The Victorious report - by student Hayden Smith

Year on year, Victorious Festival continues to go from strength to strength - and 2024 was no different.

 A record nearly 80,000 people were in attendance across the whole three days on average - and they saw some simply mesmerising performances.

From the energy of Fatboy Slim, the emotion of Snow Patrol, to the rocking energy of the Courteeners - all completed by an incredible closing set by Biffy Clyro - it really was a weekend that no festival-goers would forget in a hurry.

It has been simply amazing to see what has changed for this festival that started in the most humble of fashions, with the first edition held at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in 2011. This year marked the tenth anniversary of the festival moving to Southsea Common - and it was arguably the best of the lot.

It all started - as it has for the last seven editions - on the Friday afternoon, when we arrived early to check out the COPC performers. One of the main acts there was ‘Coast’ - a band comprised solely of COPC students (namely Josh Lloyd on the guitar, Niall McLean as lead vocalist, Luke Meaden as bassist and Max Piper as the drummer.)

One of the unique things about Victorious is its afternoon headliners so - after scouring past the somewhat pricey food stores - it was straight to the Common Stage to catch Pacific Avenue.

The Aussies (playing in their first festival outside of their homeland) impressed - and their remixed rendition of ABBA’S ‘Dancing Queen’ got everyone in the party spirit from the outset.

British rock-indie band Razorlight were up next - and they delighted the crowds that were in attendance with renditions of some of their most famous songs (including ‘America’ - by far the most successful single from the band.) The performance also showed frontman Johnny Borrell’s angry side - as he launched a foul-mouthed tirade against those who use backing music whilst up on stage, even suggesting to the audience that they should ‘listen carefully’ in future.

After that, it was time to explore some of the stalls - with pizzas and slushies being the food and drink of choice for our group.

The comedy tent was next on the agenda to try and see Russell Howard, though he (perhaps unsurprisingly) drew in a huge audience and thus it was hard to actually see much of his show from the back.

So off we went, back to the Castle Stage specifically for Louis Tomlinson. The Doncaster-born singer has embraced a more rock-and-roll style since One Direction‘s split - and the drums were so deafening here that you could hardly hear him. Despite that, the crowds still adored him - and there were singalongs to hits such as ‘Drag Me Down’ and ‘Back To You.’

Absolutely no phones were in sight during his performance.

Then it was time to explore some more festival amenities, and it suddenly came to our attention that the ‘Big Top Comedy’ tent turned into a live music tent come the evenings - with many acts such as House of Anthems, the Southsea Alternative Choir and Bog Rolling Stones performing there over the weekend.

After catching the close of Idles’ performance, it was time to get as close to the front of the Common Stage for what was going to be an amazing evening.

Unfortunately, to be honest, there was a real lack of hype from the pre-headliners on Friday night, Snow Patrol. Whether it was down to a lack of knowledge of their songs, or whether people were itching to get into the rave mode, it did feel like the Scottish band’s set just dragged on a little. However, for their penultimate song, (Chasing Cars - reported in 2019 to be the most-played song in 21st century UK radio) the crowd really turned it up a notch.

Further into the crowd we went, for what many onlookers described as one of the nights of their lives. Many people would have only got tickets on Friday just to see superstar DJ Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim), and many people travelled for this as well (we met people behind us who had come down from London just for this particular set.) Those journeys were worth it - as the show was absolutely phenomenal. Delivering some of his most famous hits such as ‘Praise You’, ‘Right Here, Right Now’ and ‘Rockafeller Skank’ (as well as an eclectic mix of images on the three screens on stage - including Boris Johnson and an AI version of Albert Einstein), he contributed to an excess burning of calories for those in attendance, who did not stop moving for the full 80 minute set.

That led to some VERY achy legs on Saturday morning - but it was still worthwhile getting down there early, as Tom Walker produced a fantastic set on the Common Stage. The Scottish-born singer performed some of his main hits including ‘Leave A Light On’ and ‘Just You And I’ to a delighted crowd.

Whilst, on the Castle Stage, the secret set unsurprisingly turned out to be from 00’s pop icons ‘Busted’. Despite not being at that particular set, and having spoken to somebody who was, the mood was sensational and it felt like a real feel-good Saturday afternoon singalong.

After a stop for refreshments and seeing what else the festival had to offer (there were markets, stalls, a ferris wheel and even a carousel) it was back to the Common Stage - where CMAT were just finishing their performance. We stayed to watch Holly Humberstone - who has just come off of supporting Taylor Swift at her Wembley shows. The 24-year-old rising star certainly didn’t see Southsea Common as a downgrade from the National Stadium, as she delivered renditions of hit singles ‘Scarlett’ and ‘The Walls are Way Too Thin.’

The energy was then starting to build yet again as some more rising stars performed on the Common Stage. This time it was English indie-rock band ‘The Lathums’ - who performed admirably and most definitely got the crowd moving.

The indie vibe continued as sunset drew ever closer, with the Courteeners putting on a mesmerising show, arguably befitting of headliners; particularly for their well-renowned anthem ‘You’re Not Nineteen Forever’, where flares and people on shoulders swarmed the sky. Below is an action shot of the carnage ensuing around us!

After that, it was time for the main event of the night. Perhaps cynics could have looked at the lineup and thought that Jamie T was not befitting of the headliner spot - and they would’ve had a point, as the Londoner seemed to lose track of the timings during his show - leading to him having to truncate some of his songs. Despite this, the monstrous crowd still enjoyed themselves - singing along in particular to ‘Sheila’ and ‘Zombie.’

To the third and final day then, and to say it delivered would be a humongous understatement. It started at around lunchtime - and, after watching the tail end of Brooke Combes’ set from afar, it was time to get close to the Common Stage in order to watch The Kooks. They most definitely didn’t disappoint - and ‘Naive’ and ‘She Moves in Her Own Way’ were huge crowd favourites, helped by vocalist Luke Pritchard’s continued charm at what was a simply beautiful afternoon on Southsea Common.

A brief break for some food and drink followed, before we returned to the Common Stage for Natasha Bedingfield. Playing in front of a packed crowd (arguably the busiest of all the afternoon shows all weekend) she delighted fans with hit songs ‘These Words' and ‘Unwritten’ - as well as a bit of Taylor Swift and Coldplay karaoke mixed in for good measure.

We headed to the ‘comedy tent’ for the final time on Sunday afternoon to try to get a glimpse of Ronnie Joice but, unsurprisingly, the tent was pretty busy to say the least.

We managed, after an arduous journey, to secure a spot right at the front of the Common Stage (where it feels like we lived the whole weekend!) just in time for James Bay - who wowed crowds with hits such as ‘Let It Go’ (not from Frozen!) and ‘Hold Back the River’. Ironically, the wind was picking up considerably as evening turned into night - with the Hitchin-born singer even proclaiming that his famed hat was about to fall off for the first time in his musical career!

Then came one of the acts that many had been most looking forward to seeing all weekend. Becky Hill is a multi-award-winning artist who has just come off the back of a tour at the start of this year to Australia and New Zealand, and she produced a mesmerising performance that would be remembered by many in attendance. The crowd jumped, screamed and sang their hearts out to hits such as ‘Afterglow’, ‘Crazy What Love Can Do’ and ‘Remember.’ Despite her coming off the back of multiple different small illnesses over the last week, she wowed with energy that not many acts were able to match across the course of the weekend.

So, onto the Sunday night finale then. After a little deliberation as to whether we would see the fabulously named Wet Leg or Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro, it was to be the latter that was chosen. Despite the driving rain and heavy winds, the band produced a performance fitting enough to close off a magical weekend - with their song ‘Many of Horror’ providing the perfect ending to a fabulous festival.

As I mentioned earlier, many onlookers were delighted with what was seen - with one COPC student telling me that: “The festival was a great experience with loads of quality acts over the whole weekend - the crowds were great as well.”