THERE is something of the village fete about Truck Festival.

What with the vicar dishing out the ice cream and the Didcot Rotary Club flipping burgers, and the fact that it is virtually impossible to cross the site without bumping into someone you know, it’s easy to forget that it is actually one of the best rock festivals around.

This year proved no exception, with Ash and Supergrass being probably the most high-profile headliners the festival has ever secured in its 12 year history.

But it is the mixture of local favourites, the stars of the future as well as more established acts that makes Truck the best weekend of the year — provided it doesn’t rain.

Among the first up, Cat Matador provided a delicious introduction to a weekend of indie brilliance, with tunes that managed to get the Barn crowd starting to feel the fabled Truck vibe.

Crystal Fighters, a late addition to the line-up were a somewhat bonkers prospect, with one girl member seemingly only there to say ‘ooh’ into the microphone occasionally.

But despite initial confusion from the audience, the reception to their fresh dance music, infused with the sounds of unusual basque instruments, quickly warmed and instead of puzzled faces the group were greeted by a dervish of dancing festiegoers.

Other highlights from Saturday included the ever-popular Stornoway, who packed out the village pub with their tender melodies and wistful lyrics, before it was time for the main event.

Ash were apparently part of the original back of a fag packet dream line-up when Robin and Joe Bennett first came up with Truck, but it took 12 years to drag them onto their main stage.

But it was worth the wait.

A hit-laden set sent the crowd — particularly the female members of it — wild, with early classics Girl from Mars and Kung Fu peppered throughout the set, along with just a couple of tracks less familiar to the Truckers.

Tim Wheeler looks genuinely pleased to be there, and manages to strike the right balance of up-beat numbers for dancing to slower singalongs such as Oh Yeah — and Candy is thankfully absent.

From the highs of Ash’s thrilling energetic set, it’s on to the brilliantly entitled Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs — who sadly fail to live up to their name, the only point of note in their set being the fact that one of their member is apparently wearing a sequinned cardboard box over his head. Weird.

A night of heavy partying over, it’s time to slow things down a bit with probably Steventon’s most famous resident right now, Otto Baxter, who has Down’s Syndrome and hit the headlines earlier this year in his quest to find a girlfriend.

Unfortunately, Otto’s Punch and Judy show is puzzling rather than amusing, and while his interpretation of Michael Jackson’s Thriller is great — the boy can definitely move — the applause for his joke routine is somewhat uncomfortable.

No such qualms for the Long Insiders, with their bluesy, Tarantino-esque stylings going down like a much-deserved double whiskey on the rocks on a parched throat.

Gorgeous stuff, performed with style — and singer Sarah is the best-dressed girl on site with her black dress and blood red accessories.

The Epstein rock the main stage with Americana, Binsey-style — and all the favourites are well-received.

Former Morrison Steam Fayre frontman, Reid Morrison’s new outfit, Treetop Flyers, lives up to the hype, with a mixture of luscious tunes and country-style hoe-down.

Reid’s voice is lovely, and the beauty and intricacy of the songs shows much more maturity than you would expect from such a new band.

The Stars of Truck and Field is all about reminiscing, and is perhaps a touch indulgent as the Bennetts and friends revisit songs they should perhaps have stopped singing years ago.

But there are still moments of glory, and Ride’s Mark Gardener proves that he’s still got something going on.

Every year there are rumours that Supergrass will play — did they live up to it when they finally got a slot at their home festival?

For the most part, yes.

It takes a while for the crowd to get behind them, as they start out with their later, more middle of the road tracks, and it’s not really until they perform Moving that the crowd erupts with enthusiasm.

From there, it’s a romp home, with the highpoints including a down and dirty Pumping on your Stereo and an enthusiastic Caught by the Fuzz — reminding us of the cheeky chaps that we all knew and loved back in the 90s.

A classic Truck — and it hardly even rained.