp and entertaining. The Pigeon Detectives suck, and having to ask for your own applause is one of the worst things Ive ever seen a band do. The rides were fun and the weather was gorgeous. Going to Truck for the second time in a row felt like going back to where you used to live at University. You remember the fun times and you have some more fun times, but it's just not the same as it was before. I wish for Truck to consider who they book to play, especially repeat headliners. I wish for Truck to be the figurehead of championing new and upcoming music, especially from artists of colour and gender diverse artists. I wish for Truck to actively care for their audience, as in having a signal booster like many other festivals had this year to make sure they get updated on the acts they want to see, and to make sure that crowds are taken more care of. I wish for Truck festival to step out of their comfort zone, like they have in the past, when it became more than it’s beginning. Conformity is never a good thing and I fear that Truck is becoming increasingly more comfortable with conforming. Truck Festival has the potential to be brilliant, I don’t think it's there yet.