Festival heaven for thousands packing out Southsea as Sam Fender and Anne-Marie bring final night of Victorious 2022 to a close

Headliner Sam Fender closed the third and final evening of the three-day festival on the Common Stage, while Anne-Marie took audiences into the night with her set at Castle Field.

The festival box office confirmed that Victorious tickets had been completely sold out for Sunday.

Stereophonics played the opening night while Paolo Nutini entertained crowds as he headlined Saturday evening - and over the weekend Sugababes and Sophie Ellis Bextor drew huge crowds as fans sang along with their classic pop hits.

SEE ALSO: 22 pictures of bands and musicians performing at day 2 of Portsmouth festival including Paolo Nutini, Declan McKenna and The Wombats

The weather stayed warm and mostly sunny all weekend despite heavy rain earlier in the week.

Numerous stalls lined the common and Southsea Esplanade, selling everything from churros and paella to bucket hats and sunglasses.

Festival fans were decked out with hair glitter and face jewels, and several groups came to Victorious as part of celebrations for birthdays or stag and hen dos.

Among them was bride-to-be Deena Bardsley, who travelled for ten hours on a train from Edinburgh for a hen party thrown for her by stepmum Gemma Bardsley.

Gemma said: 'We had the hen do with the stripper and everything yesterday, so today is more of a hangover day.'

Deena is getting married on September 24 in an old biscuit factory in Edinburgh, and was particularly excited to see The Libertines, who played an early set on Sunday afternoon.

Portsmouth drum band Batala had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as Eurovision star Sam Ryder asked members to join him on stage to perform his hit ‘Spaceman’.

Some festivalgoers voiced high praise for Victorious’s accessibility efforts.

Wheelchair user Polly Frank, who attended the festival with her brother Ben and his wife Liz, said the festival had done ‘a really good job’ making the site accessible.

She said: ‘It’s really accessible. There’s an accessible entrance and it’s easy getting around.’ Ben added: ‘We had a horrible experience about 10 years ago at Reading Festival - it rained and we were dragging the wheelchair through the mud.’

The Bond family - mum and dad Ben and Mary and their children Solomon and Lily - were also impressed by the level of access.

The four had travelled from Fareham to enjoy Sunday at Victorious, having last been at the festival six years ago.

Lily is a wheelchair user and Mary said that accessibility at the festival has been 'amazing' this year.

She added: 'Of all the festivals we've been at, this has been brilliant - the parking, the entry, the loos. For us that have to do it every day, it's been great. So many festivals say they are accessible but unless someone spends a day in a wheelchair, they don't know.’

SEE ALSO: Victorious Festival sees hour-long queues to board Park and Ride from Lakeside in Cosham as traffic misery hits the city

However, many faced traffic woes getting to the festival.

Drivers said that they were stuck in queues getting across the city and faced ‘chaos’ trying to leave the area after the music had finished - while those trying to use the park and ride at Lakeside business park in Cosham reported queuing for more than an hour to board the service.