JAMIE T and Courteeners rocked Victorious Festival on Saturday night with two electrifying sets, providing relief for music fans after periods of torrential rain earlier in the day.

The South London indie-rock hip-hop headliner showed he is still running with believers as he played a lyric-packed set of tunes, including hits Limits Lie, Rabbit Hole and 368.

But it was a stunning three song encore of songs Shelia, Sticks ‘n’ Stones and Zombie, accompanied by festival fireworks, that most delighted fans and was a stand out moment of his set.

Meanwhile, Courteeners showed why they were able to play to more than 40,000 fans at Heaton Park in Manchester last year in their own right, with hits like What Took You So Long, Not Nineteen Forever, Modern Love and Are You in Love With a Notion?

Frontman Liam Fray also introduced a new single, Summer of the Night Bus, from their next album Pink Cactus Café, released in October.

But Victorious is not only about national names, and, after years of working their way up from smaller stages, rising local south coast stars Crystal Tides made their debut on the main stage on Saturday afternoon in front of tens of thousands of music fans.

Lead singer Billy Gregory, guitarists Harry Knowles and Neil Cripps, bassist George Regan and drummer Joe Knight, played 30 minutes of blistering hits before telling the crowd of their ambitious plans to headline their own show at Portsmouth Guildhall next March after releasing a new EP this autumn.

George told The Echo: “Victorious has such a big place in our hearts. We came every year to watch before we started working our way through the other stages. So to finally have a chance to be on the main stage today and to get music out to a big crowd in our home town made it a very special day for all of us.” “It was emotional, overwhelming,” added Harry, “I was blown away by the support and how many people were there and knew the songs, but I had to stop looking over at family and friends to avoid welling up.”

At lunchtime, indie pop trio Busted took a dedicated rain-soaked crowd back more than 20 years with a greatest hits set of tunes such as Year 3000, Sleeping With the Light On and their breakthrough debut single What I Go to School For.

And just as their mates McFly had done at Victorious at the same time last year, here was a nostalgia pack set of songs seemingly performed with even more energy than first time around.

The sunshine returned once and for all for Liverpool’s Lightning Seeds, who along with The Amazons, drew one of the biggest crowds on the. Castle Stage so far this weekend.

Frontman Ian Broudie, one of the great songwriters of English life, and the band played hits such as Lucky You, Pure and Sugar Coated Iceberg, but, even in another year of international footballing defeat, the Three Lions finale was still a highlight for many.

Reading’s The Amazons brought rock to Victorious with a high octane set of tunes including two numbers, Night after Night and Wake Me Up, from their new fourth album, which frontman Matt Thomson and guitarist Chris Alderton told The Daily Echo would be released sometime in 2025 and that they had just had the final mastered version back that morning.

On the new record Matt said: “We’ve always been desperate to grow and make music that is on a continuous journey, and I think we have done that on this record.”

Chris added: “It’s new influences and sounds, but we’ve taken what we think are the best parts from the first three albums and rolled them into one.”

Also on Saturday, Wigan’s The Lathums brought songs from their number one album How Beautiful Life Can Be, Groove Armada headlined the Seaside stage, plus there were big sets from second stage headliners Pixies, Sugababes, Holly Humberstone, Shaun Ryder’s Black Grape and Echobelly.

TODAY – Victorious Festival continues on Sunday with acts including headliner Biffy Clyro, Becky Hill, Yard Act, Natasha Bedingfield, Red Rum Club, The Kooks, Wet Leg, The Pigeon Detectives, Portsmouth’s Harvey Jay Dodgson, John Power, rising star Tom A Smith, The Clockworks, James Walsh, Al Murray and Shaun Williamson’s Barrioke.