by Luisa De la Concha Montes

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Set up with the intention of offering a smaller festival with a similar layout to Glastonbury and Reading, Truck Festival has been running since 1998 at Hill Farm, Oxfordshire.

Each passing year the festival has been building up its name by offering a wide variety of activities and music acts throughout the weekend. This year, the lineup included George Ezra, Courteeners, Rat Boy, De la Soul, Drenge and Jake Bugg. However, the majority of the lineup consisted of smaller and emerging acts, such as Black Foxxes, Blaneavon, The Sherlocks, Gengahr and Gender Roles, among many others.

Even though it rained on Friday evening, De la SoulÔÇÖs performance was extremely fun. Their act, which took us back to the origins of modern hip hop, made the audience jump up and down, making us forget about the heavy rain right away. In the middle of their act they even stopped to mention that they had never seen a crowd so energetic in the rain during their 30 year career.

One of SaturdayÔÇÖs best acts was Everything Everything. Their performance was energetic and intense, with mosh-pits taking off as soon as they started playing, an experience that was truly exciting to be in the middle of. As someone who was massively scared of mosh-pits due to previous bad past experiences, I have to admit that the respectful environment at Truck Festival allowed me to enjoy them for the first time. I believe that one of the main reasons for this was the broad age range of the audience; from families with toddlers to big uni groups. This ambience allowed me to feel welcomed in the crowd.

Lately, some music festivals have been criticized for their lack of balance between male and female acts. In regards to this, Truck should be applauded. Not only did they include female fronting bands such as Flirting, Anteros and Black Honey, but they also included female acts such as Goat Girl, Naaz, Girli, Marika Hackman and The Big Moon.

Regarding the layout, the space between the camp site and the main stages was enough for people to relax if they decided to stay in their tents, but not too far as it wasnÔÇÖt a long trek to get back to the arena. The only issue in regards to the organisation was that since some of the stages were under circus-like tents, the poles holding the tent would often obstruct the view of the stage.

Truck Festival falls into the ÔÇ£cheap festivalÔÇØ category; the three-day ticket (which includes camping) is around ┬ú110. However, once the extra necessities are considered, the price can easily increase. The parking is ┬ú15, the food is around ┬ú7 per meal (some of the which goes to charity), and Club Class (showers, toilets and changing rooms) is ┬ú30. However, because of the great music acts, the welcoming environment, and the endless amount of activities to keep you busy through the whole day (such as a Ferris Wheel, a stage for stand-up comedy and poetry and a great variety of food and clothes stalls), the price was absolutely worthy.

Finally, it is important to mention that if what youÔÇÖre looking for is a wild environment with endless raves, this might not be the festival for you. Even though there was some electronic music during the night, the main appeal of Truck Festival is their indie, rock and punk music environment. Overall, I had a great time and would truly recommend this festival to first-timers or anyone interested in getting to know new emerging bands, and to spend a weekend surrounded by great music and amazing live performances.