Review: Victorious, Saturday – Pixies, Sugababes, Crystal Tides, Lightning Seeds and more

By Sally Churchward. Additional reporting by Spring Wise and Lewis Maclean. Images: Victorious Festival/Strong Island.

It would be impossible to talk about day two of Victorious and not take a moment to shake your head ruefully at the weather. Unlike the crowd at the front of the Common stage – who spent much of the day throwing inflatables around – it was not playing ball.

We’re not talking a little light rain – there were several heavy showers of the kind that soak you before you’ve had the chance to get your coat out your bag and on your back again.

Those who had invested in a premium upgrade ticket could be thankful for the shelter of  the viewing platform, offering an excellent view of the main stage while not getting soaked to the bone.

Not to really bang on about the weather but after some more drenchings, it did dry up and bands on later could be enjoyed in glorious sunshine.

One of those who found themselves playing to a reduced and soggy crowd was Saturday afternoon’s special guest, Tom Walker.

He gratefully thanked the crowd for coming to watch him rather than staying dry in their tents. The audience was rewarded for their efforts with a winning set including the song he’s most frequently asked for by couples, Just You and I, which was enough to warm the cockles of everyone’s chilly damp hearts.

As the set continued the crowd swelled, and as it jumped up and down to Castles the sun decided to join in too.

Over on the Castle Stage early commers were treated to a set from secret-not-so-secret act Busted, following on from McFly’s date in the same slot last year.

Victorious does much to promote the local community, with an area dedicated to food outlets from the area, tie in work with local charities and with a a stage for local musicians.

Portsmouth band Crystal Tides was one of those acts to play a small stage at the festival a few years ago but on Saturday they were up on the Common Stage and very happy to be there. Frontman Billy Gregory was sporting a vintage Pompey shirt for the occasion as the band played their catalogue of upbeat guitar pop with the crowd singing along to the likes of Just Friends and Give it All. Billy shared his ambition to be the first local band to headline the main stage. Judging by the audience, it’s a reasonable goal. In the meantime, they have their biggest gig to date coming up next year, headlining Portsmouth Guildhall.

90s indie pop rockers Echobelly made a welcome appearance on the Castle Stage in the early afternoon. They had the audience clapping and singing along like a school reunion to classics Car Fiction and King of the Kerb. Then just as masterfully charged the atmosphere with a quiet awe when they finished with Dark Therapy.

Over at the comedy tent, the crowds were gathered well beyond the point of having any hope of seeing the stage, in anticipation of the day’s headliner, Frankie Boyle. His routine landed unevenly with the crowd, with some jokes justifying the huge audience and others falling flat. Being edgy is one thing but maybe endless rape jokes just aren’t funny.

Meanwhile there was more wholesome joy to be shared in over at the Common Stage, where CMAT (Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson) was bring her updated take on country and western to a buoyant crowd, who obliged her by joining in a two-step like a line-dancing Guinness record attempt, as she sung I Wanna Be A Cowboy Baby, before getting excited about spotting a murmuration, hugging audience members and generally spreading some festival joy.

It’s easy to graduate towards the two main stages but there are always gems to be discovered on the smaller platforms.

There was a great opening set from Milly Thimaras at The People’s Stage, who warmed up a crowd coming in from the cold.

A surprise highlight of the day was garage punk band Rats! Rats! Rats! on the Introducing Stage. An energetic two piece (like an excitable bikini?) with drums, guitar and vocals, and droll patter with a bit of a surreal charm. Definitely worth seeing.

Its  was a shame that two of the most energetic bands were billed at the same time. Reviewer Lewis adds “I had to tear myself away halfway through a mesmerising set from Southampton’s Welly at the Introducing Stage to catch the end of Molotov Jukebox’s equally captivating set at the Seaside Stage. These two bands could not be any more musically different but clearly share a passion for live performance.”

Whilst we’re thinking about enjoying the festival experience as a whole, it’s worth taking note of how it measures up in terms of accessibility.

Spring says: “Accessibility was very very good from my experience. The site is naturally pretty decent for mobility aid users because of the roads, but in addition, the process for coming into the festival and getting all the lanyards etc was really smooth. The staff were helpful, and a lot of the people stewarding the accessible platform at the Castle Stage were themselves disabled which I’m sure was a factor in it working so well.

Victorious is an eclectic festival and it’s clear not everyone is there for those top of the bill. Lightning Seeds stepped out into late afternoon sunshine at the Castle Stage to an audience easily as big as a headliner could hope for.

They played a crowd-pleasing greatest hits set, with frontman Ian Brody’s voice sounding as perfect on Pure as it did when their first single came out.

Looking across the vast crowd he said ‘this is great, isn’t it?’. It wasn’t clear if he was referring to the huge happy audience,  sharing the much-loved songs, or the sunshine – it would have been true of all all of them anyway.

The set ended in one of those perfect festival moments with the whole crowd singing along to the rousing Three Lions.

Over on the Castle Stage, Courteeners were second from the top of the bill, where the Manchester band belted out a loud guitar-driven set.

But the big crowd was off at the Castle Stage, partying with Sugababes, where the bands original line-up were pitch-perfect as they performed such absolute belters as Round, Round, their first single Overload, and Push the Button, which had the whole crowd gyrating.

Keisha, Mutya and Siobhan have been in the band – on and off – since they were 13 and their friendship and mutual respect shone through.

Jamie T headlining the Common Stage, pulled in a decent crowd but the evening’s big draw was over on the Castle Stage where the Pixies were the closing act, with their new line up, featuring Southampton artist and musician Emma Richardson.