Southsea hosted Victorious Festival again this Bank Holiday weekend and it’s always the highlight of our calendar at Summer Festival Guide.
With stormy sea views overlooking the site and a diverse line-up spanning indie royalty to disco legends, Victorious delivered the magical, genre-hopping weekend it always promises and which we love coming back for.
We’re not the only ones – as over 150,000 people descended on the south coast over the weekend.
There is so much to cover, with so many stages dotted around, but here’s how the Common Stage and Castle Stage played out across the three days.
FRIDAY
The Common Stage opened with M60, an indie rock band, oddly named after the motorway of the same name.
Victorious is famous for its special-guest slots early each day – it definitely helps bring the crowds in at lunchtime to enjoy everything on offer. This year was no exception, with Rudimental getting everyone bouncing before the afternoon built up.
Pixie Lott followed, and was appropriately dressed for the camera in a stunning red leotard with a billowing train – she dazzled the audience, looking like Marilyn Monroe, while mixing her own hits with Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit – it definitely was a strong start to an impressive weekend lineup.
Indie royalty followed, with Liverpudlian bands The Coral and Cast, blasting out their 90s hits including ‘Dreaming of You‘ and ‘Walk Away‘ respectively – each singer adorned a hat which they had to hold onto during the gale force winds.
Over on the Castle Stage, the day built beautifully. Vengaboys turned in an early party set that transported the crowd to Ibiza on their magical bus.
The Vaccines kept the momentum going on the main stage as evening approached, with the majority of songs coming from their debut ‘What Did You Expect’, but the real highlight came with Scissor Sisters. We certainly got more than we hoped for!
Their glitter drenched pop set was the highlight of the day, opening with ‘Baby I’m Burnin‘ before launching into ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’, and working through ‘Take Your Mama‘, and ‘Filthy Gorgeous‘, plus a euphoric cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb‘.
Jake Shears had the crowd eating out of his hand, at one point telling everyone gathered that they were all Scissor Sisters now, and for the length of that set, it felt true.
Richard Ashcroft, former Verve frontman, closed out the Common Stage, drawing on his extensive catalogue including ‘A Song for the Lovers’, ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’, ‘Lucky Man’ and ‘Sonnet’ before building to a euphoric ‘Bittersweet Symphony’.
It’s no wonder Oasis recruited Richard Ashcroft to support them on their tour last year, having written their legendary song ‘Cast No Shadow’ about the iconic singer. Perhaps the most emotional moment of the weekend, was his opening tribute to Dolly Parton.
Over at the Castle stage, Faithless closed proceedings – despite the crowd being on their feet all day, they went wild for their anthem ‘Insomnia’. It’s no wonder if people didn’t get much sleep after such a great day at the coast.
SATURDAY
Saturday was where the weather really made its presence felt, swinging between sunshine, strong winds and sudden downpours. The music was equally diverse with special guest Dizzee Rascal opening the Common Stage’s lunchtime slot in the bonkers weather.
Lottery Winners and White Lies brought standard indie-rock fair before Happy Mondays and Bez shook his maracas in style and Shaun Ryder twisted his melons through the middle of the day.
Jessie J turned in one of the most talked about and moving sets of the whole weekend. In between a vocal masterclass that included a brave cover of Prince’s Purple Rain – it was a funny, heart-warming and emotional performance that crowds will remember long after the songs fade.
Nile Rodgers and Chic followed with a hit stacked, feel good set. As well as classics such as ‘Good Times‘ and ‘Le Freak‘, it was incredible how many songs the legend has written and produced, from David Bowie, Madonna, Daft Punk and Pharrell.
The Black Keys closed the main Common Stage, opening with ‘I Got Mine‘ – the crowd was split however, as many headed over to the Castle Stage.
Bastille were one of the weekend’s biggest draws, but their appearance was genuinely in doubt after frontman Dan Smith had been ordered five days of vocal rest and the band had already cancelled another festival slot midweek.
In a statement to fans beforehand, Smith had described it simply as quite a serious vocal issue. In the end they arrived around fifteen minutes late due to technical issues, but Dan’s voice showed no signs of strain as the band tore through crowd favourites, finishing with the anthemic and appropriately named ‘Pompeii.’
SUNDAY
Sunday was arguable the strongest line-up of the weekend, with the Common Stage afternoon special guest slot belonging to Norwegian singer Sigrid – who brought a sunny, assured energy that cut straight through the unsettled skies.
Reef and The Enemy kept the guitar music flowing before James Arthur‘s slot drew one of the biggest crowds of the weekend.
The Streets turned in one of the most striking sets of the weekend, working through their landmark album A Grand Don’t Come for Free in a contemplative, almost theatrical way against the backdrop of a bus shelter. With tracks like ‘Fit But You Know It‘ and ‘Blinded by the Lights’ getting a rare full outing, main-man Mike Skinner headed into the crowd for the closing songs.
Kasabian returned to Victorious and brought the Common Stage to a close with their usual swagger, opening with ‘Club Foot’ and never letting the energy drop after that.
At one point frontman Serge Pizzorno paused to tell the crowd this is where it is at, we are living it right now, and for a field of people who had just survived three days of unpredictable weather to see them off, it landed perfectly.
The Castle Stage’s Sunday bill built through Brit-pop legends Sleeper, before our highlights of the weekend followed in close succession.
Jalen Ngonda demonstrated what an incredible young talent he is. With an incredible voice which barely needs a microphone to be heard, he certainly won over many fans on Sunday.
Icon Kelis followed, delivering a powerful self-assured serving of ‘Milkshake‘, with a flash of lightning getting the crowd even more excited.
Basement Jaxx closed the Castle stage, and the weekend in euphoric style, with a full live band leaning on the same run of club favourites they had been playing all summer, including ‘Red Alert’, ‘Do Your Thing’ and ‘Romeo’.
It was a genuinely special way to bring the festival to a close.
What makes Victorious stand out is the sheer variety of acts across the weekend. We haven’t even had chance to cover other artists across the many stages, including up-and-coming Brummies GANS, Preston from Big Brother’s return with The Ordinary Boys, or Welsh rap ‘legends’ Goldie Looking Chain.
You truly can go from pop theatrics to blues rock, from grime to disco, from a heartfelt album performed front to back to a wind battered pop diva cracking jokes about her own stage rig – all within a single weekend on the same patch of common overlooking the Solent.
The weather threw everything it had at this year’s event, but the lineup, and the crowd, were more than a match for it.
Early bird tickets for next year’s festival are already available at the following link:
You don’t want to miss out while they are at a reduced price. https://www.victoriousfestival.co.uk
Words: Graham Tarrant & Helen Lillistone
Photos: Graham Tarrant