By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Sunday 25 August 2024 (press ticket)

We’re here because we want to see Isle Of Wight’s Wet Leg play almost on home turf after a meteoric rise to success but sometimes festivals surprise you and so it is with the 1st act we catch on the Castle Stage, Cardiff’s very own Panic Shack (pictured).

• Read on for reasons including Natasha Bedingfield, Yard Act & Soft Play

They provide a gloriously punky early start to proceedings with a riotously Shampoo-esque sound and attitude from the off as lead singer Sarah Harvey asserts she doesn’t like the way she’s being looked at in I Don’t Really Like It.

They’re going out for Vape, Phone, Purse, Lipgloss and need a mantra to focus the mind to ensure the best time is possible can be had and they don’t want to hold your child during Baby as the pressures of parenthood aren’t something they want to be burdened with quite yet.

It’s a terrifically feisty and defiant set which was everything we wanted from Wet Leg but with new Panic Shack songs we hadn’t heard before at a time we weren’t expecting, lunchtime on the festival’s final day hours before Wet Leg were due to grace the stage.

Natasha Bedingfield is on the main stage in an early afternoon slot and appears physically unchanged from her 2004 heyday almost as if she has taken a time machine to travel forward 2 decades to join us.

She gets the crowd singing along to a cover of Prince’s Purple Rain and reveals were it in any doubt what an accomplished live singer she is and by the time she wheels out the hits for which she is perhaps best known for such as These Words and Unwritten we wonder how she’s not quite managed to sustain her success for longer.

Sheffield’s Yard Act aren’t happy and opener Dead Horse appears to speak to this summer’s riots with lyrics: ‘And we’re supposed to let it slide because the press have normalised the idea that racism is something that we should humour.’

Clearly, racism is in no way acceptable should it need spelling out and the indie quartet with fabulous backing singers in tow pivot towards a musical utopia all bands should aspire to during the quite ace and agenda-setting We Make Hits.

It’s during this set that we catch up with the Humdrums and if you haven’t read A Humdrum Mum’s interview with Welly, a Southampton/Brighton band who played and crowdsurfed here (pictured above) yesterday and are seemingly on the cusp of superstardom, you would do well to and we gossip heartily on the way to our next band.

Soft Play used to be called Slaves and have a hard punk sound completely in keeping with their topless and buff tattooed look. We’re surprised when band members Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent lock lips during 1 particularly intense moment in their set but it has been a moment and we will listen once more to new album Heavy Jelly with a renewed interest.

By the time Wet Leg appear to headline the Castle Stage at this glorious festival’s close we’ve peaked too early and have to rest up as 1st song Being In Love dances across Southsea Common and taunts us as we depart far too early.

But in many ways that’s the joy of Victorious Festival. You might come here with a definite idea of what you want to see but there’s such a breadth of talent on offer that you might actually leave with an appreciation of something that had completely passed you by previously. We’re mostly thinking of you Panic Shack and Welly.

• Pictures via Facebook courtesy Victorious. Tickets
• Have you seen any of these acts at shows before? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
• Enjoyed this review? Follow monstagigz on Twitter @NeilDurham, email neildurham3@gmail.com and check us out on Instagram and Facebook