By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum

WHEN?: Friday 22 August 2025 (press ticket)

There was a different feeling about this 12th annual south coast festival (the two years previous to this, it was held in the Dockyard).

• Read on for reasons including Charlatans, Hot Wax, Ash, The Mary Wallopers and Madness

The acts were announced en bloc, instead of dripped; there’s no surprise act (unless it is a total surprise today!); the sea defences have necessitated a switch-round of VIP areas, which aren’t even called VIP this year and, maybe most controversially, the comedy is on the main stage, instead of the tent (taking away a band for an hour, as per the moaning online!). I think this year, Victorious spent a huge amount getting Queens of the Stone Age and Kings of Leon, maybe leaving less for other acts, but the old adage is true: you can never please everyone. 

The most upsetting thing for us was that there is no Welly this year! After having “discovered” them there three years ago, and watched them countless times since and interviewed them, on first name terms, there’s a huge John Deere shaped gap in the schedule. We will have to “discover” someone else this year to add to our collection. 

And this could be the discovery! Hot Wax opened the Common Stage on Friday and we knew they were going to be good just from hearing their soundcheck. From Hastings, this loud, punky trio burst onto the stage and certainly woke us all up. Lola Sam, the bassist (everyone loves the bassist), reminded me of Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon (a comparison I think she’d be pleased with) and in fact, one of their tracks near the end was so influenced by Sonic Youth, with that almost out of key jarring guitar note that Thurston Moore loved. Definitely ones to watch. Good job they’ve just released their debut album Hot Shock in March of this year. 

Second up, The Charlatans. I’ve seen them three times now at Victorious. The first was ruined, dare I say, by all the Madness fans waiting to see them afterwards who just talked rudely through the whole set. The last time was brilliant a couple of years ago, but this time it was the sweetest.

I think it’s because Tim Burgess is brown-haired again (I never liked him peroxide). Technical difficulties with their keyboards hampered their start and I think cut their set short, but what a set it was. Weirdo to start, my absolute favourite, North Country Boy (yes we always sing West Country Boy, after they totally ripped off The Shire Horses!), Just When You’re Thinking Things Over, Toothache, new song We Are Love (awesome), One To Another, The Only One I Know, How High and ending, as always, with Sproston Green. You can see how much the crowd mean to Tim as he videoed us and took numerous photos. I did announce to all who (probably didn’t want to have) listened around me that THERE was a true Manchester hero, not those other irritating brothers. I used different words than those, but you get my drift. I did tell anyone I saw in an Oasis T-shirt of my feelings afterwards. I have now just found out that they hail from the West Midlands, but I’m still right. 

In their new single, We Are Love, Tim tells us: ‘This is the place, These are the days, We are love.’ This is my highlight of the weekend, already done by the second band! A weird(o) feeling.

My Charlatans story is borrowed from Festy Girl’s daughter, who saw them in Manchester this year. She saw an older lady come into the mosh pit during the encore, worried about her safety (imagining she was like her own mum in there). The older lady thanked her and said: ‘That’s my son up there.’ She’d only been dancing with Tim’s mum!

The wonderful Beats and Swing tent which is now on the Seaside Stage hosted Massaoke. They apparently started in a London pub as a singalong band called Friday I’m In Love. It’s basically a great glam rock style band playing all the best/cheesy karaoke songs you love, with a huge screen with the words on, to a massive audience who are … yes… karaoking together! I knew Mr Humdrum wouldn’t be my perfect Massaoke partner, as he doesn’t do stuff like Abba, and he wouldn’t really like to singalong like I do. Serendipity bestowed upon me a chance meeting with an old work friend so Mr H and her husband chatted on the sidelines while we danced and sang and both of us lost our mid range voices! 

I do need to add that Mr H watched Youth Sector while I was gossiping, and said they were brilliant: to be checked out later on YouTube. 

Massaoke were absolutely amazing. Two power cuts in the hour-long set didn’t stop them, or us – we continued singing Freed From Desire throughout one of the cuts with only drumming to help us. They included tracks from Abba, Human League, Journey, Rihanna and ending on the greatest ever karaoke songs, Bohemian Rhapsody was just perfect. They return Saturday, hopefully with no power cuts and a different set. I just can’t wait!

Back to the Castle Stage, we waited for Ash (seen a few times at Victorious and other festivals). We decided as we’re tired, a picnic blanket to the side is the way to go. We sat next to The Lionesses, who each had a player for their character, with a very confusing (after several Thatchers Haze) set of rules. I’ve vowed to find them again on Saturday. They all loved Ash and roared their way through the (albeit short) set with us. 

My Ash story is that when they did an in store signing and acoustic set for the Kablammo! album in 2015, I queued up and was completely star struck and didn’t know what to say to Tim Wheeler except: ‘Can you sign my record?’ in a really squeaky voice! 

Hit after hit, as you’d expect after coming on to Flash – first time I’d heard that. Ms Humdrum’s friend, Festy Girl, was in the mosh with her children and said it was full of youngsters who talked through the set and only knew Girl from Mars, and she too suffered the blokes who were only there at the front to see Madness on later! I think the picnic blanket at the edge was perfect. Ash were perfect. There must be a very old painting of Tim in his attic as he hardly looks older than when he left school to release Kung Fu! 

The Mary Wallopers did a Bob Vylan and were removed from the stage after one song. A friend, Feisty Festy Girl, said she was really annoyed as she really wanted to see them. You pays your money, you takes your chances eh?

Feisty Festy Girl did see Kaiser Chiefs, who kindly stepped in to replace Michael Kiwanaka, who dropped out earlier this year due to illness. Feisty went home after the Chiefs as she wanted to leave on a high, so I’m presuming that they went down well as second to top of the bill on the Common Stage. 

Feisty Festy Girl called them energetic, got the crowd going, sing-along fun, obviously were so pleased to be there. She loves Ricky. They were quite far back and everyone around them were singing and dancing, not just at the front. She was propper buzzing when they finished. This was all despite her saying her ears were still full of dust!

So onto the conundrum of the headliners. In previous years, it’s usually an easy decision. One year, we were forced to do half of Pete Tong’s Ibiza Classics set and join the second half of Jamiroquai. This year, we didn’t really know if we wanted to see either headliner! Queens of the Stone Age are immense and although I do like them, I only really love two or three of their tracks. Brilliant that Victorious have them, but not for me tonight. 

Madness, well there’s a chequered history. The first time, we watched them on the hill on the Castle Stage and really enjoyed them (though they didn’t play Humdrum favourite, Grey Day). The second time, on the Common Stage, Suggs was a little bit worse for wear and even his band mates were telling him to Shut Up (see what I did there?). So do I give them one more chance? Or do I watch Dodgy who are performing Under the Trees? Festy Girl took her kids there, they all loved it and got a signed set list. Brilliant. 

We decided in the end to give Mr Madness a second chance. But if he showed any signs of annoying me, it was going in this review! Thankfully for him, he knew just when to pull it back like meeting someone at a family wedding, who you just know is going to say something inappropriate and embarrass you if he opens his mouth. (I could link to Embarrassment there I suppose).

Thankfully for us, the songs told the story and we could ignore his babbling in between. It’s clear he loves performing and with that immense back catalogue of thirteen albums and forty three singles, it’s easy to see why. The beauty of their music is that the piano and horns are so prominent and you don’t get to hear that so much these days. Yes you get the fun songs like Driving in My Car, Baggy Trousers and House of Fun, but you also get the homage to Buster and old ska classics, The Prince and One Step Beyond bringing ska to the masses.

Don’t forget the observational songs of normal British life, narrating often serious subjects such as Cardiac Arrest, but also the general humdrumness of life in the lyrically brilliant Our House. It’s easy to forget just how clever Madness were. If you had forgotten, then their encore, Night Boat to Cairo, just says it all. You all climb aboard the Night Boat, doff your imaginary fezzes and dance along.

Sitting on the hill watching them, we saw everyone bouncing along, following Uncle Suggs on his conga line at the end of the family wedding. Everyone is happy enough to forgive him the odd comment or two. To reversely paraphrase what I said about The Streets last time Madness played, tonight was how you headline a festival. Good job too. And they did play Humdrum favourite Grey Day, literally embodied these days in our 54 year old bodies, In the morning I awake, my arms, my legs, my body aches. The sky outside is wet and grey, So begins another weary day. 

So begins Saturday, day two, a little weary after the delicious Thatchers and slightly too much sun. Tim’s words “This is the place, these are the days, we are love” are forefront in my mind.

• Pictures via Facebook courtesy Victorious. Tickets
• Read more from Carron at her blog A Humdrum Mum
• Have you seen any of these shows? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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