aaamusic | On 25, May 2011

TRUCK FESTIVAL

HILL FARM, STEVENTON, OXFORDSHIRE

22^nd – 24^th JULY 2011

WOOD FIELD PLANS AND WOOD STAGE LINE-UP UNVEILED

There’s a good chance Team Truck are taking it a bit easy this week after a resoundingly successful sold-out Wood Festival took place in Oxfordshire at the weekend. Well apart from co-director Robin whose wife gave birth on Thursday. And he’s got a broken leg. He’s a bit tired right now is Robin…Anyway, so Truck Festival’s younger, greener, folkier and beardier brother went off without a hitch in its eco-village location with amazing, globe-spanning performances from many including Switzerland’s Mama Rosin, Mali’s Khaira Arby and England’s own folk royalty Eliza Carthy. Festival organisers Robin and Joe joined Willy Mason and his brother Sam for the Saturday headline spot and then closed the Sunday with an hour of rock and roll from their band The Dreaming Spires which ended with (the now-traditional) Springsteen and Tom Petty covers! Even the newest addition to Team Truck, Marcie Bennett, made it to the festival aged just one day old.

After just four years, Truck’s little sibling has become a firm fixture on the festival scene and this year, Truck Festival is bringing a Wood Field to Hill Farm in Steventon for a folk, family, friends-of-the-earth type flavour for Truckers to enjoy. Home to the family camping area, the kids tent, workshops for all ages and green initiatives, the field will be centred around the Wood Stage and will include many of the features that have made the award-winning Wood Festival such a delight. Oxford Playhouse will be providing a number of activities for children through their learning team and will be staging an outdoor production of ‘The Secret Garden’.

Just as with the rest of the Truck Festival line-up, the Wood Stage promises some real treats. The stage will be programmed on Saturday 23^rd and Sunday 24^th July by the Oxford Folk Festival. Team Truck were very sad that the wonderful Oxford Folk Festival was forced to cancel earlier this year, having appreciated it as one of the best folk events out in the UK for some time, but they’re very happy they can give it a home at Truck Festival this summer with two days of the best in folk and roots. Acts include Karen Tweed’s No 1 Ladies’ Accordion Orchestra (does what it says on the tin with about 15 accordionist’s), up-and-coming hushed songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Heidi Talbot, Kris Drever, Dana and Susan Robinson, Pilgrim’s Way, Monument Valley,Rachael Dadd and Truck Festival favourite (and Robin and Joe’s sister) Katy Rose & the Cavalry Parade.

Friday 22^nd July will see the Wood Stage graced by Gabriel Prokofiev’s NonClassical, who returns after an acclaimed visit to Truck a couple of years ago, Consortium 5 (a recorder quintet) andJuice Vocal Ensemble amongst others still to be announced.

The Wood Field will be a festival within a festival for those who wish that Wood could happen more than once a year, although of course it’s within easy reach of the rest of the great music and entertainment taking place all over Hill Farm for those who want to sample all the treats of Truck. One of the other hits at Wood, the Kitstock tent, will also be coming to Steventon, creating another relaxed, chilled out space at the other end of the newly designed site.

Weekend tickets for Truck are still less than £100 taking the prize for the best value mini-holiday music lovers could wish for in 2011.

FULL TICKET DETAILS

£99   Truck Festival adult weekend ticket

£79   Truck Festival young person (13-17) weekend ticket

£40   Truck Festival adult Friday & Sunday day tickets

£33   Truck Festival young person (13-17) Friday & Sunday day tickets

£45   Truck Festival adult Saturday day ticket

£38   Truck Festival young person (13-17) Saturday day ticket

All ticket prices subject to booking fee

Please note under-12’s go free and under-18’s must be accompanied by an adult

AVAILABLE FROM

Online via www.thisistruck.com and www.seetickets.com

By phone on 0844 854 1350

In person at Truck Store, 101 Cowley Road, Oxford (01865 793 866) and other shop outlets.

Keep on Trucking www.truckfestival.com

Gruff Rhys, Bellowhead, Graham Coxon, Saint Etienne, John Grant, Truck All-Stars, Philip Selway, Edwyn Collins, The Go! Team, Johnny Flynn and many more at Truck Festival 14