As the cobbled streets of Serbia’s Novi Sad overflow with animated and lairy youths from what seems like every corner of the globe, it is clear that overseas festivals are the new black. As in, very cool.
Set in the expansive Petrovaradin Fortress with the epitome of eccentric festival line-ups, the 10th anniversary of Exit Festival was held by all with high expectations, boasting acts such as Kraftwerk, Madness, Moby and Lily Allen. The crowds were drawn in by the thousands, proving what a success Exit had become, having only begun 10 years previous as a protest against Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.
The first acts began just after 7pm, allowing the audience to spend the day embracing or avoiding the Serbian sun, and the last act lasted through to 6am. Dominating the main stage on the first evening were Darkwood Dub, a domestic art rock band who played at the very first Exit and reiterated the essence of the original festival, alongside a collection of England’s own darlings Lily Allen, Roots Manuva, Arctic Monkeys and Caspa and Rusko. Featuring on numerous other stages were variations of jazz, hip hop, reggae and electro acts and DJs, literally providing something for every one of the sun-drowsed euro-travelers staggering from one of the 11 stages to another.
Canadian punk-rock act Fucked Up, Manic Street Preachers, KoRn and Fabric regulars Andy C and MC GQ were headliners for the next night, a line-up even more curious than one that featured Lily Allen. The crowd, as per, lapped up every moment, packing into the stage so tightly that it was impossible to get through an act without being ear to ear with a German metal head, or possibly catching swine flu.
The main nights were still to come however, as Saturday’s unbeatable line-up promised a phenomenal experience. Patti Smith continued what Darkwood Dub reiterated, the angst and action needed to make a difference, and the protest roots of the festival. Projecting her political vision with crowd shocker ‘Rock N Roll Nigger’, her message was well and truly received as she held up her guitar and preached, “This is the instrument of our future… the weapon of mass instruction”, and with angry energy broke the strings of said guitar and left the audience feeling as though Smith herself had just told them personally to save the world.
The political message persevered with electronic veterans Kraftwerk, relaying ‘protect the human’ type tracks ‘Computer World’ and ‘Radioactivity’ to the anticipant crowd. The minimalistic and futuristic aura of their performance added to the experience of witnessing live one of the world’s first electro bands, adding to the novelty by replacing their places on stage with robots for the encore, before returning in luminous neon attire, making the difference between the robots and themselves barely perceptible.
And though that were not enough for the hearts and loins of Exit festival-goers, past midnight appeared Moby’s bald and humble head. Intoxicating the crowd with his energetic stage prancing and tendency to allow singer Joy Malcom take centre stage while he fluctuated from guitar to bongos, the American singer performed an excellently planned set-list to a crowd of over 30,000 people. The fortress echoed with the sounds of ‘Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad’, ‘Go’ and ‘We Are All Made Of Stars’, as well as Moby apologising for the state of his country, and the unhinged screams of his dearest fans. Finishing the set with ‘Feeling So Real’, Moby dedicated the track to ‘anyone whose been at a rave at 6am when the suns coming up’, leaving the crowd in a state of dancing euphoria.
The festival was summed up on Sunday with performances from Madness, Prodigy, DJ trio Japanese Popstars and dubstep duo Chase and Status. Although the main night, Saturday, had already past, the venue seemed to be more packed than ever, making movement incredibly difficult. The crowd even went crazy for Madness, starting a mosh pit to the drones of Sugs despite the bands slightly dire and predictable performance. Prodigy, as expected, drew in the biggest crowd of the festival, as fans clamored on top of each-other for a glimpse of the performance and crowds gathered on hills and walls from far away to see. The set could be heard from miles away and brought out the most inner animal instincts of the audience, punctuating the four night fest with an explosive performance and a bevy of bruises and sweat.
Considering the previous year boasted acts such as Gogol Bordello, Manu Chao and Orkestra Del Sol, the tenth Exit had a lot to live up to. And that it did within the line-up, with everyone who attended now newly converted Moby fans, yet the unique setting was metaphorically urinated on in that there were a couple thousand people too many in attendance, as an excessive amount of extra tickets had undoubtedly been sold. By the end of the weekend feet were exhausted yet happy, ears were ringing with glee, but a few thousand faces was incredibly tired of meeting the elbows and fag ends of beefy men who you couldn’t even swear at because they spoke a different language.
Related posts
No comments yet.