Victorious 2017

Victorious 2017; Southsea swelled as the masses descended onto the south coast for three nights of live music over, what was, a glorious bank-holiday-August weekend. On a site that sprawled across the front of King Henry VIII’s sixteenth-century fortress walls, the entertainment included, a dozen musical stages and tents, a champagne lounge and a circus.

The weather was perfect, the festival’s energy fantastic; the site was busy although this wasn’t fully appreciated until the headline acts graced the stages at the end of the night, the stages across the site dispersing the numbers throughout the evening.

Friday on the Castle Stage was, well, complete and absolute Madness; the Camden 7-piece producing a set featuring material across a four-decade career. I know, forty years! With more fez’s than you could hope to count the crowd included skanking youngsters whose parents were yet to be born when Suggs first sung of Baggy Trousers. The Nutty Boys were full of energy that belied their advancing years; still very much in the moment they look far from being a tribute to their former self.

Stereophonics were reassuringly incredible as they brought Saturday evening on the Common Stage to a close; they were another class. Feeder, Echobelly, Maximo Park were good, really good, but compared to Cynon Valley’s finest – well, that’s the point, there really wasn’t a comparison. As you’d expect they were given slightly more stage time but still the set flew by and was over far too quickly and, whilst, it wasn’t quite an ‘Oasis at Knebworth’ epiphany you’d felt like you’d shared an emotional moment with the crowd, and the band, all the same.

I had expected the Stereophonics to be good, although, I hadn’t quite expected them to be that good; another great surprise was Lady Leshurr who stormed the Castle Stage before British Sea Patrol – she hollered “brush your teeth” and despaired of young girls who can twerk but can’t cook! She had the presence to energise a festival crowd and performed a furious set; thirty minutes of bars and Birmingham banter, brilliant.

So, the nuts and bolts, the festival food was pretty decent, more to the point, you could get at it quickly enough. Sadly, the same couldn’t be said for the cider! I’ve snaked to the front of the queue in Alton Towers to ride Oblivion in less time! Thankfully, once the bulk of the crowd were in, the site was easy enough to get on and off – and there’s no shortage of places to find a drink in town.

The site cleared as the stages closed around 11pm. Cue the exodus into Southsea as there was no onsite camping. Not a problem, Southsea was prepared to host the thirsty thousands; and a friendlier town you couldn’t have hoped for. In a nutshell? It’s fair to say the bands were great, the sound and lighting, at times verging towards the spectacular, the hospitality was warm and welcoming on a neat and tidy site; it was just a bit of a mission to get a drink.