By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum

Mike Skinner brought The Streets to the seafront, the GLC and the Inbetweeners.

• Read on for reasons including Fugitive Orchestra, Massaoke and Sigrid

What would today’s weather bring? We arrived to hear Sigrid while we were queuing, then settled ready for Fugitive Orchestra, a uniquely single man with a guitar and looping pedals, and a particular loud clap! We’ve been lucky enough to see him before so we recalled his political but highly poetic and tuneful songs. He’s a must to see live if you can.

We know Reef are so much more than the 90s hit Place Your Hands, and boy they rocked. A great sound for a quite grey day to start. At least it hadn’t rained yet.

Massaoke’s last day – they’ve really increased their repertoire with the female vocalist, and we enjoyed singing along to the Cranberries’ Zombie. Finishing with Bohemian Rhapsody, as is the Victorious Massaoke thing, I personally was too tired to dance but did sing along from the hill at the back of the Castle Stage. I know you want to see bands at festivals, but what’s not to like about a whole field singing along to their own secret favourite songs?

Sleeper were up next. I adore Louise and their hit Inbetweener is a favourite of mine and Mr H, released the year we met (1994). She belted this out, and also we sang along with Blondie’s Atomic with her.

The Streets, our main Sunday favourite. They’ve headlined before, but this time we were treated to their album A Grand Don’t Come For Free in its entirety. The stage was a bus stop and Mike Skinner was in character. He didn’t speak to us or look at us; he told us the story. There was a lot of love for this album and for Mike Skinner in the audience. Of course, the standout hits (Fit But You Know It and Dry Your Eyes) were obviously going to attract more fans, but we were all so engaged in the story of his relationship, the TV and the missing money. It’s hard to characterise Skinner; he’s our modern day Shakespeare, but one who acts his own writing. His poetic rapping stands out from others in his field. It was all the feels. We felt drained at the end; he walked off stage. Was that it? No, he wouldn’t be happy without engaging with the crowd. Of course, he returned and crowdsurfed and walked among us. The man can literally do no wrong. Feisty Festy Girl had seen this set a few weeks ago, and was still as emotional as us. What a performer; what a performance. Even the heavens opening near the end seemed fitting. Almost biblical.

So how could we follow this? We, in our usual fashion shrugged off the main headliners and sought out Newport, Wales’ finest, Goldie Lookin’ Chain. This was the way to end the festival. An intimate venue, Under the Trees, we bounced along to favourites like Pink Wine, Guns Don’t Kill, Rappers Do and our ultimate fav Your Mother’s Got a Penis. Throwing a whole load of rave favs at the end, Victorious 2026 ended how it started for us, bouncing around to rappers. Thanks GLC, you knows it!

In all, a wonderful weekend, spent with wonderful friends, listening to wonderful bands. Top 3 for me: Streets, GLC, Scissor Sisters/Nile (sorry that’s four). Regrets: wish I’d seen Crystal Tides, Kelis and we know Basement Jaxx would’ve been awesome. I missed She’s Got Brass too this time. There’s always next year. Always another gig.

• Pictures via Facebook courtesy Victorious Festival and A Humdrum Mum. 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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