* Dance music giants Basement Jaxx say they can’t wait to headline the county’s Truck music festival.

The London electronic production duo of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe are among the largest acts ever to play the independent music festival, which takes place in Steventon in July.

Talking to The Oxford Times before flying out to Dubai for a show, Simon said: “Truck sounds like our kind of festival. It’s always nice to play something that is not corporate. I’m really looking forward to it.

“We are at our best outdoors, on a stage with lots of people. Our live show has grown into an animal all of its own. It’s colourful, flamboyant and there’s lots of energy. We are a dance act, but our live shows go beyond that. They are great fun and feed off the energy of the crowd.

“We’ll be playing songs from the past, songs from the future, songs from now, songs people know and stuff from our new album — which has been going down as well as the old tunes. It’s going to be a great weekend.”

They will be joined by an already impressive line-up which includes Joy Division and New Order star Peter Hook with his latest band The Light, and up-and-coming artists including Saint Raymond, Slaves and Rae Morris. Also playing the event are Pulled Apart by Horses, Jaws, The Amazing Snakeheads, Baby Godzilla, Honeyblood, Blaenavon, King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys and ODC Drumline. Truck Festival runs from July 17-18 at Hill Farm, Steventon.

Tickets are £79.50 from truckfestival.com

* Truck’s environmentally-friendly sister festival Wood last night revealed the first names of this year’s line-up. They include soul-pop band Treetop Flyers, experimental pop folk act Tunng and Songhoy Blues from Mali. Other names include Spiro, Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker, Duotone, John Jospeh Brill, Knights of Mentis, Natureboy, Oxford Ukeleles, Tamara, Brickwork Lizards, Cooling Pearls and The Dreaming Spires. Wood festival takes place from May 15-17 at Braziers Park, Ipsden, near Wallingford. Weekend tickets are available from gigantic.com n Van Morrison has been named as the first head-liner for a new series of concerts to be held at Blenheim Palace. He will perform in the Great Court on June 25, for the first Nocturne show. He will be joined by jazz vocalist and songwriter Gregory Porter.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow from nocturnelive.com