Victorious Festival remains an impressive inclusive music festival by the beautiful south coast.
The Southsea event offered the strongest headliners of the summer, with Queens of the Stone Age on the main stage on Friday, with the nutty boys, Madness, on the Castle Stage at the same time. Saturday offered man-eater Nelly Furtado and Vampire Weekend, while Sunday was a spicy choice between Melanie C and Kings of Leon.
It’s such a shame we can’t be in two places at once, as each of those artists deserves to be seen.
The beauty of Victorious Festival is that they always book an impressive headline-worthy artist to begin proceedings each day and this year was no exception.
On Friday, The Charlatans kicked off the main stage. Singer and frontman Tim Burgess does not appear to have aged a day since they first arrived on the indie scene in 1990 with ‘The Only One I Know‘. Playing a crowd-pleasing greatest hits set at 1pm definitely got everyone in the mood for the entertainment ahead.
In a positive change this year, the comedy performers took to the main stage, rather than a small big-top. This was a relief for many who in previous years have struggled to get into the crowded performance tent.
Comedian and Masked Singer presenter Joel Dommett followed The Charlatans on the main stage and stated he was slightly daunted at the size of the huge crowd who had come to see him in the Southsea sun. Mixing tales of his innuendo filled intros from the Masked Singer, to his own self- deprecation of playing his early rap-tape, it was an inspired decision moving the comedy so more people could enjoy it.
Following this great start to the family event, much has been written in the news about the silencing of a certain Irish band. The festival has already issued a statement and an apology for the way events transpired. At Summer Festival Guide, we are here to review events and festivals across UK and Europe and look to ensure the crowd are having a great time – they certainly were all weekend and Victorious have stated they will be making a generous donation to humanitarian efforts.
Elsewhere over on Castle Stage at the same time, many were enjoying Daniel Beddingfield who is embarking on something of a comeback, playing a mix of garage music, before finishing with his hits ‘If You’re Not The One‘ and ‘Gotta Get Through This.’
Victorious has so many stages on offer, and the Seaside Stage is one of the most beautiful locations overlooking the coastline. Following in the footsteps of Barrioke in 2024, this year was Massaoke – humurous rock legend wannabes, with leotards and gold spandex on offer. The colourful band played the music and backing tracks, while the crowd were encouraged to sing all the words displayed on the screen to classic 70s and 80s power ballads and cheesy rock classics. Modern karaoke never sounded so good (or so bad when we joined in for ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ briefly…)
Before the Friday-night headliners, party starters Kaiser Chiefs bound on stage, with arguably the biggest crowd of the day. Reminiscing how its been 20 years since their debut seminal album ‘Employment’ was released, Ricky Wilson still has bundles of energy, scaling the stage scaffolding while entertaining, with hits including ‘I Predict A Riot‘ and ‘Ruby‘.
The crowd knew and sung every word. They are about to tour the UK in the coming months and based on the audience reaction, many tickets would have been sold after this electrifying performance.
Queens of the Stone Age (QoTSA) followed and Josh Homme certainly knows how to begin in style. Some bands save their biggest songs for the end of their sets, but QoTSA went straight into ‘You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, but I Feel Like a Millionaire‘, ‘No One Knows‘, ‘Burn the Witch‘, then ‘My God Is the Sun‘ – arguably four of their biggest songs.
Halfway through the set, Josh Homme stated they’d come across the Atlantic to play for their fans and asked the audience what they wanted to hear. At request they played, “Little Sister‘, before a young audience member displayed a sign asking to join the band on-stage. Ironically the singer stated they weren’t the Foo Fighters, although Dave Grohl was previously this bands drummer…
As well as the music, as stated earlier, Victorious Festival prides itself on being a family orientated festival. The kids area this year offered a number of highlights, from meet’and’greets with Sonic the Hedgehog and Peppa Pig, through to impressive old-school British Empire Wrestling, and the famous ‘World’s Biggest Bouncy Castle’ which we’ve tried at many other events across the UK – well worth a mega-bounce if you see it.
Saturday began with the impressive Rizzle Kicks – who truly kicked things off in style. The crowd (and band) were jumping and the duo certainly don’t take themselves too seriously, with huge flowers in pots on stage.
Not to be outdone, Scouting for Girls followed, with their James Bond theme. Singer Roy Stride previously played the smaller acoustic stage here a couple of years ago, but now won the crowd over on the main Common Stage. With his selfie-stick, he filmed the audience while proclaiming everybody wants to be on tv.
Victorious also offers many slots for local bands, from the impressive Southsea Alternative Choir over on the aforementioned Seaside Stage, to breakthrough opportunities on the main stage.
Crystal Tides, an energetic Portsmouth indie-band played in the afternoon before local singer songwriter Marley Blandford had the opportunity of a lifetime to play before his biggest crowd to date – in the style of Ed Sheeran, he mixed acoustic guitar with looping pedals to create an impressive collection of tracks – one to watch in the future, especially with his cover of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘ to close the set.
Shed Seven returned to the festival in their usual cheeky style, with singer Rick Witter reading out many fan messages he’d received from fans young and old. Chucking his maraca to a young 9 year old in the crowd, he asked if anyone remembered the 90s, before playing their crowd pleasers ‘Going for Gold’, ‘Chasing Rainbows‘ and even a cover of The Smiths ‘There Is A Light Which Never Goes Out‘ with it’s darkly comic lyric
‘…And if a double-decker bus, crashes into us
To die by your side, is such a heavenly way to die…’
Quite!
Scottish legends Travis followed, and Fran Healy sung ‘Why Does It Alway’s Rain On Me‘, although based on the dust around the site, it was clear Portsmouth and Southsea were basking in some particularly fine summer sun.
Back over on the Seaside Stage, 90s pin-up Betty Boo dazzled crowds with her old hits ‘Where Are You Baby’ and ‘Doin’ the Do‘, before concluding with ‘Pure and Simple‘ made famous by Hear’Say on the first series of Pop Idol. Utah Saints followed with an impressive DJ set, mixing classics from The Prodigy and New Order (both of whom have headlined Victorious in previous headliners.)
Talking of headliners, we chose to see Nelly Furtado over at the Castle Stage. It was surprising how many hits she’s had, from ‘I’m Like A Bird’ to ‘Promiscuous‘. She also played a couple of covers including ‘Get Ur Freak On‘ and James Morrison’s ‘Broken Strings,’ before sending the huge crowd away happy with ‘Man-eater.‘
Food-wise, a special shout out must go to Lidl and their Bubbles and Bangers stall. They offered a substantial hot-dog, and a glass of chilled lemonade for £7.50, or even better, a hot-dog with prosecco for £9.50. Considering many bars were charging the same for a can of gin’n’tonic this summer for the same price, this was the best deal of the summer. All profits went to the NSPCC charity also, so a big shout out must go to everyone’s favourite low cost supermarket for saving pennies. There was also the chance to win some merch or a bucket hat to keep cool.
Sunday, with everyone feeling slightly jaded from two days partying, there needed to be a big act to get everyone moving. Wow, and what an act to start the day.
Craig David brought his TS5 show to Southsea and had everyone singing all the words to his hits, from ‘Re-rewind (Bo-Selecta)‘, to ‘Fill Me In‘, ‘Walking Away‘, and finishing of course with ‘7-Days‘. It must be said this was a tough act to follow, and possibly based on the immense size of the crowd, Craig could have been headlining any of the nights.
Bradley Simpson, singer of The Vamps followed. Many of the audience had clearly come to see him, with banners held aloft and screams from his adoring fans. He certainly worked the stage, climbing over the speakers and strutting the stage like a true boy-band professional.
Jasper Carrott provided the comedy of the day and defied his 80 years with good humour, although some of the material regarding fax machines and prostate examinations left the younger audience members baffled. Definitely one for the older audience.
The Zutons followed, with a cover of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black‘, before performing their own ‘Valerie’ made famous by the late-great singer.
The Reytons followed and it was a surprise to hear they’re one of the biggest unsigned bands in the UK.
Frontman Jonny Yerrell proclaimed “This is the best festival in the UK…full of so much love and energy“. Who are we to disagree.
Bloc Party played a greatest hits set list, with singer Kele proclaiming this was a great place to perform the final night of their tour. Many of the audience may not have heard them before but recognised a couple of their songs used recently in adverts.
Headline wise, Sunday was the biggest possibly seen by Victorious and the biggest of any festival this summer. American superstars Kings of Leon took to the main stage and brought an incredible close to the weekend. Normally singer Caleb doesn’t say a word to the crowd between songs, but he stopped many times to thank the huge crowd. He even spotted a Tennessee flag in the audience from his home state and seemed in good spirits throughout.
It was an absolutely flawless performance from KoL, with songs played from their 25-year career. The biggest cheers went out for ‘Use Somebody‘ and ‘Molly’s Chambers‘, but of course, the crowd sung every word when they finished with ‘Sex On Fire’. They certainly did not disappoint.
There were so many other impressive acts we saw which we haven’t had time to cover. From Everything Everything with their indie-dance music to Public Service Broadcasting with their conceptual approach of using archival footage from old films and documentaries – there really was something for everyone at Victorious.
We can’t wait to return next year – this was a memorable year, but for all the right, positive reasons we keep coming back. The festival keeps on expanding and you can see why. Kings of Leon are going to be a difficult act for Victorious to beat next year, but we are excited to find out who they book.
Early-bird tickets for next year are already available. Please use the following official link: https://www.victoriousfestival.co.uk/buy-tickets-2/
PHOTOS: GRAHAM TARRANT
WORDS: GRAHAM TARRANT & SAMANTHA MIDDLETON.