{"id":1192578,"date":"2026-09-08T04:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T04:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1192578\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T04:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T04:06:21","slug":"victorious-festival-why-its-worth-the-trip-from-london-to-portsmouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1192578\/","title":{"rendered":"Victorious Festival: Why it’s worth the trip from London to Portsmouth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n In 2025, we were lucky enough to get sunshine across all three days. This year was a very different story, with torrential showers hitting Southsea Common<\/a> throughout Saturday and Sunday.\n<\/p>\n

\n We didn’t let it affect us too much, though. We were there to have fun, and that’s exactly what we did. And from London it is quite a short trip!\n<\/p>\n

\n The iconic ‘Victorious’ sign (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Kent deer park featured in Wuthering Heights to host new autumn Gruffalo trail<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Friday was easily the best day weather-wise, although there was so much dust flying around at points that I spent a good amount of time trying to get it out of my eyes.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Vaccines were one of my highlights of the day. I’ve seen them before but was still really excited to catch their set and they were brilliant.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Vaccines Set (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n Then came Richard Ashcroft, who headlined the Common Stage.\n<\/p>\n

\n Seeing Bittersweet Symphony live was probably my favourite moment of the entire weekend.\n<\/p>\n

\n Richard Ashcroft (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n There was something really special about standing in a huge crowd and hearing thousands of people singing along to such an iconic song.\n<\/p>\n

\n Friday also had performances from Scissor Sisters, Jessie J and Rudimental, so there was plenty happening across the site.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Scissor Sisters set (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n The drinks were expensive, as you’d expect at a festival, but I was very impressed to see Jubel being sold. It’s one of my favourite drinks, so I was more than happy to spend some of my money on that.\n<\/p>\n

\n There were some seriously heavy showers on Saturday, but we carried on moving between stages, dancing and trying to stay as dry as possible.\n<\/p>\n

\n Watching Kate Nash (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n I was particularly excited to see Kate Nash, although her set wasn’t quite what I expected. Hearing Foundations live was still a highlight, though, and it was great seeing such a well-known song performed in front of a big festival crowd.\n<\/p>\n

\n Nile Rodgers & CHIC were one of the standout acts of the whole weekend for me.\n<\/p>\n

\n Kate Nash’s set (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n Everyone around us was dancing, and they had so many huge songs that it was basically impossible not to join in.\n<\/p>\n

\n The set was packed with disco and funk classics from Nile Rodgers’ career and created one of the best atmospheres of the weekend.\n<\/p>\n

\n I also saw The Black Keys, and they surprised me with just how many songs I knew.\n<\/p>\n

\n The VIP stage watching area (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n I went into their set expecting to recognise a few tracks, but ended up singing along to far more than I realised I would. Lonely Boy was a big moment, but there were plenty of others I knew too.\n<\/p>\n

\n Saturday’s line-up also included Faithless, Bastille, Primal Scream, Kelis, Hard-Fi and Dizzee Rascal, so there was plenty of choice throughout the day.\n<\/p>\n

\n Away from the music, Victorious also had a huge amount going on for families.\n<\/p>\n

\n The children’s area (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n The festival’s Kids Area featured appearances from Fireman Sam on Friday, Bluey on Saturday and Supertato on Sunday, alongside rides, the Blaster Battle Zone and British Empire Wrestling.\n<\/p>\n

\n It’s easy to see why Victorious has become such a popular family festival. There is plenty to keep children entertained while parents can enjoy the music and everything else the site has to offer.\n<\/p>\n

\n Another new addition for 2026 was Little Johnny Russell’s, an on-site recreation of the legendary Portsmouth pub where Victorious began.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Castle Stage (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n It was packed throughout the weekend and had live performances and entertainment, bringing a bit of Portsmouth’s own character into the festival.\n<\/p>\n

\n By Sunday, we’d pretty much accepted that we were going to get wet.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Streets were one of my biggest highlights of the day. The crowd was absolutely mental and the atmosphere was incredible.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mike Skinner performed A Grand Don’t Come for Free in full before heading into the crowd for the final three songs, which sent everyone around us wild.\n<\/p>\n

\n It felt like one massive party.\n<\/p>\n

\n Richard Ashcroft performing (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n For our final set, we opted for Basement Jaxx. I’d seen Kasabian before, so we fancied doing something different and wanted to finish the weekend with a proper boogie.\n<\/p>\n

\n They were a great way to end three days of music.\n<\/p>\n

\n Basement Jaxx (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n Overall, Victorious was pretty much what I expected it to be. There were huge artists, plenty of food and drink, rides, family entertainment and a really good atmosphere throughout the weekend.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Southsea setting is also hard to beat. Watching live music with the seafront and Solent around you gives the festival something a little different from many others.\n<\/p>\n

\n The weather was definitely the biggest downside this year. I would have happily taken the sunshine we had in 2025, particularly by the time Sunday came around.\n<\/p>\n

\n Victorious Fest 2026 (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n But being there with friends made it easy to forget about the rain.\n<\/p>\n

\n By Sunday night I was exhausted, my feet were hurting and I was very ready for a shower, but I still didn’t really want the weekend to end.\n<\/p>\n

\n Victorious 2026 was wet, muddy and a little chaotic at times, but it was also three days of brilliant music and good times with friends.\n<\/p>\n

\n I’ll definitely be back next year…with a better raincoat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2025, we were lucky enough to get sunshine across all three days. This year was a very…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1192579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":["post-1192578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-london","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117233450100267940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1192578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1192579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1192578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1192578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1192578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}