Following on from a damp and wet Saturday, day two of Victorious would go on to be a much dryer affair but one with just as much to offer – headlined by Basement Jaxx on Castle Field and Ray Davies from the Kinks on the Common stage there was still plenty to witness before the end of the festivities.
As I arrived there already seemed to be a lot more people than the day before, maybe the vague sunshine brought the festival goers out earlier, either way for myself first act of the day was to be Man Made – a glittery three piece founded by Niles Marr, who’s dad Johnny (of Morrisey/Smiths) fame watched from out front, Johnny Marr himself featuring on the same stage later in the evening.
It was then a quick dash to check out Texas, who rather surprisingly played to such a huge crowd you would have thought they were one of the weekends main draws, personally I’ve always thought that since the beginning of the new millennium the band had lost their appeal going from a cool rock band I used to love to become radio fodder – Sharleen Spiteri certainly got the crowd going but musically there wasn’t enough to change my mind so it was back to the previous field and the more local New Desert Blues.
Victorious Festival is fully behind supporting up and coming acts and with the New Desert Blues it was apparent as to why, confident without being cocky the band clearly deserve to be on the bigger stage with their indie sounds and harmonies that will appeal to fans of alt-folk such as Fleet Foxes.
Beer o’clock next which conveniently coincided with Revelator playing the real ale tent, bluesy roots music from Portsmouth with funky bass lines and a frontman not afraid to bust out a lengthy guitar solo or two, Revelator showed the diversity in music on offer this weekend and with long queues at the bar it wasn’t just the beer keeping people dancing.
It wasn’t long until the comedy antics of America’s Hayseed Dixie, famous for their banjo led take on rock anthems (allegedly having formed when a driver armed with AC/DC’s back catalogue crashed into the big old oak tree and given the band only had a 78RPM record player, they were soon to discover some of the best damn hillbilly music for generations).
Needless to say hilarity ensued, great showmanship and rawkess covers of the likes of Queen, Survivor and Black Sabbath along with a well-received political rant and Hayseed Dixie’s own romantic composition “I’m Keeping your Poop”.
Meanwhile on this side of the Atlantic there’s always a band locally destined to be the next big thing, the indie outfit Kassassin Street always sell out the smaller venues whilst drawing a huge crowd at outside gigs with their psychedelic and dance tendencies, having seen them plenty of times previously I watched from afar soaking up the atmosphere of the beautiful seaside setting and their stage presence continues to control an almost cult like following that keeps getting bigger.
It’s also really nice at Victorious walking around hearing the acoustic acts drifting between stages, bumping into friends both old and new, as well as happily discovering bands you know nothing about – and it was at this point Elasticated Waste Band from London graced the real ale tent (either a terrible name, or genius one, I’m not quite decided!) part blues and bluegrass, part skiffle and ska Elasticated Waste Band again showing the beer tent wasn’t there just for the alcohol.
Back to the main stage and I have to admit I was really looking forward to the Darkness and it was soon obvious I was not alone, everyone singing along to the hits from the first album and plenty of banter about not playing the Xmas song.
They were however (despite Justin Hawkins sheer determination to be a comedy Freddie Mercury) pretty bad, Hawkins admitted he’d been suffering and as such his vocals weren’t quite hitting those falsetto-like notes as expected, but where he made up for it in determination to entertain, in fact the Darkness didn’t live up to my expectations – it’s a worry when the highlights are the frontman kicking a plectrum in the air and catching it, but failing at kicking the inflatable football.
Saturday saw the Flaming Lips get things all a bit surreal on behalf of the USA and tonight was the turn of Super Furry Animals to represent Wales in a psychedelic trip. Focussing more on their latter output they still had plenty of vocoder on the vocals, bright and colourful video screens, cue cards and a change of outfits to help with their unique stage show.
In comparison to the night before Super Furry Animals may have been a more subtle toned down musical journey but SFA are a band that never fail to disappoint when it comes to a live performance before closing on “The Man Don’t Give a Fuck” and it’s transformation into a dance anthem.
With the festival almost over it was down to Basement Jaxx to end proceedings, the pairing of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe could have easily provided a DJ set or played with just a couple of additional members but with their full live band and entertainers making for a visual spectacle the group put out hit after hit and very much a Basement Jaxx party to end all parties.
The two days had been a fantastic success, the initial down pour on Saturday hadn’t dampened our spirits and as everyone left the festival site on the Sunday it has to be said kudos and respect to all those involved, after all has Victorious 2015 lived up to its name? You better believe it.
Mr Teeth
