Summer wouldn't be the same without a festival or two...and it's always good to visit somewhere different. And Victorious is certainly different to any other music festival around....
First of all, the location....
Well, we do like to be beside the seaside...beside the Warrior
..and listening to music in such a historic, picturesque place was great....
And as well as watching the bands, you could go on board such iconic ships as the Victory, the Mary Rose and the Warrior, or even have a tour of the harbour...all included in the festival entry price of £15 per day.
The music....
The joy of going to a festival is to see favourite bands and to discover new ones...to hear something different - here at Victorious there were 120 bands playing over the weekend...and 90 of them were local ones. It was an eclectic line up to say the least with everyone from Charlotte Church to Level42, from Joy Formidable to the Feeling.
On the main stage, for me, the best performances came from good old Maximo Park and Reef..whose frontman looks more like Jim Carey everyday (it's the smile).What a good festival band Reef are..and I really liked the Milk, who I've not seen before.
At Little Johnny Russell's indoor stage, one of the highlights were Kassassin Street, a Portsmouth band with a charismatic front man Rowan Bastable with a nice line in dancing. Cross Tom Vek, some psychadelic sounds, Primal scream, some great guitar work, more besides, and there you have them.
And at the acoustic stage , there was such a chilled, casual feel...sitting on straw bales listening to the likes of oh so likeable James Walsh,
Mark Morris and Tremain, a local soul band led by Leonie and her sister Amba. Such great voices..and really good songs.
And popping up everywhere around the festival , raising money for charity , singing with gusto and bringing a smile to everyone's faces were the Alternative Southsea Choir,
There was certainly a different crowd of all ages here at this festival..thousands of babies and small children, an army of men who camped out near the real ale, the beautiful people
and some unusual characters too....
But when I say crowd, I mean a multitude...apparently there were 50,000 who visited the festival over the weekend. That's a lot of people, who all need feeding, watering, facilities...and somewhere to sit.
And that's where something needs changing for next year - I'm sure I'm not the only one who spent hours queuing for food, for drinks, for the loos.....and dying for somewhere to sit.
No food or drink was allowed into the festival (similar to many others) ...our bags were searched on arrival and any drinks found were confiscated....but if you're going to do that you have to make sure there's enough food on offer. There was a good choice of food ...Spanish, vegetarian, Mexican, burgers, pizza , pancakes, etc etc...but many of the stalls ran out of food on both days. When you get to the front of the queue and queueing for half an hour only to be told there wasn't left wasn't the best feeling in the world. But luckily there were the Camp Cooks..
..who kept on serving with style and good humour and kept their customers entertained all through the festival.
The real ale festival ran out of many of their ales after the first day..and to get a bottle of water was a mammoth effort in terms of time and being able to find one. And while I'm in battle axe mode....more seating please! Thousands of us had to sit on steps and pavements around the dockyard if we could find a space....you got away with it Victorious this year because it didn't rain....if it had, you'd have been sunk. In the Solent.
However, for sheer entertainment, the chance to meet up with family and friends,
..hear some great music and enjoy an invigorating weekend in the shadows of such beautiful buildings and ships, this was a really Victorious weekend.
First of all, the location....
Well, we do like to be beside the seaside...beside the Warrior
..and listening to music in such a historic, picturesque place was great....
And as well as watching the bands, you could go on board such iconic ships as the Victory, the Mary Rose and the Warrior, or even have a tour of the harbour...all included in the festival entry price of £15 per day.
The music....
The joy of going to a festival is to see favourite bands and to discover new ones...to hear something different - here at Victorious there were 120 bands playing over the weekend...and 90 of them were local ones. It was an eclectic line up to say the least with everyone from Charlotte Church to Level42, from Joy Formidable to the Feeling.
On the main stage, for me, the best performances came from good old Maximo Park and Reef..whose frontman looks more like Jim Carey everyday (it's the smile).What a good festival band Reef are..and I really liked the Milk, who I've not seen before.
At Little Johnny Russell's indoor stage, one of the highlights were Kassassin Street, a Portsmouth band with a charismatic front man Rowan Bastable with a nice line in dancing. Cross Tom Vek, some psychadelic sounds, Primal scream, some great guitar work, more besides, and there you have them.
And at the acoustic stage , there was such a chilled, casual feel...sitting on straw bales listening to the likes of oh so likeable James Walsh,
Mark Morris and Tremain, a local soul band led by Leonie and her sister Amba. Such great voices..and really good songs.
And popping up everywhere around the festival , raising money for charity , singing with gusto and bringing a smile to everyone's faces were the Alternative Southsea Choir,
There was certainly a different crowd of all ages here at this festival..thousands of babies and small children, an army of men who camped out near the real ale, the beautiful people
and some unusual characters too....
But when I say crowd, I mean a multitude...apparently there were 50,000 who visited the festival over the weekend. That's a lot of people, who all need feeding, watering, facilities...and somewhere to sit.
And that's where something needs changing for next year - I'm sure I'm not the only one who spent hours queuing for food, for drinks, for the loos.....and dying for somewhere to sit.
No food or drink was allowed into the festival (similar to many others) ...our bags were searched on arrival and any drinks found were confiscated....but if you're going to do that you have to make sure there's enough food on offer. There was a good choice of food ...Spanish, vegetarian, Mexican, burgers, pizza , pancakes, etc etc...but many of the stalls ran out of food on both days. When you get to the front of the queue and queueing for half an hour only to be told there wasn't left wasn't the best feeling in the world. But luckily there were the Camp Cooks..
..who kept on serving with style and good humour and kept their customers entertained all through the festival.
The real ale festival ran out of many of their ales after the first day..and to get a bottle of water was a mammoth effort in terms of time and being able to find one. And while I'm in battle axe mode....more seating please! Thousands of us had to sit on steps and pavements around the dockyard if we could find a space....you got away with it Victorious this year because it didn't rain....if it had, you'd have been sunk. In the Solent.
However, for sheer entertainment, the chance to meet up with family and friends,
..hear some great music and enjoy an invigorating weekend in the shadows of such beautiful buildings and ships, this was a really Victorious weekend.
Looks like great fun and I love the Camp Cooks van.
ReplyDeleteitwa s a really good weekend...and the setting is stunning. Yes, you gotta love that airstream....and 5they were all so funny...a real cabaret while waiting for a meal...
ReplyDelete