Anyone played Victorious?

Keefy · July 2022

My Bowie tribute Rebel Heroes has a slot on the comedy/tribute stage at Victorious (Southsea near Portsmouth) over the Bank Holiday weekend. Anyone else played this festival?
- Organisation
- Treatment of bands
- FOH sound - just a line check, no sound check as such, so I guess it will be mixed on the fly
- Monitoring - wedges?
- I'm told there is backline provided - what did you get? I've already told the bass player and other guitarist that they will get practice amps - a Gorilla 10W and a Woolworths 'Audition' 1x4 respectively - whereas I bagsy the Line 6 Spider 15W.

How was it for you?

Danny1969 · July 2022

Loads of times and playing this year too. I'm in a Kate Bush tribute playing on the Saturday so we are probably on the same stage.
Normally just a line check, I've used supplied backline and taken my own but be careful what you take as you get trollyed in on a golf cart normally but won't get any help getting your gear out. This year I'm using a Pod Go which will fit in a gig bag with the guitar.

Wedges normally but active ones will generally have a pass thru if you want to use ears.
I've always been treated well, never had a problem on any of the stages, big or small. Obviously you can't expect too much though in the way of a personalised monitor mix or a polished FOH mix, best bet is keep it simple and make it as easy as possible for them to mix.
The best thing about it is the 3 day pass and how easy it is to smuggle your alcohol in with your music gear.

Keefy · July 2022

@Danny1969 we’re on 19.45-20.45 between Fleetingwood Mac and the Bog Rolling Stones.

I’m planning to take just guitars and pedalboard. Fortunately my main drive pedal is a RevivalDrive so I can tweak it to suit whatever the amp is. I don’t have high expectations of the monitor mix!

No interest in alcohol on the gig, it messes with my concentration plus I’ll probably be driving.

Danny1969 · July 2022

That's cool I'll be watching your set, me and the wife are huge Bowie fans. @Trude on here is in the Bogs, be watching that as well they are a great bunch.
Lets hope the weather is kind on the day.

Keefy · July 2022

Danny1969 said:

That's cool I'll be watching your set, me and the wife are huge Bowie fans. @Trude on here is in the Bogs, be watching that as well they are a great bunch.
Lets hope the weather is kind on the day.

Fantastic, I'm hoping to stick around for the Bogs' set, used to play in a Stones tribute myself. Come up and say hello if you get the chance, I look a bit like Shrek but not as green.

blobb · July 2022

Southsea near Portsmouth. Love that, it's a very fine line.......

Keefy · July 2022

blobb said:

Southsea near Portsmouth. Love that, it's a very fine line.......

'Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth' according to Wikipedia, so yeah, my bad!

Trude · July 2022

Hey @Keefy , make sure you come and say hi! By the time you guys finish I'll probably be fully Keefed up, so will be pretty easy to recognise!

I've always brought my own amp to Victorious so don't have any experiences with backline to share. This year I'll have my Quilter Cub UK which is dinky and weighs nothing. If I get there early enough you'd be welcome to use it if that helps.

Last time we played the main stage the monitor guy gave me a receiver to use with my own in-ears, which was a huge improvement over wedges. Handy because as Keef I do like to stagger around the stage a bit! Not sure if the Tribute stage will be that fancy though. I'm hoping for a wired monitor feed so I can use the combined guitar/IEM cable that our very own @Danny1969 made up for me!

It'll be a pretty weird one for us though - our last gig was pre-Covid, and we weren't 100% sure if the phone was going to start ringing again tbh. I've done loads of solo and trio gigs lately, so this is my first foray back into wigs and costumes!

Annoyingly I'm gigging for the rest of the weekend, so not sure how much I'll be able to see on the other days.

When are you playing @Danny1969 ? You guys are going great guns, so would love to see ya! Something tells me you're going to get a massive crowd!

Keefy · July 2022

Trude said:

Hey @Keefy , make sure you come and say hi! By the time you guys finish I'll probably be fully Keefed up, so will be pretty easy to recognise!

I've always brought my own amp to Victorious so don't have any experiences with backline to share. This year I'll have my Quilter Cub UK which is dinky and weighs nothing. If I get there early enough you'd be welcome to use it if that helps.

...

I was backstage once, fully Keefed up as you put it, and my friend walked straight past without recognising me!

I'm somewhat precious about my Matchless Lightning, not so much if I have to drag it half a mile in the blazing heat and/or pouring rain...

Trude said:

...

When are you playing @Danny1969 ? You guys are going great guns, so would love to see ya! Something tells me you're going to get a massive crowd!

Stranger things have happened!

blobb · July 2022

Keefy said:

blobb said:

Southsea near Portsmouth. Love that, it's a very fine line.......

'Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth' according to Wikipedia, so yeah, my bad!

Anything north of Fratton bridge, eh. (Portsmuthian in-joke)

TheBigDipper · July 2022

Never played Victorious, but I've been as a customer and it's well organised and civilised compared to so many others. Not going this year, but have fun!

Danny1969 · July 2022

@Trude ;
Thanks, bout 5:30 I think

borntohang · July 2022

I was booked for the main stage in 2018 (whenever Paul Weller was headlining) and didn't have a great experience.

Weather had been horrible for the whole trip South and when we got to site it was howling sideways so the site was basically underwater, which obviously isn't the fault of the festival. We got to stage to check conditions and they were already pulling down lighting and monitors but said we could still play acoustic; no monitoring or power available but they would erect a gazebo under the main canopy for our singer to play under; if we declined that setup we wouldn't get any kind of payment. I asked the stage manager if he would let one of his acts play in those conditions and his reply was along the lines of "Oh hell no, I'm just passing on what I've been told".

In the end we declined and went to find a bar who would put us on a performance for those who still wanted to see us. The opening band before us took the gazebo option and played to nobody as the arena was still shut to try and clear some of the water up. The stage crew were all as professional about things as they could be under those circumstances and we had no argument with them either.

I got the impression we caught management in the middle of the proverbial muck hitting the fan and they were scrambling for options, but also that they were mostly concerned about not having to cancel our set and therefore pay our fee over anything else. We also got bumped from Cardiff Pride the same day for the same reasons and they had no problem cancelling our set and settling up with us before we'd even set off for the venue, so at least we got an early night.

Had friends play since then and heard no complaints so expect this was a unique issue, but just thought I'd mention it. Shame because the site and lineup looked amazing.

Danny1969 · July 2022

I remember that year, weather was awful. We bailed and I ended up gigging in a large tent near Butser hill.

The main stage is the real one and handled by the festival, I've never done it but @Trude has ..... the smaller stages are generally handled by local businesses ... Casemates, Mayfield Studios etc so those will always be a variable experience with different people every time.

Keefy · July 2022

I’m hoping for good weather, which of course is far from guaranteed in this country!

Keefy · August 2022

Weather is looking good for Saturday We're in a tent but even so. We're on at the same time as Kula Shaker and The Wombats - not sure whether that's a good thing or not!

Our bass player is recovering from a broken scaphoid (wrist bone) so I will be back on bass for this gig. Just hope the provided bass amp has a proper EQ and not just a graphic

markslade07 · August 2022

Have a great gig @keefy!

Keefy · August 2022

markslade07 said:

Have a great gig @keefy!

Cheers Mark!

Danny1969 · August 2022

We are on the Casemates stage apparently, not the tribute tent. Only doing 6 numbers then will be watching as many other Fretboarders as poss

Trude · August 2022

We should have a Fretboard after-party!

Keefy · August 2022

Trude said:

We should have a Fretboard after-party!

Hoping I can stick around for your set when we’re finished but somewhat dependent on my lift home!

Keefy · August 2022

Well that was an experience! Once we’d found the right place to get our wristbands we loaded our (minimal) kit into a trailer and enjoyed a golf buggy ride the full length of the festival site to the backstage area. Fleetingwood Mac played before us and were phenomenal.

The schedule only allowed time for a line and monitor check before we kicked off. Onstage sound was a bit odd. The provided bass rig (Ashdown MAG600, Ampeg 8x10) was just audible when wound up full so I suspect it was faulty. Fortunately there was plenty of bass in the PA and monitors, in fact too much on any note below C on the A string - typical 'big PA' excessive bass sound, where it feels like the kick pedal is attached directly to your chest! Apparently it sounded great out front and we went down well with the crowd, so that's all good.

I had a moment to say hello to @Trude before the Bog Rolling Stones went on, which was nice. I only got to hear their first 3 numbers before we were golf-buggied back across the site to pick up our cars.

Trude · August 2022

@Keefy you guys were great! And you totally stepped up to the plate on bass sir. I managed to grab this pic of you in action before the baying crowd:

Image: https://ams02pap001files.storage.live.com/y4mHNO1nVOX68LTWf41-l6tMaB8CJEHw37bQu4d6Qg4A6d0_2GB--4zcvFBniZ2iuuC_OvWVAgYiYqgwb998SfQ_fTpA1MRdoIuMTheei3gQmiNw7KsiiLyX92W-mgKIiB9-MM677rbxUZERccMLWqdMLJgAGsvZN2XhlZrI_tMIIAvG3BeBjVfK3QCx2vGRJi7?width=1024&height=576&cropmode=none

And @Danny1969 's, Kate Bush-Ka were fantastic too - what a great vibe and such love from the crowd.

Image: https://ams02pap001files.storage.live.com/y4m9vWWB46hb6qwlkj0UsLWdQlAdO_JgKseWyyKHjfj2lBxXfAAbGDRvUkqiuIpCJuvsbnS6JEQvEHneXky1Fqnb8he-hYqZCxtFlhom5CNKG-OYXOZr-StFUK0EdNAJveLb_AkKoCDQ7cjog_E4jYA-v3dOzuFrVB9gWuApRRTi5oK5ZZVBuFilFgL77iIN6TF?width=1024&height=576&cropmode=none

Couldn't work out how to embed a video from OneDrive, but this link should work:

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AolkotDsCYEZ2o5IfeSchrB57TK0KQ

prowla · August 2022

I often go to Southsea - it's one of my favourite places (a couple of good guitar shops there).

I've never stayed into the evening to watch a band, though.

Keefy · August 2022

Trude said:

@Keefy you guys were great! And you totally stepped up to the plate on bass sir. I managed to grab this pic of you in action before the baying crowd:

…

Thank you, much appreciated!

Danny1969 · August 2022

Thanks @Trude, that's a good little vid

I didn't get to see anyone else. I got trucked in no prob and the little set went very well with a massive audience for such a minor stage. Great crowd and great weather, really enjoyed it. Getting trucked out was more of a mission with some big delays for our keyboard player who had a full sized Roland stage piano and a Korg Synth ... time we got that sorted and had something to eat 2 hours had passed.

Gear wise you can never plan completely for festival backline. I had prepared by taking my Pod with some basic patches set up, all I needed was a clean amp. Stage crew were good guys but the amp my side was some kind of revival Marshall with basically no clean sound at all ... so the Kate Bush set was a bit heavier than normal

... but it didn't matter, I enjoyed it and the crowd enjoyed it.

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Anyone played Victorious?

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