All the news from down at Hill Farm!
Saturday 10:50pm
What an evening. The Ks were on top form. We skipped the hideous decision between Keo, Westside Cowboy and Tom A. Smith by instead getting a front row spot for The Libertines. It was the first time we have seen them since Reading Festival 2010 and it was a little bit of magic. Lennon and McCartney, Yorke and Greenwood, Doherty and Barat. There is something about watching them both sing into the same microphone that stirs the heart.
We got to Kid Kapichi half way through, which was apparently the right time to join the set as the first half was a technical nightmare. The personnel changes in the band have dimmed none of their fire and it was incredibly lively in The Nest.
Over to the ever reliable Wombats to bring live music to a close at Truck 2026. They have a huge arsenal of hits and unleashed them at regular intervals. The fireworks did get the green light to finish the evening with a bang!
What a week, what a festival.
Sunday 5:30pm
Sarah Crean was really enjoyable. Lemondaze did a good job of their Truck Stage slot, slower goth doom rock. Everybody was waiting for that one song from Vanessa Carlton, a sea of people suddenly getting to their feet!
Pedestrian Band were a revelation on This Feeling. Amazing high- speed rock outs. A band to follow.
You would have thought Rizzle Kicks were headlining, it was so rammed. A perfect mid-afternoon performance and great fun.
Sunday 12:40pm
Mr Motivator is still taking photos with fans! Matt Hennessey opened today’s music on The Nest really impressively.
The wind is gusting around today, will probably feel cooler this evening. We are torn between getting close to the main stage for the headliners or enjoying some of our favourite acts on smaller stages.
Sunday 12:04pm
Mr Motivator is 74 this year! Not that you would know it. A huge turn out for him and they pretty much have to pull the plug to get him off stage.
Loads of people packing up tents so expect getting out to be busy tonight after The Wombats.
Sunday 10:00am
Two Door Cinema Club were on fine form last night. Respect to the all the people in fancy dress yesterday. We saw an impressive range of costumes. I’m not sure the entire Fellowship Of The Ring we saw all really wanted to be hobbits etc when they grew up, which was the theme, but respect for the coordinated planning. Also respect to the guy dressed as a ghostbuster as that was definitely Reading Indie Life’s job ambition around age six.
The rain didn’t really materialise beyond a a few drops, so the annual fireworks are likely not happening tonight due to how dry the ground is.
Both The Libertines and The Wombats are in action tonight, tremendous live acts.
Don’t forget to get to the Main Stage for Mr Motivator at 11:30am for the annual Truck Festival work out!!!!
Saturday 9:15pm
We briefly sampled Saint Clair and The Vaccines before settling in for a front row spot for Madra Salach. Irish bands have absolutely owned the festival today. Madra Salach were phenomenal.
Ricky Wilson and Kaiser Chiefs showed they still absolutely have it. The crowd went wild for the big hits and a fun cover of Blitskrieg Bop.
Having seen The Royston Club a few times recently we went for Black Honey at The Nest. Some excellent rock and roll.
The weather has finally broken and it feels a lot cooler. Quite possibly some rain overnight.
Over to 2 Door Cinema Club!
Saturday 4:35pm
The Lottery Winners were in typically fun and silly form on the Truck Stage, throwing in sing alongs of Hey Jude amongst other bonus tracks for the crowd to join in with. They bought out a young fan who had asked to sing ‘Letter To Myself’ at Truck Festival… and promptly let her sing it live on stage.
We had to sneak away to get down in time for Bleech 9:3 and the Market Stage was already rammed. There was a proper buzz in the air and it briefly felt like we had teleported to Reading Festival as the concentration of teenagers was strong. A big mosh pit opened up and the atmosphere was electric. Another very special Irish band begins its ascent.
Continuing the Reading vibes Friendly Fires playing ‘Jump In The Pool’ on the Truck Stage takes us straight back to Reading Festival 2011.
Saturday 2:45pm
A busy morning as we were doing a few interviews. Oxford Sympthony Orchestra were giving a great soundtrack in the background including the theme tune to The Traitors, a track from Hairspray and some David Bowie.
Pixie McCann was doing a nice line in feeling sad in your bedroom indie, she is one to watch.
There was a huge crowd out for Florence Road. This is a band going places fast. The all-female Irish band do some proper tuneful rock.
BLoodworm were well worth stopping in at, a touch more goth-rock musically in the style of The Horrors.
Saturday 8:50am
The Maccabees did a fine job last night.
Somehow we managed to miss Madra Salach off of our preview piece. They are in a busy slot against Radio Free Alice and the start of Kaiser Chiefs but if you want to find Reading Indie Life we will be there. The Irish means “dirty dog.” They play a quite incredible line of Irish folk music with attitude. It is a different vibe to other Irish folk superstars but is spellbinding stuff.
Two Door Cinema Club are your Saturday headliners.
Friday 10:00pm
Ten minutes into Getdown Services we were wondering what all the fuss was about, what was this Butlins show gone wrong all about? By the end we were pogoing, doing call and response and loving it. These two sweaty guys wearing just shorts weave strange magic.
Primal Scream have so many tunes in the locker they casually threw out Loaded and Swastika Eyes mid-set, so we felt less bad about bailing for English Teacher. What a set, everyone around us was in awed reverence by the end.
Friday 6:25pm
End the festival, Joe & The Shitboys have just won it. Insane energy over at The Nest…
The Cribs are on and sounding great, but we are off to get near the front for Getdown Services.
Friday 4:55pm
Projector were another great choice from the options. At times Pixies meets B52s, at others proper fast punk rock. Lucy Sheehan starts having bass issues towards the end of the set. They are fixed just in time for her to petulantly fling the offending instrument to the ground at the end of the final track.
A bit of that cloud briefly showed for the start of Divorce but then the sun returned to roast both band and audience. It was a lovely, but all too short, set.
Friday 3:10pm
There is a running theme today of bands being completely blown away by the size of the audience that has turned up. Truck definitely looks for talent and then gives it a slot. Truck audiences either do their research or are willing to give things a listen.
The Slow Country continue this theme by saying they normally play in sweaty basements. They deserve bigger and brighter stages on this showing. More of a rockier country sound at times than we were expecting.
We braved the fierce Main Stage sun to catch 20 minutes of Girl In The Year Above. There is no doubt this lot are a talent. Their Massive Attack cover from the Peaky Blinders film goes down a storm. We have to find a tent to take cover in after it finishes though.
Friday 1:30pm
Southern Heights opened the Truck Stage well, before we were really impressed by Shale. The front man was giving off young Tim Booth from James vibes.
Don’t get caught loitering in the walk ways between areas or you may get fined like Reading Indie Life did! I am not 100% convinced they were real cops, especially as one of them was carrying a bubble blower!
Friday 8:40am
Anyone who added the Thursday entry to their ticket chose well yesterday. Great vibes across the site and some great music to get things going. Today The Maccabees are your headline act. The weather looks a little kinder than previously suggested with more cloud in the afternoon, though could still hit 28 degrees. Bands on the Truck Stage were sweltering yesterday.
After the easy back and forth of yesterday, today is where the tough decisions start. So many good bands to go and see, quite a few clashing. We may be doing a lot of coin flipping today. The first one is between Shale and Adore at 12:45. Adore are punk rock, Shale are more straight up indie-guitar music but very melodic. There is a similar style clash between the feminist punk of Twat Union and The Slow Country’s Windmill Scene mix of folk and rock at 1:45.
There have been some minor tweaks to the schedule on Saturday so the The Lottery Winners no longer overlap with Bleech 9:3 and The Rosadocs. Silver Gore have been dropped into the big gap in the Saturday line-up for The Nest which has adjusted other timings slightly.
Thursday 10:30pm
CMAT delivered in style as the opening headliner and a very high bar has been set for the rest of the festival!
Thursday 8:20pm
The Northern invasion was strong on the This Feeling stage today. Montello are another classically styled indie band. Lizzie Esau really impressed, a lot rockier than we were expecting and some quality new tunes on show.
Everything Everything did exactly what you would expect of them. Their fans were belting out the words to all the hits in some style.
Thursday 6:10pm
As suspected Leazes were the first on fire set of the day. The Newcastle band’s frontman was repping a proper Geordie perm mullet, a nice thing to see on the sad week that Kevin Keegan passed away.
Etta Marcus bought a touch of class to the Main Stage. She was rather chuffed as this marked her first outing on the Main Stage of any festival.
Thursday 4:30pm.
Heidi Eldest has officially kicked off live music at Truck Festival 2026.
Here are your official merchandise choices.
And the bar prices:
Thursday 2:00pm
The campsites are well and truly open with lots of people setting up. Traffic remains okay. The road between the Chilton exit of the A34 and Steventon is looking the busier route right now, not helped by a few local roadworks.
Thursday 11:40am
Traffic is currently pretty good around the area. There is a 10 minute delay getting off the Marcham Interchange of the A34.
Thursday 9:05am
Other than on Friday where Sia Raw have been replaced by the excellent local band Cheap Suits, on the This Feeling stage, we have not spotted any other changes. Let us know if you see anything!
The weather forecast for the week is a bit of a mixed picture. A high of 27 degrees centigrade today, but there should be plenty of cloud cover so it won’t feel as fierce. A similar mix of cloud and sunshine on Friday where it could hit a peak of 29 degrees, so don’t forget the sun hat and sun cream! The weekend was being suggested as showery a few days ago, but rain has now reduced to a possible window between the early hours and midday on Sunday. It should be a little bit cooler after the heat of Thursday to Saturday at around 24 degrees.
Today is all about CMAT. If you have an early entry ticket you have chosen extremely well. There are no clashes today, so all the music can be caught with acts alternating between the main Truck Stage or the This Feeling stage. Leazes and Everything Everything feel like the other must catch sets today.
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