Victorious Festival

Not posted a proper review style thing here before but here goes.
This was our third Victorious and it seems to have become a bit of a family “end of summer” thing to do now. To say we had agonised over whether or not to go in the current circumstances would be an understatement but in the end blind optimism won out as did the proviso that we stayed as careful as we could and would test ourselves afterwards for a week or so. Victorious is situated on Southsea Common, and includes the castle ruins along with most of Southsea seafront. When the sun sets over the Isle Of Wight in the distance it can make for some spectacular evenings, and that’s on top of the music. There is camping, but you need to get on the shuttle busses to get to the site, as it is a few miles away. We don’t do festival camping anymore as I long ago got fed up with bongos and other people’s wackiness at 4.00 am, so we always take our camper van to a proper local (ish) camp site, this time opting for a nice one near Emsworth, staying there for much of the preceding week too, having time to explore Bosham Quay, Hayling Island and Chichester.
Friday night (Madness, Peter Hook and The Light, Feeder, The Kooks) sees only one stage open, which is usual for Victorious. I was a bit dubious about Peter Hook’s band, but they gave the crowd exactly what they wanted…the best and most well known New Order and Joy Division songs, great festival fare in other words. I had a lump in my throat during Ceremony in particular. Whisper it…they play the songs superbly and they are no more of a “tribute band” than the current version of New Order and the set list was miles better than the last time I saw them. Onto Madness, who were a bit ring rusty, and there was some stilted dialogue between Suggs and Lee Thompson that seemed a little awkward, but it’s always great to hear those songs live. Feeder surprised me by how many songs I knew (not that I think they’re great) and although The Kooks were kind of pleasantly competent it all seemed a bit bland to me, although the 18 year olds (son and his girlfriend) thought they were ace.
Saturday was a bit more of a struggle…although we enjoyed Frank Turner on the main stage, and the 18 year olds loved Blossoms and Rag and Bone Man, much of the rest was a bit on the thin side. Manic Street Preachers were particularly disappointing, as I like a fair bit of their stuff and it just seemed a little, well, flat and box ticking.
Sunday was better. Pigs X7 were entertaining enough, (wouldn’t buy any of their records though) possibly more for the audacity of putting them on the main stage, and the kids enjoyed Mel C, Ella Eyre and Miles Kane, whose band all looked like they’d much rather be in the Paul Weller backing band, as did Miles himself, even if he does have a couple of decent tunes. Cast were OK in a bouncy, watching an afternoon slot with a cider in hand kind of way, and Supergrass showed just how many fabulous singles they released, Low C and Richard III being particular highlights. Fontaines DC were very interesting but sounded like they might be better in a dark and dingy club. But Nile Rodgers and Chic…wow. I don’t normally go for such showbizzy schmaltz but what a show. Most of the hits were present and correct and to see so many thousands of people dancing was a tonic after the last eighteen months.
Victorious is pretty family friendly and there is quite a variety of music on offer. Yes, of course the food and drink are vastly overpriced but you can come and go in and out as you please so you can get round that stuff with a bit of planning ahead.
I expect we’ll be back again if the kids still want to but I do like my smaller festivals these days.

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