Exit Festival Novi Sad, Serbia 8-11/7/10 [Part 2]
4/5
By: Adam Hartley
In the second part of Adam Hartley's review of Exit Festival we get treated to a comprehensive 10 point guide of the good and the bad things about festivaling in Serbia.
photo by Nik Torrens
Day 3: Only Fools and Horses
Whilst exploring the city on day three we came across probably the best example that English culture is taking over. Hidden down an alley round the corner from the Cathedral was a bar called (you guessed it) Only Fools and Horses that serves only ‘full English’. I’d love to say I went in, however, I like to consider myself cultured whether I am or not I felt I was above it. We later discovered it was a ‘fun club’ (much better than fan club) dedicated to the show. I really wish we’d gone.
After missing The Horrors I was determined to see The Klaxons who were also on at a ridiculous time, 20.15 this time. Luckily we got to see them, missing only two songs and we were greatly rewarded for it. People may remember seeing The Klaxons and talking about their raw messy sound, good, but raw. Now however, it is all change – the sound is still fantastic but the band are incredibly tight and put on a very good show.
After The Klaxons was probably the best performance of the festival coming in the unexpected form of Royksopp. Basically they were immense, everyone in the crowd seemed to be dancing along and they even played “Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush.
The final acts of the night for us were Missy Elliot and David Guetta both of which were incredibly packed. Apparently the Eastern Europeans love Missy Elliot – who’d have thought it? She was alright I suppose, lots of costume changes but good if you like her sort of thing. I was very expectant of David Guetta after watching previous footage of him at Exit – thinking he was going to be amazing he could only disappoint me…obviously I was disappointed. It wasn’t so much him but his song choices which were very poor consisting mainly of rubbish mainstream pop-dance.
Overall though, a very good day. And of course a day at Exit wouldn’t be the same without the Aussies, this time meeting them in the food area as Jack Black demolished all of Serbia’s pizza (and speed) reserves.
photo by Nik Torrens
Day 4: The Biggest Human Pyramid Exit has ever Seen
Four days seems like a very long time for a festival. Us English are only used to the three day format so this day appeared quite daunting – what would happen? Could we survive?
What better way to wash away our fears and freshen up than a trip to the beach and a swim in the Danube. Despite the beach being like a beauty contest full of Serbian bodybuilders showing off their bodies we had a very good time – probably because of all the female Serbian models showing off their bodies. The beach is very strange, it’s covered in bars, has a DJ and a basketball court. We stuck to being English though and drank lager in the shade whilst playing paddle ball covered in factor fifty.
On the way to the festival I was feeling rather cocky and decided to bet a whopping 50 Dinar that we would evade the Australians tonight. As you can guess by the title of this section, we didn’t. Not that I was upset I’d lost my bet. 50 Dinar is about 50 pence and we got to build one hell of human Pyramid – legend says there were seven on the bottom (always print the legend).
The music of the evening was Pendulum, The Chemical Brothers and Crystal Castles. Another time mix up however, saw us miss Pendulum – we did hear them form the road, they sounded average. Chemical Brothers were another let down performing mainly a dance set and around only thirty seconds of recognisable songs. The crowd thinned out very quickly and we left ten minutes early so as to catch all of Crystal Castles who in the end were excellent and from what I can remember a very good end to the festival.
photo by Nik Torrens
Planes, Trains and Automobiles Part II: The End
No sleep. Still drunk. Home time methinks. These were my thoughts on the final morning. The music was fantastic, the experience was even better, but there is only so far your body will go.
Having enjoyed the festival to the fullest I can honestly say it was one of the best experiences of my life. On returning to the coach drop and consulting the first mirror of the week I found myself staring into my cold tired festival eyes at a changed person and realising that the wild dogs of Serbia were in fact within us. It was obvious; I needed to sleep. All I could think of now was getting back to Budapest and the warm loving embrace of a bald lesbian woman.
10 Worst Things about Exit
- Quite hard to get to
- It’s proper hot all the time especially mornings
- Wild dogs
- I didn’t mention this above but Australian women are horrible (I quote – ‘everyone can see my anus…I’ll give it a little shake’ – whilst taking a wee) and there are lots of them
- Missing the World Cup
- Stupid times for some acts
- Hunky men on the beach
- Some of the DJ’s on the smaller stages were awful
- Seeing both sunrise and sunset is very disconcerting
- Missing the World Cup again
10 Best Things about Exit
- Royksopp
- Serbian women at the beach
- Swimming in the Danube
- Eastern Europe is amazing
- Chance to travel
- The music is very good
- Friendly
- People actually dance in the crowd
- No queuing for drinks
- CHEAP – price of one Leeds ticket covers flights, festival and camping! Everything else when you get there is also very cheap. Pint for under a euro.
Adam Hartley
Artists in this article: Klaxons, The Chemical Brothers, Crystal Castles, David Guetta, Missy Elliott
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