Truck Fest, Dance Fest, Cake Fest...

Mooching at Truck

Well, we just about made it back from Truck Fest in one piece. Tommy and I went down on Friday night, arriving just in time to put up the tents before the rain came down. It didn't last long and with the festival buzz in the air everyone was looking forward to a great weekend.  We mooched around the site checking out some of the new stages and extended areas. Our highlight of Friday night had to be watching The Rock of Travolta. They came on at 12:00am and the FM ten was already packed. Their set got stronger and stronger, reaching a crescendo with the 'Last March of the Acolytes'. The whole crowd was singing that killer guitar riff as they left the tent.

Saturday morning's hang over was patched up with copious amounts if iced coffee (only £1), Rotary Club hot chips, and sunshine. We wandered down to the Cabaret tent in time to catch a great set from Mr. George Chopping.  My favourite poem was Swanny which had the crowd in fits of laughter. Shortly after Thomas Truax got us back on the bottle with a very curious set of instruments littering the stage. He proceeded to play them all singing wild stories and jumping into the crowd when the sound cut out.

 We then hot-footed it to the main stage to catch half of the Richmond Fontaine band play a beautiful set. I've never seen this band before but know a lot about them as they're probably Tommy's most favourite band in the world, like, ever. I think they might now be one of my favourite bands in the world, like, ever, too. They played an incredibly moving set and the songs were beautifully tragic. After we dried our eyes we remembered to have dinner this time (Mmmm veggie burger) and vegged out whilst watching an outstanding performance by the Fixers. Then it was back to the Cabaret Tent to check out the burlesque dancers and The Long Insiders. There was a great atmosphere in the crowd, lots of whooping at the talented burlesque dancers as the men in the audience struggled in vain to keep their bulging eyes in their heads. The Long Insiders were awesome and a great appetizer for The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band, who headlined the night. By this point the crowd were well up for a boogie. We got a great spot right at the front and loved every minute of it. It was a small stage for seven rabbits made even smaller when they invited some of the crowd to dance up there with them. Baron Macbeth poured his heart and soul out to the audience and jived his way through the set. Johnny Moto caught the end of their show above with added laughter from Tommy.  With two encores it was a gig to remember and we shimmeyed over to the cake tent to shake some moves until the sun came up, or the cake ran out - I can't remember which happened first.

Richmond Fontaine

Sunday was a more relaxed affair, it needed to be after 4 hours sleep. The weather held out and we found ourselves in the Wood Tent listening to the quirky but wonderful songs of Rachael Dadd and her Saxophonist. She sang a song about her husbands 2 cats which he found as newborn kittens one day in his sock draw. Again, great song writing and the perfect thing for a lazy Sunday. We also hung out at the Truck-a-Doodle-Doo printing press, reading about the weekend's events while the Oxford Playhouse's site specific performers lined up and danced in front of us. As the evening grew old we headed back to Boxford where the cake and dance tent awaited for one last farewell dance. We sat among the teenage hoards and festival dregs 'til a hot young punk assaulted Tommy. We couldn't decide whether to get security or just leave them to settle their angsty differences. I went to bed.