After a storming success in 2021 which featured Royal Blood, Madness, and Manic Street Preachers, Portsmouth and Southsea’s Victorious Festival returned for another stellar line up over the Bank Holiday weekend. Headliners Stereophonics, Paolo Nutini, Bastille and Sam Fender were joined by a host of artists across a packed weekend mixing indie, pop, Britpop and everything in-between across three sun-kissed days on Southsea Common.
Friday, which occupies solely the Common Stage saw indie icons Primal Scream open up proceedings at 1pm kicking off with ‘Swastika Eyes’, kicking into gear in the second half of their set with ‘Come Together’, ‘Movin On Up’, ‘Country Girl’ and ‘Rocks’ – perhaps the one drawback was the absence of ‘Loaded’ but still a fine way to kick off the festival. The excellent music kept on coming with strong performances from Self Esteem and Anna Calvi. James were in fine voice producing a singalong set with Tim Booth in the crowd on more than one occasion, ‘Sit Down’ proving one of the weekend’s highlights; again a glaring omission was ‘Laid’ but the rest of the set went down a treat.
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Bombay Bicycle Club proved a perfect appetiser, closing on ‘Always Like This’ and entertaining a growing crowd for Stereophonics. ‘Phonics – who have graced the festival previously – tore through their back-catalogue delivering hit after hit including ‘Have A Nice Day’, ‘Superman’, ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ and ‘The Bartender & The Thief’ and finding room for a few more obscure tracks. The band, closed to a rousing singalong to ‘Dakota’ and an impressive fireworks display to boot, capping off a stellar first day.
Saturday saw the Castle Stage also in use with Bastille, Kula Shaker and White Lies the main draws while the Common Stage saw dodie deliver an energetic set before We Are Scientists and Inhaler allowing a generational mix of artists for a wide-ranging audience to enjoy. Ocean Colour Scene produced a sublime set packed with hits including ‘The Riverboat Song’ and an exquisite rendition of ‘The Day We Caught The Train’.
The Wombats delivered one of the most energetic sets of the weekend opening with ‘Moving To New York’ and having the crowd fully engaged until a rousing rendition of ‘Lets Dance To Joy Division’, before closing with ‘Turn’.
Paolo Nutini was Saturday’s headliner, making his comeback after eight years away and delivered an incredibly strong set that was a wonderful showcase for his musical range and strength as a vocalist. The set was heavy on tunes from his recent number one record ‘Last Night In The Bittersweet’ with hits like ‘Scream (Funk My Life Up)’, ‘Coming Up Easy’ and ‘Jenny Don’t Be Hasty’ a treat. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the omission of ‘New Shoes’ which got a very brief section in ‘Jenny Don’t Be Hasty’ and ‘Last Request’, while the set sounded stellar these omissions seemed to rangle some long-term fans.
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Sunday saw another eclectic mix of acts kicking off with a 1pm performance from The Libertines who took a while to find their feet but delivered a solid second half with ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ and ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ getting the crowd going. Eurovision hero Sam Ryder had one of the busiest sets of the afternoon, tearing through a surprise cover of ‘Master Of Puppets’ and closing with ‘Spaceman’. Editors delivered a solid set to a building crowd while Amy MacDonald’s blend of folk rock proved a perfect Sunday afternoon tonic and one of the most fun sets of the day. Metronomy delivered an energetic set featuring tracks from across their career including ‘The Bay’ and ‘Salted Caramel Ice Cream’ before an electrifying rendition of ‘The Look’.
Suede were one of the final acts to perform with Brett Anderson on incredible form delivering hits like ‘Animal Nitrate’ and ‘Trash’ with aplomb before closing with ‘The Beautiful Ones’; truly one of the weekend’s strongest sets from one of the country’s finest bands.
Sam Fender, on a huge high following his Glastonbury set and supporting The Killers proved a huge draw in only his third time headlining a festival. A massive crowd were treated to a one hour and 25 minutes of magic from one of the biggest acts on the indie scene, opening with ‘Will We Talk’, followed by ‘Getting Started’ and tearing through many tracks off both his number one albums and a few non-album tracks – such as ‘Get You Down’ and ‘The Spit of You’ – proved magnetic while an encore of ‘Saturday’, his bona fide anthem ‘Seventeen Going Under’ and ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ sent the masses off in fine voice and with a barnstorming set full of pyrotechnics to conclude another wonderful weekend of entertainment.
Words: Chris Connor
Photography: Tom Langford
