Victorious 2015

[the wonderwhy]

Yeah Primals we fantastic, as were Flaming Lips - don't think Southsea has ever seen a show like that. 

 

Peter Hook was ace too, shame such a short set but great song picks and cool they managed to squeeze Blue Monday in. Caught a bit Honeyblood and Jaws on the Castle stage too and they were good although didn't get to see many songs due to how the set times worked out. 

 

Shame about the weather, and £5-a-pint-shitty-Carling, but other than that it was a great day. I actually quite liked the site layout, having a nice big wide path run through the centre eased all the congestion problems they had when at the Dockyard. 

[rawaudioinput]

£5 for a Carling is pretty dire however the selection at the beer festival tent made up for it

Took a while to be served though

[Mash011]

Despite the awful weather I had a great time, The Flaming Lips are without a doubt one of the best bands I've seen. Their commitment to the live show is paralleled and looks fucking amazing. My favourite was Wayne popping giant balloons full of confetti with a pin on the end of a Dora the explorer ukelele during The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song.

 

I do have one big complaint which is the sound on the Castle stage. Everything seemed fine at the Common but Jaws were especially ruined by being so quiet that I could hear the chatting crowd around me louder than the band despite being pretty close to the front. Regardless of that, once the rain cleared up for Primal Scream an the LIps I was having an amazing time. I doubt I'd go back unless they got another band I was desparate to see, but that's only because it's so far away for me.

 

Very unusual site, as well - I don't think many festivals can say they have an aquarium! Surprisingly big, too did a lot more walking than I was expecting to.

[seanz25]

Back down to this today. A great day all round again better thanks to the weather too

We Are Scientists were great, tight time wise could have done with 45 mins and played a shortened version of The Great Escape.

Thought Johnny Marr was fairly average and dull. Got the best reaction for his cover of the Clash's 'I fought the law' rather than any of his own songs or smiths songs.

Darkness where superb, everyone seemed to love them when we left, although I wasn't to close to the front due to being at the Castle stage before. They drew I believe the biggest crowd I seen all weekend to. Although I didnt see either headliners on the castle stage.

Ray Davies was a lot of fun, although I felt he probably went one or two songs longer than he should of with stuff people didn't seem to know. The amount of talking he did combined with looking at his setlists online from other gigs of his recently pre festival also made it seem like he doesn't do a lot of 1 hour + sets anymore either.

Did exierence God awful watered down Carling for a fiver today, they where also a massive ball ache on id every time u went to buy more than one drink.

Where do we see this going next year? Who else of the current headline size artists is their out there for them to book? Or do they make a jump up and go slightly bigger?

[Flaminglippy]

Yeah...great weekend. Definitely an improvement on last year. Round of applause for the number and state of the toilets. Liked the lay-out, although bit of a trek between stages (and from main stage to real ale tent). SFA and Flaming Lips were stand-outs, but thought Ray Davies was unexpectedly brilliant. Nice atmosphere. As they seem to like their old school indie, would like to see Charlatans, Suede, Manics next year

[Flaminglippy]

Yeah...great weekend. Definitely an improvement on last year. Round of applause for the number and state of the toilets. Liked the lay-out, although bit of a trek between stages (and from main stage to real ale tent). SFA and Flaming Lips were stand-outs, but thought Ray Davies was unexpectedly brilliant. Nice atmosphere. As they seem to like their old school indie, would like to see Charlatans, Suede, Manics next year

[paulmuchmore]

Just went for the Sunday, very much enjoyed it, but I think I might have had a better time last year when it was slightly smaller. Line-up definitely taken a step up in the level of bands, but unfortunately there were too many clashes for my liking and too much time spent running back and forth between the Common Stage and Castle Stage. Think they'd have been better off combining the lineups from those two stages into one, but that's just my two cents. 30 minute sets felt too short for a lot of the acts.

 

Sound at the Castle Stage was also very poor. Ruined We Are Scientists for me.

 

On the alcohol front I was very disappointed, last year the real ale tent had a larger selection, and a large choice of cider too. This year the only cider choices were carling, or kopparberg. The prices also ridiculous - £5 is too much for a pint of piss. £5.50 for an ale is extortionate. Prices for Pimms and spirits were outrageous. It should not cost more than a major festival. Last year it wasn't.

 

Traffic management getting out of the car park on Sunday night was also terrible - non existent. 

 

Sounds like a very moany review, but it is a great value small festival - £25 is a bargain. I did have a good time and would recommend going if you can bare those prices at the bars! Ray Davies was brilliant and came on early to play a proper full headline length set of 1 hour 25 mins, instead of the advertised 1 hour slot.

Edited August 31, 2015 by paulmuchmore

[seanz25]

Agree with what a lot of people have said here already. On further thoughts next morning:

To many clashes between stages that where a distance a part. Castle stage and the Common stage with literally acts on one after the other between each of these stages was killer. Especially hated We Are Scientists into Darkness as we missed a good 10/15 minutes making the treck back over.

Parking was alright IMO looked like everyone was all over the place to begin with but quickly filtered down into two lanes from each side of the on site parking and was well controlled on exit stopping cars from the road coming up every few minutes.

Next year I think they should look at 45 minutes being the set time for most acts. 30 was just to short really. Cut down on one or two acts per stage per day and have longer set times.

I do think they probably want to book a few more acts with higher name value for next year who can play earlier on. Felt the place was a lot more rammed both evenings so chances are similar to us on the Sunday people looked at the schedule and figured nothing of interest was on early afternoon (Other than Texas) I know the festival thing is all about finding new stuff but unfortunately the people this festival attracts aren't necessarily the type of people up for that.

Also I think the real ale tent should be separate from the stage it gets mobbed in there.

if I was a betting man for next year I'd be placing money on seeing any of these somewhere on the line up; Slaves, Palma Violets, Courteeners, The Strypes, Ash, Suede, Manics, Ride, Blondie, The Wonder Stuff.

Overall for £60 though I seen a lot of acts I wouldn't have considered paying to see individually but was more than happy to watch at the festival play short but sweet greatest hits sets. Cant complain with that!

Edited August 31, 2015 by seanz25

[rawaudioinput]

After looking at the Ray Davies setlist I'm a bit sore about missing him

 

Shouldn't have got so Gillespie'd on the Saturday

[luckysalt]

Just back now, as stopped off for a Chinese and pop into town before home.

 

Saturday, we had headed down quite early and bailed at the start of Fratellis im afraid, me and the mrs were just soaked through. I had wanted to see Primal Scream but I've seen them shit loads so wasn't too fussed and im sorry to say as you lot all seem massive fans but Ive never really listened to Flaming Lips so wasn't bothered about missing them.

 

Watched Jaws, first time ive ever seen them dispite being local to me, just never had chance before and they wasn't what I expected, mouch more 1975 than I expected, they look like a Grunge band! Decent set though and I had no problem with sound where I was.

 

Also caught Peter Hook who was brilliant, echo that it was a great setlist also.

 

Watched Magic Numbers who I caught loads about 10 years ago, fuck me what a shit way to start the set, they were really unimpressive, I can see why they don't get booked anymore, REALLY dull.

 

Onto Sunday

 

Got there for Texas who despite not being my thing were decent, played all the hits. Crowd was biggest on main all day I think.

 

Watched Dave McCabe who I didn't know was the singer of the Zutons, he was already, set dragged a little towards the end, no-one seemed to give a fuck he was playing

 

Sunshine Underground another I haven't seen before, really enjoyed. Would check them out again.

 

Saw the start of Hayseed Dixie wasn't enjoying them so fucked off.

 

Went a walk and stumbled on Rhythm of the 90's which was a female singer and a geezer doing 90's dance tunes live, really good stuff if you liked this era, can't remember what the first few tunes were but she did Ultra Nate - Free, Strike - U sure do and the guy did Faithless - Insomnia which was pretty crap, the woman was good though.

 

Watched the whole of Cast who were brilliant and I had forgot how many great singles they had, top top set

 

Watched all the Darkness, really put on a good show, played all the hits, crowd was very happy.

 

Caught Slow Life by SFA [which is my fave] then I fucked off to second stage

 

Johnny Marr I thought was the best all weekend, shocked to see someone say otherwise, maybe it was where they were stood, but crowd was loving every tune by me, he totally smashed everyone else IMO. really impressed. 

 

Then I watched about 40 mins of Basement Jaxx before calling it a night, caught a couple of Ray Davies on the way out, sound didn't sound too great. 

Going back to Basement Jaxx, sound was loud as hell and I was surprised how many different dancers they kept bringing out, but setlist wasn't very hit heavy sadly. 

 

On the fest as a whole, big site, lots to do, loads of toilets and bars, food selection was VERY poor, queuing system was a mess to get into site, no wristbands I imagine keeps cost down but re-entry is queuing back up with the first queue is cack, not getting to keep your tickets poor, they just stamp your arm if you want re-entry? 

 

£5 a beer is a joke. Seemed very very busy all weekend, would have to take a great line up to get me back I reckon. It was alright but apart from the bands the festival offers little else, you cant go on the beach, the aquarium was £10, no signposts, no map, no line up anywhere on site. it was just a guessing game to find anything. 

 

All in all though I had a great time. 

 

Also had a great time at the wrestling on the Friday, although I'll say the Guildhall is a dump and it was organised badly. We had been told to collect on entry and joined the queue only to find out you had to collect tickets elsewhere which wasn't said to you by any of the staff standing around doing nothing. Bar was awful, 1 tap for lager???? Jesus. Queues were massive.

 

Rev Pro for the names they got and everything, seemed VERY amateurish.  

[luckysalt]

BTW I see earlybirds are onsale for £20 per day, but then says £21.60 per day and an extra 50p transaction fee.

 

So £43.70... in fact instead of £40. 

 

27th and 28th August.

[the wonderwhy]

As they seem to like their old school indie, would like to see Charlatans, Suede, Manics next year

 

I was surprised The Charlatans didn't play this year actually considering they did a bunch of other fests with Basement Jaxx/Primals/Johnny Marr. Personally I think Belle and Sebastian would make good headliners next year, if they're touring. 

[paulmuchmore]

Aquarium and D-Day museum were actually free to get in - wouldn't pay to get in the aquarium but was worth a walk through for 30 mins because it was free!

[aidenlangan95]

Really enjoyed my time here, even if the crowds were generally a bit crap at getting into the music at times! 

 

Highlights for me were the Flaming Lips and Super Furry Animals.

Enjoyed Basement Jaxx (despite not being as hit-heavy as I thought it would be) and the Darkness (despite not playing 'the Christmas song')

 

Worth £50 easily!

[mungo57]

Agreed, great time had by me and the GF.

Finally getting to see the Flaming Lips was my highlight, Primal Scream for the first time since I was 15 was also great and SFA and Basement Jaxx were class too.

Honourable mentions go to Hayseed Dixie, Sunshine Underground and We Are Scientists - good value for £30 a day and already planning to go back down next year.

Beats Reading and Leeds for demographic and atmosphere hands down. Shame about the extortionate bar prices and militant security refusing to let people in with re-filled water - had 4 bottles I filled from the tap confiscated on the Sunday despite taking as many in on the Saturday without issue!

Also had a good time on the dancefloor with the missus in the Wetherspoon pub after Basement Jaxx on the Sunday - stupid cheesey dance stuff until 01:30 accompanied by Thistly Cross Rum/Bourbon cask aged cider for the win!

[rseamer]

Overall I'd say this was the best Victorious so far.

 

The good:

 

Music was generally decent - old stagers like Flaming Lips, Primal Scream and Johnny Marr were great - Basement Jaxx didn't quite do it for me (the set seemed to lack 'hits' and where we stood it was fairly quiet sound wise) and some of the newer bands (Flyte, Jerry Williams and Kassassin Street) all did well. The 'Rhythm of the 90's' band on the Seaside Stage was quite bizarre - the crowd loved them (wildest crowd I saw all weekend) but it just reminded me of how samey and generic a lot of that italian house piano / club / dance / post-house music from the 90's was.

 

The bars were far better than the year before. More of them and much quicker to get served.

 

The layout - somebody else said it feels a bit like an overgrown village fete and Iagree with that, but that's part of the charm of Victorious.

 

A half hour walk from the site to my house !!

 

Despite the huge deluge of rain the week before and rain on Saturday the site held up reasonably well.

 

Better positioning of toilets than last year and less queues.

 

The price - I paid £18 early bird. I'd have paid that just to see one of the headliners. Great value.

 

Generally a good spirited crowd. Quite a few who had clearly never been to a festival before (sandals, mini dress and no coat on a rainy day!), but I didn't see any trouble and my teenage kids enjoyed themselves and felt safe (albeit lots of drunk people)

 

The Not So Good

 

Bar prices: £5 seems to be the standard for many festivals now for a pint and bearing in mind the cheap tickets I guess this is where the organisers are making their money (they run the bars themselves I understand), so I don't begrudge paying a £5 but it would have been nice to have something a bit better than terrible Carling Lager or Cider for pints.

 

The Real Ale Tent: When it was raining got horrendously busy. Maybe next year this could be increased in size, or have 2 tents, one with just a bar and 1 with the bands and bar? They'd sell more if they did.

 

Food - Some good stalls but some pretty poor ones as well. One was charging £7.50 for a sausage in a baguette - not even with any onions! There was a noodle stall that was very low on the quality side of things. 

 

Weird rules on being served: This didn't affect us, but others told me they weren't able to buy more than 1 pint at a time if they were on their own at the bar and that people over 40 were being ID checked. I understand it was to do with stopping underage drinking but not sure if this was the right approach. Some people we talked to were suggesting over 18 wristbands, but this would massively slow getting into the festival and this year the ququeing to get in was (whenI wentin) minimal and flowed very fast - compared with previous years when it was slow - so I'm not sure if wristbands is the solution - maybe just a better set of rules.

 

But overall - a very good event, so pleased to have it on my doorstep, and fantastic value compared with other festivals.

 

Next up in Portsmouth is Dials Festival. £18 for a day ticket - 5 venues, all new music but some great acts playing like Hooton Tennis Club, Kagoule (both recently getting lots of play on BBC 6 Music), Black Honey (one of the most written about bands by UK bloggers last year) and Alice Jemima (recently signed to Rob Da Bank from Bestival's Sunday Best record label)

Edited September 1, 2015 by rseamer

[retromoz]

What WAS the deal with the'one drink only' policy at the bar? AND the checking ID of anyone under 50? My missus (33) was wearing a dress and didnt have any pockets so didnt have any. So, when we went for drinks (because I wasnt allowed to get more than one drink on my own!) and she didnt have any ID, i had to show mine (im 39), show them our wedding rings and exclaim that im not likely gonna marry someone under 18.....ridiculous!

 

It seems churlish to moan at a festival which costs £25....but this was SO odd!!! ALSO....you go into the Watkins & Faux tennis club and buy a nice pint of Birra Moretti for £4 and a double rum & coke for £5.50 (50p less than a single at the other bars). 

 

All in all..........its fucking weird! its WAY too big. The bars were NEVER busy, but that is because they (9 times out of 10) did NOT know what they were doing! A lot of people didnt know what Bacardi Oakheart was, or a double. Or one time the difference between cider & lager!  the crowds watching the bands were, on the whole, VERY lacklustre! And finally, Some sets were RIDICULOUSLY short! Only an hour for Flaming lips? Only 30 minuted for We Are Scientists? You are effing joking!!! The weather on Saturday was miserable too. SO much rain!

OK.....so......positives....Primal Scream were a revelation! Im not a big fan (and wanted to see Seafret who were on at the same time), but manda wanted to see them. They were on quallo form! Blistering! Their all too short set full of belters! One for the 'tude (unless they have played already and i missed them....). Flaming Lips wre as outstanding as ever. Honeyblood were great! As were the Wytches. And We Are Scientists. What else? The arsehole quota was suprisingly VERY short. No other festival can boast an Aquarium, D-Day museum, Castle AND skatepark either (all included in the cheap price). Food was good. Sound was good (if a wee bit quiet at times). Not camping is a bonus.

So.....yeah. I think, because even though there were 10 stages of music, there was a LOT of filler, we will only go if there is someone we REALLY wanna see. But....you know....only £25 innit. If your around the area near when its on, id go. 

Edited September 1, 2015 by retromoz

[seanz25]

A heads up on the bar - from what I was aware it's not run by them but an outside company who do it for festivals and events up and down the country. I know this due to them offering me work and being on their rota etc.. Same group did the America Cup down here. 

Everyone had issues I spoke to about the ID situation. I'm 18 which is understandable but don't get ID'd all the time. But the one person per pint rule was very poor and probably costly.

[rseamer]

A heads up on the bar - from what I was aware it's not run by them but an outside company who do it for festivals and events up and down the country. I know this due to them offering me work and being on their rota etc.. Same group did the America Cup down here. 

Everyone had issues I spoke to about the ID situation. I'm 18 which is understandable but don't get ID'd all the time. But the one person per pint rule was very poor and probably costly.

 

Ah I see.... I know the people behind Victorious also did the America's cup concerts plus run Portsmouth Beer Festival, The Meat & Barrel and The Belle Isle in Portsmouth, and thought they did it in house. I stand corrected.

[Mash011]

Weird, I went up and bought two drinks without any problems.

[mungo57]

Same.

Although on the Sunday we did spend most of our drinking time in the Wetherspoons down the road.

And as they were only searching bags we managed to sneak spirits in which meant we only needed to top up with a few pints.

 

more choice next year would be great and I wouldn't mind paying £5 a pint if it was reasonable quality beer.

 

Also someone mentioned the set times - I agree with that but I like it in a way, makes the bands go all out to please the crowds more. Although some of the crowds (especially for Primals - aside from 1 guy next to me who I was chatting to who was great) were pish! Noone seemed to care!

I assumed they maybe managed to pay less for the bands to play as they were shorter sets and that was the reason behind it. Maybe I am wrong but thats my guess.

[balti-pie]

Thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, I'd only ever been to Portsmouth for the footy and Fratton isn't the most exciting part. We stayed there in the ibis though, which was perfectly acceptable and a good half hour walk away.

We mostly spent our time pub crawling towards the festival site, on saturday due to the rain and on Sunday due to the beer situation! The real ale tent was pretty much disastrous and insultingly expensive, but £5 for a pint of shitty carling with no alternative except carling cider was terrible. It did delay the hangover though, which is all I can say for carling . . .

Lots of very decent pubs in southsea though - kudos to the Leopold, the wine vaults and the wave maiden, all of which were excellent.

As for the music - I primarily came for the Flaming Lips and the Super Furries, and they were both superb. The site held up quite well in the rain, though the distances between stages was a bit much. The crowd didn't seem to have much in the way of festival or even large crowd nous, but in their defence it was refreshingly knobhead-free. I'm only a couple of hours away down the coast so if the lineup next year has anything half decent on it, I'll definitely come again, for £20 a day it's wonderful stuff!

I'll reprise my 'pub crawl to the later stages of the festival' idea though for sure

[dan8k]

Ah I see.... I know the people behind Victorious also did the America's cup concerts plus run Portsmouth Beer Festival, The Meat & Barrel and The Belle Isle in Portsmouth, and thought they did it in house. I stand corrected.

 

They did it last year, this year they learnt from the mistakes and used an outside company.

They also own little johnny russells in albert road.

[luckysalt]

As that Tennis club was mentioned above, heres a thing. 

 

If you bought a drink in there, which they gave you in plastic cups, you weren't allowed to leave that area with the drink, they had security stopping you going back through, you had to stay there and drink it! Quite ridiculous. 

[retromoz]

As that Tennis club was mentioned above, heres a thing. 

 

If you bought a drink in there, which they gave you in plastic cups, you weren't allowed to leave that area with the drink, they had security stopping you going back through, you had to stay there and drink it! Quite ridiculous. 

 

All you had to do is walk in with a pint from the main carling bars in the paper cup, drink that, then buy a pint of lovely moretti, decant it into the paper cup, and then tell security that you walked in with it anyways....