Truck Festival 2026 wrapped its four-day run at Hill Farm in Steventon, Oxfordshire, with The Wombats closing out the weekend for the first time in the band’s history with the festival, a fitting climax to the weekend of big indie names.
The Liverpool trio delivered a set spanning their six-album career, ending the night with ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’ and a wombat costume on the stage, before the traditional closing fireworks wished the happy truckers farewell until next year. While The Wombats have long been fixtures at Truck, this marked a shift in their headline slot. In 2023, the band headlined the festival’s opening night, playing the main stage on the Thursday, a slot that welcomes the crowd yet isn’t the memorable impact of last Sunday’s slot.
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Sunday’s finale was technically a co-headline slot shared with The Libertines, despite being billed as joint headliners, The Libertines effectively played second to The Wombats, a detail that reportedly confused truckers due to the iconic stature of The Libertines. The Libertines still delivered a 75-minute set of singalong classics, even pulling a teenage fan on stage to join in, before handing the reins to The Wombats for the night’s true closing statement.
The rest of the weekend lived up to Truck’s reputation for feel-good programming and past and present indie bands. CMAT stepped up as Thursday’s evening headliner after playing a great set the previous year, while Two Door Cinema Club and The Maccabees also topped the bill across the weekend, alongside sets from Primal Scream, Kaiser Chiefs and English Teacher. Saturday leaned into nostalgia with an Oxford Symphony Orchestra tribute to Abba, Bowie and the Beatles, while The Royston Club impressed with an early-afternoon set blending indie and rock tunes.
Ahead of the festival, Wombats drummer Dan Haggis had spoken about the band’s long relationship with the event, reflecting on how many times they’d returned to Hill Farm over the years and expressing excitement about headlining again in 2026. That history made Sunday’s closing slot feel less like a debut and more like a long-awaited slot for the timeless band, the moment Truck’s most reliable crowd-pleasers had the last festival moment to themselves.
