‘VARIOUS ARTISTS’ – VICTORIOUS FESTIVAL, SOUTHSEA 27.8.23
This is our review of Day Three of Victorious Festival, the Sunday. If you missed our coverage of Day One (Friday) it can be located HERE and Day Two (Saturday) can be found HERE.
Day Three – Sunday 27th August:
BANN’D
CASEMATES STAGE 1:00pm – 1:30pm
Sunday commences with Bann’d at the Casemates stage. Bann’d are a five piece from Southsea consisting of three guitarists, bass and drums, and are a little reminiscent of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, certainly on opening song ‘Fathers’ anyway.
The next song ‘Take It All Back’ has a rap feel, kind of like an English version of NWA, but with a guitar army. All three guitarists play the closing solo of the third song, which I guess makes it a trio rather than a solo.
There are some great riffs on display here, none of which remind me of other songs, which is both quite unusual and very good. ‘Red Haired Queen’ is dedicated to the singer’s partner and has a very funky bass line.
All three guitarists share lead duties throughout the set, which provides a nice variety in style. This band are well worth checking out. They play The Gaiety in Southsea on 14th September.
www.facebook.com/Banndsouthsea
THE BLINDERS
CASTLE STAGE 2:05pm – 2:35pm
I next toddle over to the Castle stage for The Blinders. I haven’t seen them for a couple of years so I thought that it was about time that I checked out what they’re up to. They open up with ‘Et Tu’, which is an absolute banger. They’re absolutely rocking live, but I found their debut album ‘Columbia’ a little disappointing. Having said that, most of today’s set comes from that album, and it sounds absolutely great live, so maybe some of the spark was lost in the recording process.
There are only a couple of songs from follow-up album ‘Fantasies Of A Stay At Home Psychopath’ though. They do seem to have matured massively as a live act since I last saw them. This may be a result of line-up changes that occurred a couple of years ago. Previously a three piece, the band have since added a second guitarist and a keyboard player.
At one point vocalist Thomas Haywood’s guitar strap breaks and a roadie comes on with some gaffa tape and fixes it. Thomas continues singing and playing throughout this operation, and gets the biggest cheer of the set! During closing song ‘Mule Track’ keyboardist Johnny James plays a superb Hammond sounding solo. At the end of the song Charlie McGough, Thomas Haywood and Eoghan Clifford leave their instruments leaning against their amps for maximum feedback effect, but as they walk off one of the crew walks across the stage switching off their amps. Spoilsport!!!
The Blinders setlist:
1. ‘Et Tu’
2. ‘Waterfalls’
3. ‘Ritual Of The Crocodile Men’
4. ‘L’etat C’est Moi’
5. ‘Brave New World’
6. ‘Forty Days And Forty Nights’
7. ‘I Can’t Breathe Blues’
8. ‘Mule Track’
CRAWLERS
CASTLE STAGE 3:05pm – 3:35pm
Next up on the Castle stage are Crawlers, a rock band from Liverpool who became TikTok sensations a couple of years ago when their song ‘Come Over (Again)’ went viral. They’re heavy rock rather than metal with some pop hooks thrown in. Bassist Liv Kettle is immediately very impressive. However, guitarist Amy Woodall only seems to play occasional lead. Also she is too low in the mix. There is a photographer onstage too, which seems to be a bit of a distraction. They seem to have a lot of young fans, clearly a demonstration of the power of social media!
‘Messiah’ features a bass solo from Liv Kettle. Vocalist Holly Minto introduces ‘I Can’t Drive’ as “I Can’t F*cking Drive”, and dedicates it to everyone in the audience who has a provisional license. Amy Woodall plays more lead on this, and very good it is too! Inevitably ‘Come Over (Again)’ appears towards the end of the set. It receives a pretty rapturous welcome. Holly starts it off on acoustic guitar, and gets the crowd to scream. Amy Woodall lets rip more on the closing song ‘I Don’t Want It’. It really is something that she should do more often.
Whilst Crawlers have definitely been given a leg up by social media, they have the chops and material to run with that opportunity. I’m sure we’ll be seeing and hearing a lot more of them.
Crawlers setlist:
1. ‘Too Soon’
2. ‘F*ck Me (I Didn’t Know How To Say)’
3. ‘That Time Of Year Always’
4. ‘Messiah’
5. ‘I Can’t Drive’
6. ‘Come Over (Again)’
7. ‘I Don’t Want It’
www.instagram.com/crawlersband
DLUGOKECKI
PORTSMOUTH CREATES STAGE 4:00pm – 4:30pm
I head to the Portsmouth Creates stage next for Dlugokecki. They are a local band led by Ben Dlugokecki. Despite their ‘local band’ status, they have a quite impressive track record, having released six albums, supported the likes of Snow Patrol and The Proclaimers, and have even played the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.
The Portsmouth Creates stage is probably considerably smaller than some of the stages that they have played. It has the atmosphere of a nice village fete. Many of the people here seem to know each other and there are children dancing in front of the stage.
The music suits this atmosphere to a degree. Much of it has a ‘down home’ feel. ‘Ten Times’ is country rock, whilst ‘Set In Stone’ was apparently used in Hollyoaks! Lottie Cuthbert’s violin adds to the Americana feel of the material, rather than ushering in the folk ambience that I was expecting. ‘Howitzer’ is about the power of love (we know a song about that…) and has a fabulously elastic bass line. ‘We Go Together’ is about Ben’s kids, and sounds a bit like something that Nick Lowe would have written in the mid to late seventies. That’s a compliment incidentally.
‘Saved My Soul’ was in an advert on Channel 4, and features a guitar solo that sounds like a violin! ‘Too Many Borders’ is in 6/8, but is probably the most rocking song in their set. I must confess that all in all I’m pretty impressed. Dlugokecki have pulled off the trick of having a fairly varied repertoire without losing their musical identity.
SEA GIRLS
COMMON STAGE 4:45pm – 5:30pm
I leave the village fete behind and head back to the Common stage for some more rock ‘n’ roll. This comes in the shape of Sea Girls, who are purveyors of fast punchy indie, with something of an eighties feel to it. They may not like me for saying this, but ‘Hometown’ in particular has a hefty flavour of eighties U2. Having said that, the middle eight rocks harder than that particular band would. They unveil a new song: ‘Weekends & Workdays’ which has a hint of The Strokes. It’s catchy and memorable.
‘Sick’ has a funky edge, again with an eighties feel. Vocalist Henry Camamile says that he’s “sick of The Beatles”. Man, that’s unforgivable. When he’s come anywhere near to doing anything that matches their calibre, then he can express that kind of sentiment. He ain’t there yet though. Henry says that he wants a mosh pit.
I think Sea Girls’ music is a little too polite for that. ‘Call Me Out’ was their first single, and is the last song in today’s set, and is by far the best thing that they’ve played today. It still has a freshness that nothing else in the set has equalled. It has a great guitar solo too. On today’s evidence, Sea Girls seem to have found themselves in something of a musical rut, and they need to extricate themselves from it pronto. Let’s hope they can.
Sea Girls setlist:
1. ‘Damage Done’
2. ‘Ready For More’
3. ‘Hometown’
4. ‘Too Much Fun’
5. ‘Weekends & Workdays’
6. ‘Closer’
7. ‘Sick’
8. ‘Do You Really Wanna Know?’
9. ‘Falling Apart’
10. ‘All I Want To Hear You Say’
11. ‘Call Me Out’
BODY CRISIS
CASEMATES STAGE 6:00pm – 6:30pm
I next head back to the Casemates stage for Body Crisis, who are a two piece from Portsmouth. They comprise a drummer and a guitarist/singer who greets us with: “good afternoon Body Crisis! We are Victorious!!!” Okay, so we’ve got a comedian….. The drummer also handles some lead vocals.
They’re pretty metallic sounding, in a similar way to the band John. They have a song about climate change, the gist of which is that it’s too late to actually do anything about it, and we’re all doomed. Well that’s fair enough. I didn’t come here to be cheered up!!! They have a new EP called ‘EP1’, so called because they “couldn’t be f*cked to name it”. It’s an easily memorable name I suppose.
‘Bad Drugs’ is about the perils of taking drugs, and the title is the extent of the lyrics. It makes the point though, and has a coruscating guitar ending.
Final song ‘Bumper Philosophy’ they describe as “pure f*cking nihilism”. Body Crisis are not subtle. However, they’re excellent musicians, and their songs will make you think. They play the Amersham Arms in New Cross, London, on 7th October.
SAD BOYS CLUB
ACOUSTIC STAGE 6:45pm – 7:15pm
Next I’m off to the Acoustic stage for some indie from Sad Boys Club. The name of the acoustic stage seems to be something of a misnomer, as I’ve only noticed one or two acoustic performers there in passing, the rest have all very much been amped up bands.
However…. Sad Boys Club are a four piece from London. As the name suggests their songs are quite emotional, and the vocalist seems particularly emotionally invested in them.
The band are enthusiastic, energetic, tuneful and fresh. They’re a bit like Sea Girls were when they first started out, and far better than that particular band were today.
Sad Boys Club setlist:
1. ‘Delicious’
2. ‘To Heal Without A Scar (Is A Waste Of A Good Wound)’
3. ‘American Spirit’
4.’ 2 Bites’
5. ‘Chic Chic’
6. ‘Kukachu’
7. ‘Know’
THE VACCINES
CASTLE STAGE 8:20pm – 9:10pm
I head over to the Castle stage for tonight’s penultimate band, The Vaccines. When The Vaccines first appeared in 2010 they seemed to herald a new age of British guitar music. They released two excellent albums: debut ‘What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?’ (2011), and ‘Come Of Age’ (2012), but then seemed to comparatively disappear from view. Of course, they didn’t disappear at all. It was simply a case of them falling from fickle favour.
Since then they’ve released a further three albums, and they apparently have their sixth album ready for release. Also in the past few years Pete Robinson and Freddie Cowan have left the band, leaving vocalist Justin Young and bassist Arni Arnason as the remaining original members.
What is very clear is that The Vaccines are very well remembered, and they have an absolutely massive crowd. I had assumed that the bulk of them were here for Johnny Marr, who was following The Vaccines, but that proves not to be the case. The crowd know all the songs from the first two albums, and sing along to those. They’re not too familiar with the newer songs though. The band play a brand new song called ‘Heartbreak Kid’. This sounds like a Vaccines classic. Justin plays a white acoustic guitar which makes him look like Elvis from a distance. The good news from tonight is that The Vaccines are still a brilliant live band, and the new song played augurs well for the future too.
The Vaccines setlist:
1. ‘I Can’t Quit’
2. ‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)’
3. ‘Post Break-Up Sex’
4. ‘Wetsuit’
5. ‘Your Love Is My Favourite Band’
6. ‘Headphones Baby’
7. ‘All My Friends Are Falling in Love’
8. ‘Jump Off The Top’
9. ‘Heartbreak Kid’
10. ‘Handsome’
11. ‘Teenage Icon’
12. ‘I Always Knew’
13. ‘If You Wanna’
14. ‘All In White’
JOHNNY MARR
CASTLE STAGE 9:55pm – 10:55pm
Around half of the audience depart to see Mumford and Sons. Not me though. I’m staying put to see Johnny Marr. Who would have even suspected that The Vaccines would have a bigger crowd than Johnny Marr??? It’s all a question of personal taste I suppose. I would rather experience an hour of Johnny Marr classics (he’s still making them) than an hour-and-a-half of Mumford and Sons. Although I must confess, I did go to have a quick squint at them.
Johnny Marr may pepper his set with Smiths songs, ‘Panic’ opening tonight’s proceedings followed by ‘This Charming Man’ two songs later. He’s not defined by The Smiths though. He has enough of his own material that can stand shoulder to shoulder on an equal footing with Smiths songs. Marr’s band reflect his general approach to music: he doesn’t stand still. Never has. ‘Spirit, Power And Soul’ is a prime example of this. On this the drummer is playing electronic drums, whilst one of the guitarists is on synth.
Another key thing here is that although Johnny Marr is clearly the leader of his band, it is very much a band, rather than Marr and a bunch of guns for hire. There’s a very apparent esprit de corps here. When he announces ‘Hi Hello’ from ‘Call The Comet’, he says it’s from “our” album rather than “my” album. Marr also remains ineffably cool. At one point he saunters along the stage looking much cooler than any man approaching his sixtieth birthday has a right to look. But then, he’s Johnny Marr isn’t he? The set closes with Electronic’s ‘Getting Away With It’. The band walk offstage. Music starts up over the P.A, and then stops again. The crowd have been roaring for an encore. We’re just short of curfew, so there’s time for one more song. The band come back on for The Smiths’ ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’, and thus endeth Victorious Festival 2023. Roll on next year!!!
Johnny Marr setlist:
1. ‘Panic’
2. ‘Armatopia’
3. ‘This Charming Man’
4. ‘Spirit, Power and Soul’
5. ‘Somewhere’
6. ‘Walk Into The Sea’
7. ‘Hi Hello’
8. ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’
9. ‘How Soon Is Now’
10. ‘Easy Money’
11. ‘Getting Away With It’
(encore)
12. ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’
Tickets are already on sale for next year’s Victorious Festival. If you are interested then head on over to www.victoriousfestival.co.uk.
BONUS PHOTOS OF OTHERS THAT WERE PERFORMING TODAY:
