Our final festival of the year was Victorious Festival. Situated on Southsea common in Portsmouth, Victorious is still in it's infancy, but is growing year on year. Last year we had an amazing time and couldn't wait to head back and see what was happening. This year, with a lineup including Olly Murs, Elbow and Stereophonics, we couldn't wait to get stuck in and see how much fun we could have!
We have to be honest, Victorious is by far our favourite festival of the bunch. It's in part the location mixed with the amount available on offer for your money. We love that you can sit on a hill, overlooking the sea whilst listening to fantastic music. We've never been to a festival like it.
On Saturday we headed down at 11:30ish, most of the bands we wanted to see were just after lunch time so we wanted to have time to explore and get our bearings again before we got stuck in. This year we opted for the park and ride facility over parking on site as we had a long wait to get out last year. I can honestly say it was the easiest thing we've done and we will definitely be opting for that service again!
After collecting our press bands, we decided to chill out in the premium enclosure for a bit to decide our plan of action. The premium enclosure is an area that ticket holders can pay a bit extra to enjoy. It includes things such as manned toilets, a private bar, hammocks, food stalls and games for the family to enjoy. Not only that but you can stand on a premium viewing platform to ensure you don't miss any part of the main stage fun. For families that are a bit apprehensive about festivals, it's a fantastic perk to opt for to ensure you make the most of your time.
Not long after we arrived, one of the artists I wanted to see was taking the stage, so the boys decided to head to the kids area whilst I relaxed and watched Frank Turner. He's one of my favourite live performers and his acoustic set was a perfect crowd pleaser to kick the festival off. Once his set finished I headed over to the kids area to find out what the boys had been up to.
The kids area is in the opposite corner to the main stage, this is in part to keep it a tad quieter, but also to help it close off when the kids entertainment finishes at 6pm. It's filled with community stalls filled with free activities, bouncy castles to let kids blow off steam and a stage with acts such as Peppa Pig and Mr Bloom. With Max being a bit too old for the acts on the stage, we opted to browse the stalls and get stuck in to the action.
We felt that there was more on offer to do this year than last year and loved relaxing whilst Max played on the bouncy castles. We learnt about the race car that Portsmouth University made and attempted rock climbing with Kingswood Family Adventures. We could have literally spent all day there, but we were eager to look at the rest of the festival before heading back to the main stage.
One of the best things about Victorious is their genius use of space. Spread over the common, the site itself uses the existing roads and pavements to split the stages and spaces. It's perfect for buggies, festival trollies and for navigating yourself to any part of the festival. I also love the way they've used areas such as the castle, bandstand and courtyard to make intimate stages for people to enjoy.
I mentioned earlier about sitting on a hill and watching music whilst overlooking the sea. The Seaside stage is the perfect place to do just that. We grabbed some free samples of Coca Cola Freestyle (Sprite with orange-yum!) and headed up the steps to the stage. A lot of the acts on the smaller stages are local to the area and it's amazing to see just how vibrant the Hampshire music scene really is.
We headed back and spent the rest of the day at the Common stage watching some fantastic acts such as Maximo Park, Jake Bugg and our favourites of the weekend, Feeder. I've grown up listening to Feeder with my mum and we have recently got Max into them. It was amazing to be there as a family singing our heart out to some of their hits!
Unfortunately we were far too exhausted to stay for Stereophonics (yes we are still kicking ourselves!) and left towards the end of Jake Bugg's set. After a quick journey on the park and ride bus, we were back to the in-laws for an early night before day two.
*Note: we were given tickets for the purpose of our review. All opinions are our own.
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