Andy Marsh and his pals used to spend their time organising music nights and gigs for punters at one of Portsmouth's most popular pubs.
And back in 2012 they decided to up the ante and organise a small free festival - but little did they know it would turn into one the city's biggest annual events, attracting 75,000 people from across the UK.
Ahead of this year's festival, which will see acts including Sam Fender, Stereophonics and Primal Scream take to the seafront stages, Andy tells the Mirror what it's really like to organise such a huge event - and the biggest challenges and misconceptions.
Now working as Victorious’ Festival Director, he explains: "I'll be working on the festival full time and we have a full team, but people think it's just a few months in the summer. People don't grasp that it's essentially building a city for a weekend.
"It's good fun, don't get me wrong, but it's hard work. We don't stop and breathe until after the festival.
"Until the last person has left it's stressful. It's not as fun as everyone thinks.
"From the toilets to the security, it's a tight ship. There are a lot of people and a lot of teams.
"There are people I don't see for the whole weekend as everyone is running around."
One of the biggest jobs is booking a variety of brilliant acts who will entertain crowds of all ages.
"We're lucky at Victorious, it's such a weird mix of music. You go from pop to cool bands to dance. I can book a bit of everything.
"Acts change every year but you know what the sense of the festival is going to be."
But they have to be very, very organised when it comes to picking who they want on each stage, normally working a year ahead to make sure they get their dream line up.
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"Tickets normally go on sale the weekend of the festival so you need to be a year ahead when you're planning. The wheel never stops.
"We're booking now for 2023 and talking with agents."
The advanced planning means that sometimes smaller acts hit the big time by the time the festival comes around, meaning the organisations end up with an even bigger performer than they expected.
Lewis Capaldi was the perfect example of this, and when he performed in 2019 he wasn't even on the main stage - despite having a series of Number 1s.
"Some years you're lucky and other years you're not."
Before taking on festival planning, the pals worked in Little Johnny Russells and played in bands of their own - which part inspired their decision to keep local acts in prime spots at the festival.
He said: "We all started in bands and I just wish that when we were starting out, we could have been on a stage to thousands of people - but we didn't have that opportunity.
"You feel the local love. Everyone puts their little bit in to it and you need that, otherwise it's just a stage in a field.
"People are now having to pick between a holiday and a festival because of money, so when it's sunny it's just so nice.
"The key thing is getting the agencies down to see Victorious. It's very, very stressful but a lot of love goes into it."
Like all British festivals, one of the biggest concerns they have every year is the weather - but there isn't much they can do about it.
"Weather is huge for any festival in this country. We've had years where it's been really hard. But you forget how resilient people are, they are wonderful. They just throw on wet weather gear and get on with it."
The location of the festival on the seafront means there is concrete pavements running through it, so it doesn't get as boggy as other events when it does rain.
However the seafront location means it can get very, very windy.
The team are working flat out to make sure 2022's festival is bigger and better than ever, and they've got loads of exciting things planned.
"We're trying to mix it up a bit so it's not all about the main stage. We're trying to push some little surprises and secret sets."
This year the organisers are also putting a big focus on comedy, with some big names on the line up.
"It's great to be able to add stuff to the event. We're just growing the festival in organic ways."
- Tickets for Victorious Festival are on sale now, including weekend and day passes. Click here to find out more.
