Victorious Festival 2022: Huge crowds pack out Southsea Common and Castle Field as day 2 featuring Declan McKenna, and Bastille - as Paolo Nutini divides festivalgoers with his performance

Declan McKenna captured the mood as he took to the stage for the second day of Victorious Festival, with Paolo Nutini, Bastille, and Sugababes making top billing.

It was a special day for one festival goer: nine-year-old Amy Wright - attending her first ever festival - met her favourite band Sports Team by luck, as they saw the super-fan waving to them as they went to leave the backstage area of the Castle Stage, which opened today.

‘It was amazing’, a beaming Amy said.

A huge crowd gathered for Paolo Nutini, who lit up the common with his technicolour light show, with other smaller tents and stages also packed.

But fans were divided on the headliner’s performance, which focused on his more recent material.

Addressing the musician on social media, one unhappy fan captured the sentiment of other attendees when she said: ‘Really disappointed. Not in any way entertaining. Waited for years to see you live, biggest let down of a live band I’ve ever seen.’

But the star had his defenders, with another saying: ‘Hate to disagree but I thought (Paolo Nutini) was amazing. It was a superb gig and he was in great form.’

And drivers faced problems - the event saw some attendees and residents caught in traffic snaking across the city to and from the festival site.

Leaving at the end of Saturday’s show, drivers reported queues of more than an hour just to leave the Southsea Common parking across the field.

On driver said: ‘We won’t be returning – too many people for the size of the space.

‘Topped by more than an hour to get out of the official car park...it was complete chaos.’

And those coming in to the site across the day found congestion throughout the city.

North End resident Charlene Barr, attending with her two children and her mother said: ‘Traffic is bad coming in from the Naval Base, but because I’m from here I went in down the Old Portsmouth Way and cut across. If I had been in the traffic, it would have taken 35 minutes from the city centre to get here.’

Unfortunately for James Scott, driving from Cosham, he and his friends got caught up in the traffic.

He said: ‘It did take us 35 minutes from around Guildhall Square. It took us longer to get here from (the town centre) than it did to get into town from Cosham.’

Despite the problems, James said he would still drive if he came back. He said: ‘It’s worth it for bringing beers in the van.’

But festival goer Jamie Suttie may have had the longest drive to see the live music in person. Jamie had driven for nine hours from Scotland to Portsmouth to come to Victorious and see his friend Jack Taylor and his partner Amelia Dunn - who had a much shorter journey to Southsea from Gosport.

Both Jack and Amelia are ready for Sam Fender. Amelia added: 'It's been really good so far.'