We were not sure what to expect for Victorious Festival’s £30 door price, and for such a low price we’d assumed it would be limited to one of Southsea’s parks. Little did we know, that Southsea would give up most of its seafront and main park to the 10 stages, Kid’s Arena, multiple bars, shops, and a wide range of food stalls. Indeed the festival arena is so large that it encompasses Southsea’s Blue Reef centre and D-Day Museum – free entry to these indoor venues was a god-send for many when the rain arrived on Saturday. It’s also a strange festival feeling to walk from well-tended grass onto roads and paths and from there to the sea front.

The Common Stage is Victorious’ main stage, and after finding a table with an umbrella to protect us from the incessant rain it’s where we spent most of our Saturday – apart from the frequent walks to the festival’s one Real Ale tent. With a line-up that included Laura Mvula; Peter Hook and the Lights; The Magic Numbers; The Fratellis; Primal Scream; and The Flaming Lips, the weather limiting us to one stage did not limit the acts we got to enjoy. The one band we couldn’t just sit and listen to was Primal Scream, so ventured out into the rain to enjoy what was an amazing set, playing of all their classics tracks across their long and illustrious career. We sang, we danced and forgot about the rain, I think we would have paid the ticket price to just see Primal Scream.

We may all have been cold and wet, but the performance of The Flaming Lips their mixture of experimental music, and theatrics was the ideal tonic. What other band gives you inflatable bugmen, and a giant sun man, ticker tape a plenty and a giant balloon reading ‘Fuck Yeah Portsmouth’ in the first two tracks. Later frontman Wayne Coyne was orbing over the crowd, then it was time for santa to appear on stage, more tickertape, you get the picture. Throughout all this chaos the band are tight performing a wide range of tracks from their back catalogue. They leave the stage to ‘A Spoonful Weighs a Ton’ with the word LOVE pulsating, after a minute they are back for the encore ‘Do You Realise’ the most uplifting song about death you will ever hear.

Sunday was a very different day, no more rain coats, the sun was out and the shades were on. We arrived on the Sunday ready to explore everything Victorious had to offer. Nothing better to start your day than a spot of Sunday morning market shopping so we headed for the Boutique Gardens and Market Way. Showcasing some amazing local businesses including new and vintage clothes, craft and the ever popular Pie & Vinyl.

Photo: Andre Merel

Local stars Kassassin Street played two gigs on the Sunday. Their first gig was early on the Castle Stage and was relatively mellow, probably because it was too early for the hung-over crowd to appreciate their "get up and dance" attitude. However, early evening on the same day, they were on the Seaside stage and at this time of day, the audience were up for bouncing in the mud to the band's blend of excitable guitars and dance-music derived rhythms.

Next on our packed Sunday musical enjoyment was Texas on the Common Stage. Sharleen Spiteri has lost none of her charm and chatted to the crowd between performing many of their classic songs to a singing crowd.

Photo: Andre Merel

Festivals are all about seeing and discovering new music. On paper we would have said Hayseed Dixie wouldn’t be on the top of our must see list, a hillbilly tribute to AC/DC! We were so wrong, they were the stand out band of the entire weekend. Playing rock classics in their hillbilly style we didn’t think they could top their rendition of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ until they pulled Edwin Starrs’ ‘War’ out of the bag, a true special festival moment. With their good humour and banter on stage they are to hillbilly music what the Cuban Brothers are to Latino funk.

Photo: Andre Merel

Not being huge fans of Rock music The Darkness weren't high on our list of bands to see but having a secret love for ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ I hung around. Love them or hate them there is no denying the stage presence of Justin Hawkins. He owned the stage and the audience loved him. Striping down to a pair of fetching tennis shorts (I'm sure on a Darkness gig it would be just he his pants!) he ran across the stage, stage diving into the audience, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. I was with them by the time I Believe in a Thing Called Love, joining in with the crowd singing my heart out! I may not be a convert but can appreciate the electricity produced at a good rock set.

Photo: Andre Merel

Johnny Marr is always a joy to see at any festival, giving the crowd what they want, a mix of solo material, Smith's Classics and a few from bands that many wouldn't know he was a part of. His charm and charisma on stage is captivating and his renditions of Smith's classics lose none of their power not being sung by Morrissey and to my untrained ear sound equal to the original.

Basement Jaxx were a big reason for wanting to attend Victorious Festival, they were our festival highlight of last year at Camp Bestival. It was with great excitement that we stood with an ever growing crowd waiting for a great end to the weekend. Sadly for us it just didn't happen. Where the sound had been perfect (bar a few technical issues) for Johnny Marr on the same stage, it was terrible for Basement Jaxx, the sound level dropping so low you could barely make out the vocals. After the first few songs feeling very flat we gave up. We assumed there was some kind of sound restriction put on the stage after 10pm but leaving the site via the Common Stage, where Ray Davies was headlining, this didn't appear to be the case. At a distance we could hear the fantastic ‘Lola’ being blasted out in its full glory.

But the end to Sunday by no means spoilt what was a truly fantastic weekend. With such great bands, varied music and activities, Victorious Festival has to be the best value festival of the year!!

Early bird ticketsare on sale now £20 for adults and £7 for 5-15 and £1 for under 5’s, subject to booking fees.

Review: Charlie Greenwood some photos courtesy of Victorious Festival.