THIS weekend Victorious comes storming into Southsea once again.

Victorious is set to be another huge success with massive headliners Flaming Lips, Primal Scream, Ray Davies, The Darkness, Basement Jaxx, Tinie Tempah, Texas and Super Furry Animals performing at this year's ever-growing, great-value South Coast festival.

Last year Victorious welcomed 70,000 visitors to their beautiful festival site on Southsea Seafront and this year looks set to be bigger than ever with a line-up that is fit to burst with big names.

Ray Davies' headline set at Victorious will be one of only a limited number of dates this summer, so the crowds can look forward to a real treat.

Along with a huge kids arena featuring its own kids entertainment stage – it really is an event for the whole family to enjoy.

Tickets are a bargain at just £30 a day – booking fees apply .

Yesterday organisers were pulling out all the stops to bring the music spectacle to life.

The Common Stage, which will act as the festival's main arena in Southsea, was taking shape and a Victorious banner was up on Castle Field, where another stage is going.

Victorious branding had also gone up around Southsea Common ahead of the event this Saturday and Sunday.

The Pyramids, except for a few limited spaces, and D-Day car parks are now closed until September 1. From Saturday to Monday, road closures are in place along Clarence Esplanade (from Hovertravel to The Pyramids). The promenade is also restricted west of Serpentine way to behind the Pyramids.

*THE Darkness have returned with their fourth album Last of Our Kind and are performing at Victorious on Sunday ahead of their own solo tour.

They return to the South coast later this year when they play Southampton O2 Guildhall on December 14 and Bournemouth O2 Academy on December 17.

Bass player Frankie Poullain told the Daily Echo the new album had mainly been written on the weather-battered, isolated Valentia Island off the Southwest of Ireland.

"My brother lives in an old cottage there and it's the most westerly harbour of Europe. Symbolically it's pretty cool."

So did being on Valentia inspire the medieval themes on songs like Barbarian and Conquerors?

"It definitely did as the weather there is rather tempestuous and ever-changing – very schizophrenic and extreme. It matches the emotional landscape of the album as well. And there is the history too with the folktales.

"We made three different visits over there to make the album, but we also spent time working on it in Ibiza before that! Both Barbarian and Hammer & Tongs were written in Ibiza round the pool in the sunshine – even though you wouldn't have thought it."

The Darkness now have a new drummer – Rufus Taylor, son of Roger Taylor from Queen. He must be good, I suggest, as he has good genes.

"Well no, his dad wore Wranglers and he wears Levis," Frankie quips, adding, "Well, you be the judge of that. We love playing with him. He hits the snare hard and he's got attitude."

So why had the band got back together in 2011?

"It ended badly in a negative way. We were so big and then we were suddenly in obscurity. It was a bit of a blow and we had never had chance to grow organically.

"This is our most natural album; our most un-self-conscious. Usually we spend three years on an album but our next one will be relatively quick. The worst thing that happened to us was getting the Ivor Novello Award for song writers of the year because once you get that you believe you are song writers, rather than just having fun. The magic of rock 'n' roll is that it's spontaneous and sexy and there's something about it you can't define, but of course you should not auto-tune it because if you try to perfect it it's not rock 'n' roll any more."

*The Darkness Blast of Our Kind UK Tour. Tickets: livenation.co.uk/artist/the-darkness-tickets.

*Victorious festival: Tickets: online to http://victorious.seetickets .com/event/victorious -festival/southsea-seafront/ 812971//.