If you're validating secure data, you might want to consider a server-side alternative.
On the other hand, If you're just doing data error checking - or some other sort of validation where lack thereof wouldn't have security implications - then nevermind me, and I'm sorry I can't be of more help.
I'm a dyed-in-the-wool PHP developer and do all my validation server-side through PHP. From my perspective, it allows me to output cleaner markup while still being very flexible for the interactive aspects of web apps.
I'm all for server-side validation (it's silly not to be, really), but if I can save a trip to the server and back (and whatever server load that may cause, especially with some of the sort of poorly written systems I've had to work with in the past) because somebody left a field blank, then heck yeah it pays off to use JS for validation too. ;)