WHEN the organisers of Oxfordshire’s annual Truck festival announced that the event had gone into receivership last year, music-lovers were left devastated.
Now the team responsible for reviving the festival at Hill Farm, Steventon, near Abingdon, have announced the weekend’s line-up of artists.
The event, run for 14 years by brothers Robin and Joe Bennett has been taken over by Y Not Festivals, who have promised to take it back to its roots by staging a smaller, more intimate event.
Headlining will be West London folk-pop band Mystery Jets, who last played Truck in 2006.
They will be joined by experimental rockers and Truck regulars, 65 Days of Static; former Mercury Music Prize nominees Villagers; and Essex artist Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - otherwise known as Sam Duckworth, who is another Truck favourite.
Other names due to appear over the weekend of July 20-21are Dog is Dead, Tellison, Theme Park, and Boat to Row. Local talent comes from Yellow Fever, Very Nice Harry and Fine Union, who won slots through a local bands competition. More names are yet to be announced.
The Y Not team, who already organise a music festival in Derbyshire, have vowed to continue Truck’s tradition of staging fresh new bands and local talent, while maintaining its feel as an uncommercial event.
A spokesman said: “People may have heard that the much-loved Barn stage will be back in action this year. The stage within it will now be powered by an impressive array of solar panels on its new roof, both of which were recently installed by the farm. This will make it the greenest cowshed in pop music history.”
Tickets are available, priced £69 for the weekend (including camping). There will be no teen or day tickets available, although accompanied under-12s get in for free.
The spokesman added: “We would like to thank everyone for the show of support. There will be just one standard price to keep things simple, and we guarantee there will be no late discounts.”
Tickets are available at www.truckfestival.com or from theTruck Store, 101 Cowley Rd, Oxford.
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