Having had the opportunity a couple of days earlier to take a walk around the festival site it became obvious just how much of our seafront was going to be closed off in honour of Dizzee Rascal, Seasick Steve and other big names, as well as heavily celebrating the vast local music scene.
This was always going to be a pretty special event for the city of Portsmouth, after all it’s not every day we get a festival of this size within walking distance – which not only provided a weekend of great music but also included entry to local attractions such as Henry 8th Southsea Castle, the D-Day museum and Blue Reef Aquarium, all for the bargain price of £20 a day (or £15 for early bird tickets).
It was of course mainly about the music for the likes of myself and with local stoner rock band Tricorn being first up on the Seaside Stage many of the early festival goers were watching acts elsewhere, but this didn’t stop Tricorn getting things off to a great start providing strong vocals and quality guitar solos whilst making it feel like an intermit gig, despite the surroundings dwarfing the audience.
The diversity of music on offer meant the stoner rock was followed by catching the Majestic on the main stage, summer reggae sounds giving the morning crowd a good ole festival vibe and although I only managed to catch the last couple of tracks they were definitely a band I’d happily see again in a club gig.
Next in the main arena was singer song-writer Max Stone but even backed by a full band rather than appearing solo at the acoustic stage it was all a bit beige and inoffensive, which along with various guitar changes and such like it felt like he didn’t really get going, but you can’t win them all and at least we didn’t have to wait too long for something a bit more lively…
The Racketeers however with ten years’ experience on the local scene meant vocalist Mark Ballard got Castle Field to its’ feet, as when you hear those ska beats and the horn section kicks in it becomes almost impossible not to start skanking and when the Racketeers were on stage today was no exception.
Some refreshments were then in order and back to the Real Ale Stage, which had not only brought a vast array of ales to sample, but also saw the Fugitive Orchestra providing something a little different, although more on this in Sunday’s write up and so it was off to see Johnny Borrell & Zazou over on the Seaside Stage with a pint in our hand.
I had expected the Razorlight frontman to sound like a watered down version of his main band so was intrigued when it turned out to be more complex and worldly influenced, Zazou having funky jazz sounds and Carlos Santana style percussion.
One of the smaller settings of the festival was the Beats and Swings tent but for anyone who thinks a DJ is someone who just puts on records then you need to listen to Tom Mayhem. During the hour set Tom was able to mash up samples from KRS One and Rage Against the Machine amongst old school jive and swing through a seamless transition of electro dance beats.
Upon returning for another beer Josh Flowers and the Wild were ripping it up in the Real Ale Tent and the crowd were enjoying their bluesy rock n roll, Josh himself has a voice that’s the perfect balance of a gravelly old blues artist combined with more subtle vocals on some of the folkier numbers whilst musically the addition of a cellist gave added depth.
It was now time then for possibly the most hyped band of the weekend, I think everyone I knew had said that Public Service Broadcasting would be worth checking out and they weren’t wrong. Mixing old public service announcements against synthesizers and guitar hooks, PSB often sound like an updated version of Kraftwerk but through “Signals” start to go into a more rock frenzy and although some of the visual images were slightly lost on the big stage they definitely lived up to expectations.
From a band breaking through to new audiences to one who have been tried and tested on the main stage, it’s been six years since Razorlight released any new material with frontman Johnny Borrell focusing on his aforementioned solo project.
Having already played earlier in the day Borrell still had the energy and commitment to his main band although it was of course going to be the singles from yester-year that were going to get the crowd going, “Somewhere Else” and “Stumble and Fall” along with “Golden Touch” all made the top ten in the UK so any other tunes sometimes lost the audience a bit, whilst “Rock n Roll Lies” reminded us that Razorlights debut album was nothing short of a classic from its era.
With a brief trip to find some food from the many outlets on offer it was then the headlining act of the Saturday night and Dizzee Rascal, sure the day had sold out in advance not only because of Dizzee Rascal but because of the variety on offer, along with some other more commercial acts such as Sophie Ellis Baxtor and Lucy Spraggan, but this just meant there was something for everyone and if there’s someone that’s going to get the festival bouncing then bring on Mr Rascal.
You could probably hear “Fix up Look Sharp” all across the city as Dizzee Rascal didn’t waste any time running backwards and forwards across the stage, swapping sides with his second MC as not only does Dizzee have huge stage presence but he genuinely looks to be enjoying himself and chuffed to be performing every word.
It was great to see so many faces partying on our beloved seafront to other hits such as “Bonkers” and “Dance wiv me” as Dizzee Rascal successfully brought the first day of a festival to a close, DJ’s followed to help disperse the crowd gradually rather than everyone descending into the city on mass and I have to say Victorious Festival had done us proud…
…but that’s not all folks, this was of course a two day festival, so it was off to bed to get ready for another day full of music that would be headlined by the truly wonderful Seasick Steve.
