Exit Festival Novi Sad, Serbia 8-11/7/10 [Part 1]
4/5
By: Adam Hartley
Well, where to start…On returning from Exit festival I was filled with an overwhelming sense of relief at my survival and sadness that the adventure had to end. Travelling all the way to Eastern Europe and back, fighting off wild dogs and Aussies (I’ll explain), listening to some fantastic music and having a thoroughly good time really does give you a feeling of immense satisfaction. What follows is a general guide and documentation of the events that occurred over one very special week in the Eastern Block.
photo by Nik Torren
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Situated on the banks of the Danube in Novi Sad, Exit isn’t really the easiest festival to get to. On the other hand it does take place in a fortress, and having been initially unsure, this latter factor was a real clincher for me.
Once broken down into stages the actual travelling to the festival can be accomplished in some relatively simple steps which for us included flying to Budapest and getting a coach to Novi Sad – an overall travelling time of about eight hours. We (me and five friends) opted to have a night in Budapest on the Tuesday before the festival which I would greatly advise as, not only is the city a fantastic place, but it gives you a full day to get to the festival.
In Budapest we stayed in a lovely hostel run by very attractive bald lesbians (we could only assume). On a night out in the town we found some rather nice bars namely Szimpla which has a garden type area to drink in. It was here that we had our first meeting with a group of rowdy Australians called Jack Black, White Marley and The Other One – alright those aren’t their names but we got far too drunk to remember and it seemed rude to ask again, trust me though, those names are perfect. After an eventful evening including white Marley smoking his dreadlocks we parted ways, promising to build the largest human pyramid Exit had ever seen if we met again.
Having got an unbearably hot train back to the airport for our coach we embarked on the supposedly four hour trip to Novi Sad which, with the help of some thorough border control, managed to last over eight hours. Once dumped in the city we had a very, very long walk (especially with massive bags) to the campsite, and after an extremely long day this was a grateful sight. It appears like a mirage in the desert, after all the stress of the journey it seemed like some sort of paradise – only one that played reggae and dubstep.
The campsite is actually very good. It is smaller and feels a lot safer than the one at Leeds festival where you are likely to have your sleep disturbed by explosions, fire and general debauchery. Not that I have anything against Leeds - I’ve had some good times there - it’s just that the Serbians seemed friendlier and more laid back.
The only real danger in Serbia comes from the wild dogs which are likely to bite your face off at the first chance they get. We discussed these in great length on the coach and by the end of the journey we weren’t sure if they were rumours or malicious falsehood created by ourselves to strike fear into the other passengers.
photo by Nik Torren
Day 1: LCD Soundsystem, Mika and More General Titillation
In order to get to the fortress from the campsite another little jaunt is required back down a hill towards town and passed an unimaginable amount of Serbian salesmen flogging anything from ice and cigarettes to Rakije (a traditional Slavic drink - you know it’s good if you go blind). The most successful of these salesmen seemed to be a small child of around five, his success appeared to be down to the fact that all the drunk foreigners enjoyed the novelty of his age and would go out of their way to buy a pack of Phillip Morris (traditional Slavic cigarettes – again quality is affirmed with blindness) for a Euro.
Once inside the Fortress we were immediately greeted with the start of LCD Soundsytem’s set as well as the sheer scale of what we were about to experience. LCD put on a fantastic show playing an ideal mix of new and old. Highlights included ‘All My Friends’ ‘Daft Punk is playing at My House’ and new songs ‘Drunk Girls’ and ‘Pow Pow’. James Murphy is just an excellent showman and easily got the crowd dancing and singing along.
The thing that immediately stands out about Exit Festival is that people actually dance, the crowd is full but if you need you can walk to the front or the bar and there is no queuing or pushing. Everyone just wants to have a good time and you’re basically left to your own devices, whether you just want to watch the band or whether you want to go proper mental. And speaking of proper mental, LCD Soundsystem saw another encounter with our Aussie friends who insisted on more drinks and acting like ‘foreign nob-heads’ as can be seen on Brits-abroad.
Personally I am not a fan of Mika; however, he is one hell of a showman. The man really knows how to work a crowd. After a couple of songs I was dancing and singing along with the rest of the crowd and surprising myself with the amount of words I actually knew.
After Mika this would normally be the end of the night for most English festivals, but not Exit. Next a trip to the dance arena was required where Erol Alkan and Boys Noize both put on very strong shows to take us through to morning. There is no feeling that compares with the weirdness of a conscious transition between being blind drunk and really quite sober and pumped full of adrenalin as the sun rises to instil you with more life.
Day 2: I Bet Ricardo Villalobos is Rocking out Right Now
Probably the worst thing about Exit festival is the heat. After going to bed around six in the morning your woken up about nine due to the fact it is far too hot in the sun. The best thing to do here is get a cold shower, drag your sleeping bag under a tree and sleep till one o’clock. This was the routine for the remainder of the festival.
Day two was quite disappointing for me personally. Having seen The Horrors put on quite a poor set at Evolution in Newcastle I was determined to see them play well here. Unfortunately on the billing they were on at 20.45 – a time we just couldn’t manage to get to having been in town. However, when walking to Placebo after an interesting time watching fire breathers at the roots and flowers stage we discovered their time had changed to 22.30 – a time we could easily have made. Overall, very annoying.
Placebo on the other hand were very good putting on a set filled with classics to please the crowd. Following them on one of the minor stages was Does it Offend You Yeah? who managed to make up for me missing The Horrors by cranking out some dirty electronic dubstep, showing me you don’t have to know a bands songs to have a really good time.
After the mix up with the Horrors we discovered we weren’t the only ones to miss out on day two. On returning to the campsite we were confronted by a Serbian called Ant. After talking to him for a while he seemed on the brink of tears as he mumbled “I bet Ricardo Villalobos is rocking out right now,” before skulking off into the dark, no doubt to be eaten by wild dogs.
Artists in this article: Placebo, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Boys Noize, LCD Soundsystem
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