By Max Modell

 

Lewis Capaldi is as likeable as everyone says he is

At 19:00 it appeared the whole festival headed to the Castle Stage to watch Lewis Capaldi in complete chaos. This wasnÔÇÖt exactly unexpected, since being booked for the festival Capaldi has blown up, becoming one of the biggest musicians in the world. Renowned for his dry Scottish sense of humor, he didnÔÇÖt disappoint coming and telling us all how it was going to work. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm going to sing some songs, youÔÇÖre going to listen to them, and then weÔÇÖre all going to fuck off.ÔÇØ Despite admitting to writing a song in Gosport (a controversial topic for the territorial and proud Pompey crowd), everyone loved Capaldi, and with good reason, he is as good a singer and as charismatic as everyone says. Watch this space.

 

The most fun can often be found at the smallest stages

The highlight of the festival was funktastic Chichester based band, Beatroot, who headlined The PeopleÔÇÖs Lounge on the Sunday. The yellow sunglasses wearing outfit offered by far the most danceable set of the weekend and they were on one of the smallest stages. This was not the only time this occurred at the festival with The Silhouettes going completely wild over at the Seaside Stage and HALLAN performing with their trademark intensity on The Kings Theatre Stage. All these bands go to show you can have just as much, if not more fun, on the smaller stages.

 

Planning makes perfect

You canÔÇÖt see everything, but if you plan well enough you can do you utmost to make sure you donÔÇÖt miss anyone you love. Knowing the lineup inside out will improve youÔÇÖre festival experience as you can maximise the great acts you see and adapt when youÔÇÖre plans inevitably change mid festival. It also means you can make sure you have time to eat and restore in order to have the most fun at your favourite headliner, as opposed to realising halfway through Rudimental that you desperately need to grab a bite to prevent yourself from passing out.

 

If you lose your friends, get one of them to sit on anotherÔÇÖs shoulders and try to spot them on the big screen

So this ones rather specific, but it totally works. When searching for our friends during The Vaccines we spotted former Quench Editor Nadine on her boyfriendÔÇÖs shoulders on the big screen. If it wasnÔÇÖt for this we would have had no chance of finding them in the crowd, but as it was we were reunited for one of the feel-good sets of the festival.

 

You donÔÇÖt need to film everything on your phone

Watching a shaky version of New Order on your phone just isnÔÇÖt going to live up to the real thing. Put your phone away and enjoy the show. Maybe take a quick clip for Instagram to make your friends jealous, but thereÔÇÖs no need to film the whole festival, you probably wonÔÇÖt even watch it all back.

 

If youÔÇÖre camping public transport is a terrible idea, but there is lots of on street parking around Farlington Fields

Put off by the exorbitant parking costs at the campsite we decided to find another way to get to the campsite in Farlington, a half hour bus from Southsea Seafront and the festival. The problem is the campsite is located 1.6 miles from Hilsea train station and 2.1 miles from Cosham train station, this is too far to walk with camping gear for the weekend. This problem is made worse by Uber prices which were hiked up for the weekend to take advantage of the extra demand. After agonising about how we were going to get to the festival we eventually looked at street parking near the campsite. It turns out there is a large estate nearby with lots of free street parking, a life saver for under prepared and stingy campers like us.

 

If youÔÇÖre camping, bring a mallet and know how to put up a tent

In Scouts we were always told to ÔÇÿbe preparedÔÇÖ, well I must have forgotten. Arriving at the campsite we hadnÔÇÖt brought a mallet to hammer our pegs into the ground and we were faced with the prospect of sleeping in a rather loosely fastened and precarious tent. Luckily for us, a very friendly neighbour stepped in to lend us their mallet, a kind gesture they repeated for numerous other campers. While you can often rely on the kindness of strangers at festivals, it is always best to come prepared, after all if youÔÇÖre prepared you can be that kind stranger.

 

Portsmouth has a festival to rival the biggest in the UK

Despite its relative good value compared to other major festivals across the UK, Victorious had one of the best line ups, boasting Two Door Cinema Club, The Specials, Rudimental, James Bay, Lewis Capaldi, New Order, and many more. As the festival continues to expand it should no longer be viewed as a mid-level festival, be instead one of the biggest in the UK. I canÔÇÖt wait to check out the line up for 2020.