Music festivals were hit hard by the coronavirus in 2020 but some of the county’s most popular gatherings including Truck and Cornbury have not yet been cancelled due to coronavirus.
The organisers of two of Oxfordshire’s biggest music festivals are still hoping to stage events for tens of thousands of people this summer, despite the cancellation of the country’s biggest festival, Glastonbury.
Cornbury Festival, in Great Tew, near Chipping Norton, and Truck Festival, in Steventon, have told the Oxford Mail that they were cautiously planning to proceed, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Read again: Truck Festival in 2019
Truck in 2019 was a lively celebration featuring big name bands including Oxford's Foals and their show was hailed as 'probably the greatest headline set' in the festival’s 22-year history.
The four-day event drew to a close with indie act Two Door Cinema Club, whose performance ended with a dramatic firework display.
Their show followed a headline-grabbing set by Oxford’s Foals on the Saturday and Mercury Prize winner Wolf Alice, who rocked the main stage at Hill Farm, Steventon on the Friday.
Read more: Vaccinations begin at Kassam Stadium for over 75s
The festival, which attracted a capacity crowd of 18,000, also featured sets by former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, alternative electro-rockers Public Service Broadcasting, punk act Idles, singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi and indie-rock acts Spector and Nothing But Thieves.
They were among more than 100 bands and artists – including many from Oxfordshire.
Two high-profile acts, Fontaines DC and Shame, pulled out at the last minute, with Mystery Jets replacing the latter as Saturday’s headline act on the Market Stage.
But it was newly Mercury Prize-nominated Foals who drew the most attention.
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