‘VARIOUS ARTISTS’ – VICTORIOUS FESTIVAL, SOUTHSEA 22-24.8.25
We are back for Day Two of the UK Live Awards 2024 ‘Major Festival Of The Year Winner’ namely the annual ‘Victorious Festival’ which is taking place at stunning seaside location of Southsea overlooking the Solent, near Portsmouth during the Bank Holiday weekend of 22nd, 23rd and 24th August 2025. If you missed our reviews of yesterday’s acts then visit HERE first and then come back…
The UK’s biggest metropolitan festival is held annually and is billed as “the ultimate family-friendly festival experience”. This is reflected by the expansive selection of varying music artists across many genres plus an incredible collection of other artists and comedians. The Bank Holiday extravaganza event was held across 12 stages on the three days. So without further ado, we get down to business…………
DAY TWO – SATURDAY 23RD AUGUST
This is article two of three and concentrates on the happenings on Day Two. Day One’s account can be found HERE and Day Three’s accounts will follow in due course.
THE PILL – Common Stage (12:11pm – 12:35pm)
The opening band to play the Common Stage on day two of the festival were Isle of Wight punk / garage rock outfit The Pill. They play short, fast-paced songs with satirical lyrics about everyday situations. They are great fun to watch, as I first witnessed when seeing them play at The Albert in Brighton supporting Hinds last year. Lily Hutchings (guitar) and Lottie Massey (bass) share vocals, with Rufus Reader playing drums. They walk onto the stage to cheers with the front duo Lily and Lottie wearing matching white tops and short sky blue sparkly shorts. Lily welcomes the onlookers with “How you doing, Victorious?”. They then go straight into the opening song ‘Scaffolding Man’. Lottie then says “Hello everyone, we’re The Pill” and they play ‘Salt Father’, a song about sugar daddies. Lily then asks “Who here is from the Isle of Wight?” A few in the crowd respond, and then Lily tells us she nearly missed the ferry. Following ‘Problem’ and a song about being sad, Lottie asks those wearing hats to take them off and do a spin. Those in the crowd oblige, and Lily says “It looks like we are in the clear”. They were looking for mullet haircuts as the next song was ‘Money Mullet’. Banter between the two vocalists and the crowd continues, then we hear ‘Woman Driver’ and their first single ‘Bale Of Hay’, before the quick-fire 24-minute set is finished off with ‘POSH’. The front pair then raise their guitars above their heads, do a spin, and switch off their guitar pedals in unison before heading off stage to great applause. Less than six hours later, The Pill were back on stage at the Reading Festival, where they played the BBC Introducing Stage. They play two shows at Concorde 2 in Brighton on Wednesday, 3rd September, supporting The Hives.
(Ian Holman)
APRIL TAPES – Seaside Stage (13:00pm – 13:30pm)
April Tapes are a four piece alt-rock band based in Chesterfield, although they tell us they’re “from Sheffield, Chesterfield, Pontefract and Rotherham”. So North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire then. Lead guitarist Henry Wright has a Telecaster painted like that used by Jimmy Page when he was in The Yardbirds, so he gets extra points for that. They don’t give us any song titles though, so it’s minus points for that! They have a recently released EP called ‘Dead In’t Water’, so I would imagine some of the set comes from that. There’s some good harmonies between vocalist and guitarist Max Stokes and bassist Bethan Evans. The material is really good, with each successive song seeming to be a standout. The band are really tight, and their performance is even more remarkable when we learn that drummer James only had two rehearsals to learn the set after drummer Angus Marnoch dropped out. This is the furthest south James has ever travelled, bless him. April Tapes are an impressive band who are well worth checking out. They play Signature Brew at Haggerston on 18th September.
linktr.ee/apriltapes
(Mark Kelly)
FEET – Castle Stage (13:05pm – 13:35pm)
The second band of the day I saw were FEET at the Castle Stage. They are a five-piece band formed in Coventry and now residing in North London. This was the first time I had seen them perform, and I was impressed. They play music that blends a variety of sounds. It’s got a groove to it, it’s catchy, and at times gritty. They start their set with the 2023 single ‘Changing My Mind Again’. Frontman George Haverson, who plays the tambourine for most of the set and has moves resembling Mick Jagger, says, “Welcome, we are Feet”. They then play the 2022 single ‘Can’t Get In’. The set continues with songs from the band’s second album ‘Make It Up’, with ‘Greasy Boy’ appearing to be a crowd favourite. Before the sixth track, George says, “The next song is about sitting down. You guys are doing it very well at the back”. ‘Sit Down’ is a good, catchy, rockier track, as is a standout track for me. George exchanges his tambourine for a harmonica on the next track, then we hear ‘English Weather’. The last song performed is about the time the band spent staying in one of the guitarist’s grandparents’ chalet in Portsmouth. George then says, “Thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of your festival”.
(Ian Holman)
CIRCUS – Seaside Stage (13:50pm – 14:20pm)
Circus are a four piece indie band from Blackpool. The singer tells us that this is the furthest south that he’s ever been, and that they don’t get let out of Blackpool often! They’re quite powerful with good harmonies. The melodic bass lines are excellent, bringing Paul McCartney and Bruce Foxton to mind. ‘Keep Me In Mind’ is strummed indie reminiscent of Cast. ‘The Long Run’ is very pleasant. Indeed there’s an overall vibe of ‘pleasantness’. I must confess, I would prefer to hear a little more ‘bite’ occasionally. ‘Losing Time’ has a cool bass line. At times the bass seems to be very much a lead instrument. ‘The Routine’ will be their next single, although they’re not sure when it’s coming out. It’s pretty pokey. The drummer is wearing an Interpol “Antics” T-shirt, although I must confess that I can’t hear much in the way of an Interpol influence in their music. I’m very surprised that the fact that there are two guitarists hasn’t been further developed. Occasionally they strum the same part which seems to reveal a lack of imagination. How about some dual lead guitar lads? There’s so much more that they could do. Therefore, despite the fact that they have some very good tunes, I would describe the band as a bit of a work in progress.
linktr.ee/circusuk
(Mark Kelly)
SCOUTING FOR GIRLS – Common Stage (14:20pm – 14:58pm)
I made my way back over to the Common Stage to see Scouting For Girls and managed to find a spot quite near the front, which was a bonus. The band was formed twenty years ago by three childhood friends from London. Today they played as a four-piece with piano playing, lead vocalist Roy Stride centre front of the stage. Playing a set in front of a field jam-packed with people of all ages on a sunny afternoon seems to be the ideal setting for Scouting For Girls. The ‘James Bond’ theme tune flirted out of the speakers as the band walked on stage to loud applause. Once Roy gets to his mic, he says “Hands in the air, Portsmouth” and they started off by playing ‘I Wish I Was James Bond’. This is the first of four songs they performed off their debut self-titled 2007 album during the set. “Are you warmed up? Let’s go,” asks the frontman, then we hear ‘Heartbeat’. Astonished at how big the crowd is, Roy says “Oh my god, there’s a lot of you out there. You are all the 5th member of the band”. They play a reprise of ‘Heartbeat’. There’s crowd participation on the next song, ‘Famous’. Roy then says “This is the most insane crowd we’ve played in front of.” There are plenty of cheers and Roy continues with “We are celebrating 15 years since the release of the second album”. They then perform their popular number one single ‘This Ain’t A Love Song’ with the crowd singing along word for word. The atmosphere is amazing. ‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’ is next with the song ending with the band singing Elvis’ 1962 chart-topper ‘I Can’t Help Falling In Love’. They then play a new song titled ‘Raise A Glass’. Roy announces the band will be touring in 2026 and are coming back to Portsmouth, and they round their set off with ‘She’s So Lovely’. The band then take a bow before leaving the stage.
(Ian Holman)
WONDERLUX – Seaside Stage (15:30pm – 16:00pm)
Wonderlux are an alt-rock four piece with some gothic overtones. The singer has a wonderfully crystalline voice and reminds me of Sandy Denny. The lead guitarist’s vocals are quite shouty by way of contrast. The music is modern rock with hints of Wolf Alice. They’d go down well at the 2000 Trees festival. The lead guitar is pretty awesome. The band have good stage presence and the songs have some interesting tempo changes. Occasionally they edge towards prog, which is a good thing in my opinion. ‘Daffodil’ is about new beginnings. The drum intro is reminiscent of John Bonham, but when the rest of the band come in, the drumming becomes far less powerful. Which is a bit of a shame. They rock out in the middle eight though. They play their next single which may be entitled ‘Watch Out’. Throughout the set the band display a really good sense of dynamics. The singer tells us “If you’re here with a friend, dance with them”. The song they play is indeed, eminently danceable. A proper rock song. It’s called ‘Look Now’. It has to be said that Wonderlux are two or three rungs above everybody else who I’ve seen play so far today. Their performance is really assured and their songs are awesome. They could and should be playing on a larger stage, and significantly higher up the bill. Maybe next year.
linktr.ee/wonderluxband
(Mark Kelly)
MARLEY BLANFORD – Common Stage (16:45pm – 17:15pm)
So I turn up to the Common Stage to review Shed Seven, and there’s this guy onstage playing acoustic guitar. Where the hell are Shed Seven?!!! It transpires that due to the non-appearance of The Last Dinner Party, the running order for the Common Stage has been rescheduled, and Shed Seven have been put back an hour. In the meantime Marley Blandford has been bumped up from one of the lesser stages to play on the main stage. His resultant demeanour is akin to an excitable puppy. He is beyond excited. He is beyond super-excited!!! So, I’d better review him then. Is he any good? Yes and no. His vocals are typical of those of a stage school graduate. He sings in an American accent and would do well on the X Factor, or in pantomime. His songs veer towards the bland, but his guitar playing, it has to be said, is excellent. He then announces that he has been wondering whether it is possible for one man with an acoustic guitar to play ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen. I cringe. This is clearly going to be an abomination. However, it’s absolutely brilliant!!! He absolutely nails it!!! He doesn’t leave any of the song out, let alone dodge the difficult bits. Yep, Marley really is that clever!!! He has redeemed himself, and I tip my hat.
marleyblandfordmusic.bigcartel.com
(Mark Kelly)
SHED SEVEN – Common Stage (17:45pm – 18:45pm)
When Shed Seven take the stage the Common Stage’s problems are not over, as somebody forgets to switch the audience PA on. When it is switched on, it is at ear splitting volume for a few seconds, before being turned down to a more reasonable level. Ow!!! Me tinnitus!!! For a brief moment Shed Seven are louder than The Who and Motorhead in their prime. In case anyone had failed to notice, Shed Seven are no longer a ‘heritage’ band, having had an album of new material that reached number one in the charts last year. Indeed, they start with a song from that very album ‘A Matter Of Time’, the very appropriately titled ‘Let’s Go’. I must confess that it fits in so well with the rest of their material that I thought it was an old song that I couldn’t remember! Despite having been presumably kicking their heels backstage for the last hour, the band are on particularly fine form. We soon get to the oldies with the classic ‘Speakeasy’. Vocalist Rick Witter tells the audience that the band are “from the 90’s”. I think that they already know that Rick. He then proceeds to announce what year each song is from, as if he’s some kind of curator! Thus we’re told that ‘Where Have You Been Tonight’ (which features an ace Paul Banks guitar solo incidentally) is from 1995, whilst ‘Bully Boy’ is from 1996. A brass section appears for ‘Going For Gold’ (from 1996). Rick tells a hilarious story of when they recorded the song for “Richard and Judy”. They had to record it the night before transmission, and the band got rather drunk. As a result Rick Witter came very close to throwing up over Judy Finnegan. He can laugh about it now. They cover ‘Suspicious Minds’, which is something of a surprise. The crowd sing along though, and Rick gives his maracas to kids in the crowd at the end of the song, which is nice. That’s followed by two newer songs from ‘A Matter Of Time’ (‘Talk Of The Town’ and ‘Let’s Go Dancing’) before an even more surprising cover: The Smiths’ ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’. It’s a great song, but one has to ask: why??? It’s not like Shed Seven are short of their own great songs. Indeed, the set ends with four more of them: ‘On Standby’, ‘Disco Down’, ‘Getting Better’ and ‘Chasing Rainbows’. Nowt wrong with them, I can tell you. It turns out that this is the last Shed Seven gig until possibly the end of next year, as they’re going away to write some new songs. No wonder that this gig had a bit of an ‘end of term’ feel about it. They take a bow, but not before inviting their brass section to the front of the stage to join them. They’re right nice lads, Shed Seven.
www.instagram.com/shedsevenofficial
(Mark Kelly)
TRAVIS – Common Stage (19:30pm – 20:30pm)
It must be getting on for a quarter of a century since I last actively listened to Travis, and I’d got it into my head that they’re actually more than a bit dull. Therefore when I realised that due to rescheduling on the Common Stage I was going to have to review them, I was somewhat less than thrilled. However, when they start with ‘Sing’ I remember what I used to like about them: their damn good tunes, not to mention their musicianship. Guitarist Andy Dunlop plays the intro on banjo. That’s not something that you necessarily see every day. For ‘Driftwood’ Andy plays the solo using an e-bow. Vocalist Fran Healey jokes about who’s been sunburnt, and raises his own hand. He explains that Scottish people are generally blue, and so are particularly prone to get sunburnt. Fair enough. For ‘Alive’ he gets us to sing along. No-one can say that he’s not fun. Before ‘Good Feeling’ Fran explains that there are three kinds of songs (although this may be a wildly sweeping generalisation): falling in love songs, falling out of love songs, and ‘f*ck you’ songs. ‘Good Feeling’ is a ‘f*ck you’ song. Well, I didn’t know that! Apparently it’s the first of three ‘f*ck you’ songs in the set. It features Andy Dunlop on keyboards. I bet he can play bagpipes too. And drums. Talking of drums, ‘Side’ has a surprisingly explosive drum ending. ‘Selfish Jean’ is ‘f*ck you’ song no.2, whilst ‘Gaslight’ is ‘f*ck you’ song no.3! For anyone who ever thought of Travis as being inoffensive and safe, think again! For ‘Gaslight’ Fran is singing in the crowd, and at one point is wearing a Madonna cowboy hat! They’ve been practising a cover version backstage for the younger people. It’s ‘Daisies’ by Justin Bieber. I have never heard it before in my entire life. Then again, I am not a younger person. ‘Flowers In The Window’ is quite moving. At one point bassist Dougie Payne strums Fran’s guitar while Andy Dunlop fingers the chords and Fran claps above his head whilst singing. Who said showmanship was dead?!! At the beginning of ‘Why Does It Always Rain On Me?’ Fran’s guitar cuts out. Phil the roadie (the crowd are chanting “Phil! Phil!” incidentally) plugs it into another amp. Apparently it’s customary for the crowd to pogo during this song. That’s something else that I’ve learned today! So, ultimately, are Travis dull? Well, they’re certainly not The Clash, but they very definitely aren’t dull. I think ‘entertaining’ was probably the word that I was looking for.
www.instagram.com/travistheband
(Mark Kelly)
THE GUEST LIST – Under The Trees (19:52pm – 20:19pm)
The Guest List were a band I’ve been looking forward to seeing again, having seen the play at Daltons in Brighton during The Great Escape Festival back in mid-May so I was really pleased to see them on the bill. They are a five-piece indie rock band formed in 2021 by lead vocalist and acoustic guitar player Cai Alty and four friends, Tom Quigley (lead guitar), Leio Hunter (rhythm guitar), Sid Wallace (bass guitar), and Angus Gilchrist (drums). The first song they played from their seven-song set is ‘Loose Tongue’, and from the first few chords and opening lines of the song, you can tell there’s a great resemblance to Merseyside band The Coral. The recording of this tune was unsurprisingly produced by The Coral’s James Skelly. It’s a great song to get the set underway and receives great applause from those watching. The second track they play is an unreleased one called ‘Ruine’, and they then perform the 2022 single ‘Canada’, which sees the first guitar solo from Tom. Next is ‘161’, a very well-written song that Cai wrote when he was just 15. It’s about the brave 161 men from 60 houses in Chapel Street in Altrincham that volunteered for duty when the Great War broke out in 1914. You can read about it HERE. During this song, a bubble machine in the front of the stage was switched on. This brought amusement to Cai and Tom, as the amount of bubbles being blown towards them was a little off-putting. They follow this with the recent single ‘Mary’. This is another well-written song; it’s about domestic violence. The penultimate song is another single from this year, ‘Plasticine Heart’. Cai says, “We’ve got one more song, thanks for coming out to watch us. We will be touring later in the year.” The final tune is the upcoming single ‘Weatherman’, which will be the band’s next single, released on 5th September. They play Komedia Studio in Brighton on 16th November.
(Ian Holman)
MARLEY BLANDFORD – Under The Trees (20:45pm – 21:29pm)
With Cliffords being one of the bands pulling out of the festival for reasons already mentioned, it made me wonder who the organisers would get in at short notice to replace them. Low and behold, having already seen him fill a spot on the Common Stage in front of by far the biggest audience he has ever played in front of, just four hours earlier, up steps local folk favourite Marley Blandford for a second outing of the day, this time on the popular but more compact Under The Trees stage. Marley introduced himself: “Hi, I am a late replacement. My name is Marley, as in Bob, Blandford, as in a really boring motor car. I am here to play you a few songs, I hope you like them”. Marley opened with the same few songs he performed earlier in the day on the big stage. These included ‘Shine On’ from his 2015 debut album of the same name, as well as ‘Miles Apart’ and ‘A Letter To You’ from his 2020 follow-up ‘Ephemeral Adventures’. Marley appeared to be more at home and less nervous in front of the smaller-sized audience. Earlier in the day, the local singer/songwriter played a 30-minute set, and as this time around he was given an extra 15 minutes to fill, he was able to play a few additional songs. These included a cover version of the Guns N’ Roses classic ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’. He also performed another song from his second album called ‘Lift Me Up’ that he claimed had nothing to do with his height. He closed his set as he did earlier in the day with a very good rendition of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Certainly a day Marley will never forget.
marleyblandfordmusic.bigcartel.com
(Ian Holman)
VAMPIRE WEEKEND – Common Stage (21:15pm – 22:55pm)
Tonight is the first time that I’ve seen Vampire Weekend and I’m really looking forward to it. I described the fact that Victorious managed to secure Queens Of The Stone Age as something of a coup, but getting Vampire Weekend to play is even more of a coup as it’s their sole UK show this year. It doesn’t get much more exclusive than that. When the band walk on stage there’s eight of them, all dressed in white. So it’s a much extended line-up in addition to core members Ezra Koenig on vocals and guitar, Chris Baio on bass and Chris Tomson on drums. They open with ‘Mansard Roof’ from their debut album. However, before embarking on the second song, Ezra addresses the weekend’s controversy thus: he tells us that it’s their first time in Portsmouth for seventeen years, then “If somebody has been punished for expressing a political opinion, that’s wrong. If somebody has been punished for displaying a flag, that’s wrong. The suffering of the Palestinian people is awful and they deserve all of our sympathy”. This was obviously something that he had given a lot of thought to, and it was very diplomatically expressed.
Still, back to the music. Vampire Weekend have a troupe of very talented musicians with them in addition to the core band, and as the set progresses they individually come to the fore. During ‘Ice Cream Piano’ a violinist solos. She’s also on backing vocals. ‘Classical’ is a showcase for a sax player who also plays guitar and keyboards. We shall henceforth refer to him as “the multi-instrumentalist”. ‘Classical’ also features a very expressive interpretative dancer, who seemingly appears onstage from nowhere! For ‘Connect’ Ezra relinquishes his guitar. This song shines the spotlight on the keyboard player, who has three banks of the things. This particular song is prog in all but name, and all the better for it. ‘This Life’ has a riff that could almost be played by brass. Vampire Weekend don’t have as large a crowd as I would have expected, but on the plus side the bulk of them are dancing. For ‘Sympathy’ the violinist is wearing a hi-vis jacket. I have no idea why. I’m probably missing something. There’s some great interplay between the sax and violin, followed by an awesome violin solo. This is a much extended version of the song, which is something that I absolutely applaud. The band play the song and take it somewhere else entirely compared to the record. They cover the SBTRKT song ‘New Dorp, New York’, featuring a sax duet between the multi-instrumentalist and Ezra. ‘Bambina’ is described by Ezra as “a slightly grungy 90s version”. It’s grungy alright! Chris Baio’s bass is gloriously distorted!! ‘Diane Young’ is very rock’n’roll. The drumming is awesome!! ‘A-Punk’ unsurprisingly is a highlight, and gets the audience response that it deserves. The violinist shines again during ‘Mary Boone’. For part of the song she accompanies Ezra on her own, and then contributes some very operatic sounding backing vocals.
Apparently it’s a tradition during Vampire Weekend concerts for the band to take non-Vampire Weekend requests from the audience. So tonight, we get short versions of the following: ‘Buddy Holly’ by Weezer, The Beach Boys’ ‘Surfin’ USA’, ‘Our House’ by Crosby, Stills and Nash, ‘Common People’ by Pulp, and ‘Crazy Train’ by Ozzy Osbourne. Verily, these people can play anything!!! There’s time for one more Vampire Weekend song, ‘Walcott’, then the fireworks are lit and it’s time to go home. This has been one of the most remarkable performances that I’ve ever witnessed. In a way the live Vampire Weekend remind me of Steely Dan, whereby the core band have recruited a bunch of absolutely top notch musos to bring their aural vision to life. If only they could have played for longer. What a great gig!!! At least eleven and a half out of ten.
(Mark Kelly)
Tickets for next year’s ‘Victorious’ festival are on sale now and the various options can be viewed HERE.
