By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum

Victorious has announced its second wave of acts for Britain’s sunniest August bank holiday festival on the south coast in Portsmouth (25-27 August 2023).

• Read on for reasons including Natalie Imbruglia, Pete Tong, Belle and Sebastian & Dara O’Briain

This is the first year to have a full Friday line-up (with headliners already announced as Jamiroquai, and other acts across the weekend including Sigrid, The Divine Comedy, Inspiral Carpets and The Vaccines, not to mention Beabadoobee.)

Rock giants Kasabian (main picture) will headline Saturday night, while Ben Howard takes top billing to close on Sunday evening. Akin to Royal Blood’s set last year, Kasabian are sure to get everyone pumped with their hits Fire, Club Foot and LSF. I only sang Fire at karaoke last week and it’s always a highlight of my party playlist.

It’s surely gonna go a bit Pete Tong that weekend with his Ibiza Classics with the Essential Orchestra. I’m imagining a chilled sun-soaked afternoon, but I’m sure it’ll be more of a banging club night affair after sunset. Annie Mac continues the party.

Natalie Imbruglia, obviously, will take the Saturday opening slot, like All Saints and Sugababes before her.

For the indie fans, The Charlatans will make their second appearance at this event; hopefully better timed than last time, when Madness fans hogged their spaces and talked all the way through their set as they were on afterwards. I can only hope.

Continuing the indie theme, Belle and Sebastian will make their debut, along with Hard-Fi. Kaiser Chiefs, who I missed due to very bad weather a few years ago, will play and I promise I will see them this time, along with Sea Girls.

In 2018, who was brave enough to warm up for Prodigy on the main stage? Only Friendly Fires. With their inimitable style and incredible energy (and drum beats), they will also play for the second time and I for one cannot wait. They were absolutely banging last time.

Other acts include Blossoms (loved 2016’s Charlemagne single), Alt-J, Ellie Goulding and Jake Bugg.

Last year saw the first time the organisers had big name comedy at the event. Russell Kane, Katherine Ryan, Milton Jones and Joe Lycett, with Rosie Jones compering, all helped make last year the best for me. This year, we will enjoy Omid Djalili, Jason Manford and the awesome Dara O’Briain in the comedy tents. Better get in early on those days! We can also look forward to slots from Tom Davis, Zoe Lyons, Olivia Lee, Andrew Maxwell, Angelos Epithemiou and Afterlife’s Kerry Godliman.

• Read more from Carron at her blog A Humdrum Mum
• Main picture courtesy via Facebook Tickets Have you been to Victorious before, heard any of these songs or seen any of these shows? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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