Folk-punk solo artist Frank Turner made a rousing return to Oxfordshire’s Truck Festival with a surprise headline appearance at the festival’s V&V tent this weekend.
Despite the impromptu nature of the set, Turner played to a capacity crowd on the V&V stage, a venue designed to showcase emerging UK talent. Rising Chester DIY indie three-piece Peaness topped the bill on the stage, while Turner’s set was teased as a ‘mystery headliner’.
Turner has made several surprise appearances at Truck Festival in previous years, leading one commentor to remark on social media site X that “Truck Festival wouldn’t be Truck Festival without Frank Turner turning up at some point during the weekend – 10/10 set and 10/10 weekend.”
Turner has been touring in support of his tenth studio album Undefeated, which was released in May, which Kerrang described as “a jovial blast of defiance” and which The Indy Review praised as promising unforgettable live performances.
“Any Frank Turner fan is aware of his dedication to the live show. He counts every show he’s ever performed (he’s up in the high two thousands now) and his band is simply lights out,” writes Jared Eichmann of The Indy Review about Undefeated.
“My entire listen was met with thoughts like ‘this will be a fantastic live performance.’ And with Frank Turner that is almost just as important as the recording itself,” Eichmann adds.
Turner described his recent run of UK shows in mostly smaller venues as an “underplay” and indicated that a “proper UK tour” is coming next year. Before that, however, Turner hopes to reach what he admits is a long-awaited milestone of his 3,000th solo live show. Support acts are expected to include Britpunk duo the Meffs and Manchester indie outfit Lottery Winners.
“With this album, the plan is to tour the living crap out of it, and that will involve going to territories I’ve not been to before” Turner said in an interview last week. “Hopefully [the 3,000th show] will be in Japan next year.”
Elsewhere at Truck Festival, Isle of Wight duo Wet Leg made waves with their first UK headline set, which included a cover of Charli XCX’s ‘360’. Around 25,000 music fans descended upon Hill Farm in Oxfordshire for the festival, which saw post-punk group IDLES close the first night. Also among the big names leading the line-up were Jamie T, The Kooks, and The Streets.
“We can’t believe it’s been a year already, but being back in the fields at Hill Farm is an amazing feeling,” Truck Festival Organisers said.
“This year’s Truck feels like a special one, whether it’s one of the most heavily requested headliners from fans in Jamie T finally topping the bill, or a historic first UK festival headline set from Wet Leg alongside some unmissable favourites across the weekend. We’ve worked year-round to make Truck 2024 one for the ages.”
