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The festival originally started as a protest against the Ex Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. Now in its 9th year, it is establishing itself as one of the market leaders in Europe. This year it won the UK Festival Award for Best European Festival. We can see why. The music was at a high standard and many different genres could be heard from 22 different stages dotted about the beautiful eighteenth century Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia. Inevitably though, the crowds favoured the Main Stage and Dance Arena. This year there were a reported 15,000 British festival-goers and luckily they were a friendly up-for-it crowd, not your average tattoo clad, football shirt wearing hooligan. The atmosphere across the festival, the campsite and the beach was electrified and people were singing, dancing and cheering wherever you looked.
The festival fired off like a cannon on its first night with N*E*R*D and the Streets headlining the Main Stage. As Pharrell took to the stage alongside the other members of N*E*R*D the screams of girls mixed with their rock infused hip hop funk set. They played a host of classics such as ‘Rock Star’, ‘Lap Dance’, ‘Provider’ and ‘She Wants to Move’. They also thrashed out a few tunes from their new album such as the highly acclaimed ‘Everyone Nose’.
After N*E*R*D it was time to check out the legendary EXIT Dance Arena. Walking through the crowds on the way there it was obvious which DJ would be playing, there were countless people wearing trademark star shaped makeup across their eyes. That could only mean one thing: German techno legend Sven Vath would be stepping up onto the stage. Vath brought the crowd to a simmer starting off with some ambient techno before bringing the entire Dance Arena to boiling point with some serious techno beats.
Over on the Main Stage, the Dutch electronic trio Noisia played a varied set with fusions of breaks, electro and drum & bass but lacked the real power that the crowd wanted. The ravers got what they were looking for when the CEO of drum &bass took to the stage, owner of True Playaz Records, producer and Kiss FM DJ, DJ Hype took the Main Stage by storm with a selection of jump-up drum & bass mixed in with some old school jungle classics alongside the crowd hyping, MC IC3. The highlight of their set was when Hype dropped the Damian Marley remix ‘Welcome to Jamrock’ and MC IC3 changed the lyrics to ‘welcome to
Friday night cemented itself as the musical highlight of the festival. Ben Watt, one half of the duo Everything but the Girl, warmed up the dance arena with some feel good beats. Soulwax then took to the stage dressed all in white and playing a live set with an array of instruments. It was definitely one of the climaxes of the weekend as they pumped out some of their classics and remixes in time with an incredible lighting setup; it was well planned and well executed. After Soulwax ended with a bang and the crowd cheered for more it was time for the daily dose of bass.
Over on the Main Stage for the first time in Exit’s history dubstep was going to be played in the form of Benga and Skream alongside MC Stamina. The set got off to a jumpy start as Stamina repeatedly requested for the bass to be turned up. He had a point, this was dubstep after all, no bass, no fun. Then when the bass was cranked up Benga and Skream fired out their missiles of dubstep in quick succession. ‘Night’, ‘26 Basslines’ and the infamous remix of TC’s ‘Where’s My Money’ were the real crowd pleasers. To end the set off, the trio picked out a bevy of sexy ladies from the crowd, much to the amusement of everyone as the stage was invaded by about 20 beautiful women grinding against the DJ’s and MC’s. Next up was the Mercury Award winning drum & bass producer and DJ, Roni Size alongside Dynamite MC. We were expecting a powerful set from them but what played out was monumental. Roni Size and Dynamite took us on a musical journey not confining themselves to your average drum & bass, there was crossovers into reggae, electro and even Jazz. Roni Size showed us the capabilities of new technology as he played an Ableton set through his laptop. At one point he fired out a heavy hitting mini-mix of the biggest drum & bass anthems rolling from one to another. It was arguably the best DJ set of the weekend. The sun rose above the trees and as morning emerged the set came to an end with Mr Size dropping a drum & bass remix of the Klaxons’ ‘It’s Not Over Yet’.
It was then time to carry on the party over at the Dance Arena as 2 Many DJ’s were doing a similar thing, their tune selection took us through a host of remixes of dance history classics. At 8am, it was time for bed and the crowds wandered out of the fortress with smiles on their faces.
On Saturday night we decided to explore the festival more, we knew there were 22 stages in total but we had so far only seen 4. We stepped away from the Main Stage and Dance Arena and walked up the fortress to see the Positive Vibrations Reggae Stage which had a chilled vibe to it, we then explored the Exit Music Stage and a number of smaller stages playing everything from house to dubstep. It was then time to hit the Happy Novi Sad stage located nearby to the Dance Arena, we had heard that it was called the Happy Novi Sad stage for a reason. The rumours were right, it had a friendly buzzing atmosphere and incredible acoustics as it was sandwiched between the ramparts of the fortress walls. Seba & Paradox stepped up with some old school Jungle but then proceeded to give us their life story over the music which was disappointing. After swiftly checking out the Kruder and Dorfmeister, an Austrian Breakbeat duo who sounded incredible, it was time to check out one of the biggest names in drum & bass production today: High Contrast. The former film student from
The end of the festival neared and everyone seemed to be echoing the saying: 'Just one more day would be great.' The last night had a line-up so impressive that decisions had to be made and clashes between the stages were certain. Arriving late, the Reggae Stage was the perfect place to kick start the night. The rest of the night consisted of a series of dashes between Deep Dish (Dub Fire & Sharam) in the Dance Arena and drum & bass heros Shy FX (of Original Nuttah fame) and Dillinja. Shy FX shot out a big selection of his back catalogue with a twist: they were all VIP remixes. 'Shake Your Body', 'Original Nuttah' and 'Bambaata' could all be heard in new forms and the crowds lapped it up. Dillinja us known for one thing: his love for bass. It was bass the crowd recieved as he dropped a host of dubplates and reworked classics such as 'Fast Cars' and 'Grimey'.
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At around 6am the Main Stage after 2am Sessions came to a close and the crowds migrated to the Dance Arena for the traditional closing set by Serbian DJ Marko Nastic. Spirits were high and no one wanted the festival to end. When the music finally came to a close, the crowds chanted 'one more' for what seemed like an eternity before the stage managers finally crumbled and allowed one final tune. Overlooking the amphitheatre that is the Dance Arena from the very top of the hill watching the dust rise as thousands of people stomped their feet in time to the beat was a strangely beautiful site. EXIT blew us away. Glastonbury has the mud, the big bands and the alternative background. EXIT has the dust, the big name DJ's and most importantly a beautiful setting that becomes the playground for a friendly, energetic and youthful crowd. Considering that next year will be EXIT Festival's 10th Anniversary, one thing is for certain: we'll be back.
By Toby Clarke
Photography by Oleg Tolstoy (www.olegtolstoy.co.uk) and Matt McNeill
