Serbia’s Exit Festival Sets Attendance Record, Gears Up For Exit 2.0

More than 200,000 music lovers from 90-plus countries passed through the gates of Exit festival at the colossal 18th century Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia, July 4-7. Right on the first day, the festival’s organizers celebrated a new daily attendance record with 56,000 visitors.

Over the course of four days, The Cure, Greta Van Fleet, The Chainsmokers, Carl Cox, Skepta, Amelie Lens, Paul Kalkbrenner, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Solomun, Tom Walker, IAMDDB, Jeff Mills, Chase & Status, Desiigner, Maceo Plex, Lost Frequencies and hundreds more took one of Exit’s 20 stages.

Exit’s communications director Sagor Mešković told Pollstar, “ahead of our big 20th anniversary next year, we aimed to raise the bar with this year’s edition already, and thankfully we did it on several fronts. The daily attendance record was set from the very first day, which, despite a massive storm on the closing day, still led to the final number of little bit over 200,000 music lovers from more than 90 countries that went through the festival gates. 

“We also made many upgrades and improvements to the production and combined with our unique 18th century Petrovaradin Fortress overlooking the Danube, it made this edition to peak above others before, setting the bar even higher ahead of next year’s big birthday bash.”

Robert Smith and The Cure considered their 2.5-hour set at Exit to be among the best shows on the band’s extensive festival run, according to the band’s management, who forwarded Smith’s feedback to the Exit team. It means something, seeing that the band is in the middle of a run covering some 25 festivals across Europe, U.K., the US and Japan.

The Cure’s U.K. agent Martin Hopewell told Pollstar that it was very much the band’s choice to play a good number of festivals this summer: “Robert really wanted to play a definitive list of the major events that the band have particularly enjoyed playing over the years to celebrate their big 40th anniversary – and to visit a few places that we haven’t managed to get to before. Exit was one example of that, in fact.

“It may look like a lot of festivals have been included, but actually it’s only about a third of all the options that we were given. It’s quite frustrating when you have offers for seven or eight festivals during one weekend, but are only physically able to play two of them. Then of course there’s the current mania for exclusivity restrictions to pick your way through. We’re all very happy with the way it turned out, though. I don’t think that we’re really missing any of the main markets or events, and so far everything is going fantastically well.”

Mešković described the Cure show as “both intimate and grandiose.” On the same night The Cure took the stage, Carl Cox led 25,000 ravers into the morning at Exit’s Dance Arena. Another stand-out moment for … came when British hitmaker Tom Walker gave a moving speech before performing “Leave a Light On.” “That moment felt very intense and sincere. Another great speech on the Main Stage came from the members of the Standing Rock tribe, who spoke on the pressing matters of preserving life on our planet.

“A highly emotional moment happened at the very closing of the the whole festival when Amelie Lens finished her first encore. After being called out on stage again, and knowing how deep our relationship with The Prodigy was, she went on and played ‘Firestarter!’ 

“It was amazing to witness 25,000 people honoring the late Keith Flint, dancing and celebrating life to a song that was our unofficial anthem, when we led massive student protests for the whole summer of 2000, that overthrew the oppressive regime in the end.”

The student protests developed into the event that is Exit Festival today. Next year’s edition will mark its 20th anniversary. The festival will be dubbed Exit 2.0, “since it will mark the new beginning for us, a step into a new festival era on almost all levels,” according to Mešković. 

“The aim for Exit next year is not just to gather some of the hottest names in music today, but also have a carefully curated list of names who helped shape our two-decade history. Naturally, since Exit has such strong activist roots and still nurtures them today, significant projects are planned on local, regional and global levels.”

According to Mešković, “the change Exit has brought on many levels is evident. In its beginnings, Exit was the meeting point for the Balkan youth who were kept apart by war and prejudice. Nowadays the Exit family counts festivals in Croatia, Montenegro and others. Speaking from a local level, July in the city of Novi Sad without Exit is now impossible to imagine. The city is now globally recognized as a tourist destination, promoted as such in Lonely Planet, Guardian, Mirror and other famed media such too.”