Summer Show kicks off a bumper year of action in Portsmouth

That’s the ambition of one of the event’s organisers, James Ralls.

It comes after tens of thousands of people packed on to King George V playing field to witness the two-day bank holiday bonanza.

Mr Ralls told The News he was keen to build on the success of city festivals like the Summer Show and Victorious – which his team is also behind.

‘We’d love to have the Summer Show come back next year,’ he said.

‘We would make it bigger and better.’

He added: ‘Our ambition is to have something every month in the city.

‘Now there’s a lot of people we need to keep up that momentum.’

Over the two days almost 90 performers took to the stage, from big-named artists like Peter Andre, Scouting for Girls, and Union J on Saturday to the likes of Fun Lovin’ Criminals, the Hoosiers, Diversity and Sam Bailey yesterday.

One of those performing was the two-piece British country act The Shires.

The duo have played in Portsmouth before, visiting Wedgewood and The Pyramids.

However, they said their trip to the Summer Show was one of the most memorable to the city.

Speaking to The News before jetting off to Nashville, Tennessee, singer Chrissie Rhodes said: ‘We loved the festival on Saturday.

‘It’s the first we have played this year, the audience was fantastic and the event a joy to play.

‘We look forward to coming back to play in the future’.

Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt said attractions like the Summer Show were key in helping to boost the city’s prospects.

Likewise, she felt the ability Portsmouth has to stage big events could play a key role in whether or not the city is successful in its Tour de France bid.

‘We should be thinking big and be really ambitious,’ added the Tory MP.

‘What we have demonstrated is that Portsmouth is absolutely capable of staging big events and I believe we need to keep this up.

‘There’s a real buzz of pride in the city about how things are moving forward.’

The Summer Show is just the start of a jam-packed year of events, which includes Victorious Festival, in August, and July’s America’s Cup World Series.

Tory city council boss, councillor Donna Jones said she remained committed to bringing more events to the city and that she was excited about the next few months.

‘The Summer Show has kicked off the events calendar for 2016 with a bang,’ she added.