US rockers Queens Of The Stone Age have got the crowd rocking as the first headliners of a seaside festival which has been hit by controversy over an onstage pro-Palestinian protest.
Thousands of music lovers have descended on Southsea Common in Portsmouth, Hampshire, for the three-day Victorious Festival.
Ruby singers Kaiser Chiefs stepped in to perform on the Common Stage on Friday after singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka cancelled his festival appearances last month because of an “ongoing illness”.
A large crowd gathered in the sunshine for the Leeds-based indie band with a mosh pit forming at the centre for the hit song I Predict A Riot.
Earlier in the afternoon, Irish band The Mary Wallopers had their set cut short after they put up a Palestinian flag.
The festival organisers say the sound was turned off because the band used a “discriminatory” chant during their set which the group deny.
They said in a statement: “The festival have released a misleading statement to the press claiming they cut our sound because of a discriminatory chant, and not the band’s call to Free Palestine.”
They added: “Yesterday, a famine was declared in Gaza, where at least 65 people were killed by Israeli attacks, all the while Israel pushed ahead with plans to split the West Bank in two. These are the important facts about yesterday.”
Headliners Queens Of The Stone Age launched straight into their hit songs after taking to the stage including No One Knows.
Half-way through the set, frontman Josh Homme stopped to take a song request from the audience before launching into Little Sister.
The festival also announced that comedian Chris McCausland had been forced to pull out because of illness with indie band Crystal Tides stepping in to take his slot on the Common Stage.
On the Castle Stage, next to Henry VIII’s Southsea Castle, Madness had the crowds singing and dancing along to their greatest hits including House Of Fun, Baggy Trousers and It Must Be Love.
Other headliners during the weekend include Vampire Weekend and Kings Of Leon who had to cancel their other UK shows earlier in the summer after frontman Caleb Followill suffered a “freak accident”.
According to a statement from the band, he had a “serious” shattered heel injury and needed “a significant emergency surgery that will prevent him from travelling and performing”.
Victorious Festival was started in 2012 when it was a modestly-sized event held at the Hampshire city’s historic dockyard.
The event moved to Southsea Common two years later, where it has expanded in size and ambition, with headline acts including Sam Fender, Mumford And Sons and Jamiroquai.
Last year’s top acts, Biffy Clyro, Snow Patrol, Jamie T and Fatboy Slim helped the event win the major festival of the year category at the Live Awards 2024.
Founder James Ralls has said that the success of regional festivals such as Victorious has shown a changing dynamic with fewer people regularly going to nightclubs and people of all ages seeking alternatives to the often sold-out major events such as Glastonbury and Reading and Leeds.
Victorious has grown from about 40,000 people attending in 2013 to around 170,000 last year.
He said: “The scene has definitely changed, I think some of the big players are still big but the independent festival sector has grown massively.
“The metropolitan festivals like us have taken off.”
Victorious Festival runs until Sunday, August 24.
