Was my first exit and i thought it was awesome!

Serbia is cheap as chips and hot as fuck, but is a bit shabby round the edges, with dodgy law enforcers!

The fortress is a fuckin amazing venue with main and dance arenas having very good stages with top production and clear loud sound systems. To many other stages to mention but happynovisad stage i thought was brilliant.

Would definitely go back if lineup was right, the best ever place ive ever been to enjoy music! Loads of exploring to do if music turns you off in big arenas!

Highlights:

The Streets - Fuckin smashed the main stage
Sven Vath - Best set on Dance stage
High Contrast - Best DNB of festival (shame they turn main stage system down at 4am though)
Booka Shade - Brilliant live set
Anja Schneider - Rocked the happynovisad stage
Dubfire - Techno in the moat, thats why i went
Dancing outdoors with the sun coming up and wearing a vest and shorts night and day
Stunt Planes with smoke/fireworks/pyrotechnics/performers
Relaxed and friendly crowd and atmosphere

Lowlights

Watching security beat fuck out of some local in the dance arena in broad daylight
Africa Bambatta - Played a premixed cd of chart music and had two shit mc's chattin bollocks
Tom Novy - Played a massive bag of chart remixes, snap aint for the moat
Paradox - Worst live PA ever, killed the atmosphere and made it worst by talking
The dust everywhere, made my mate physically sick

EXIT may not have the concentrated lineups of uk festivals but has much more diversity. It is somewhere everyone should go once and once your there you will spend very little money! Id recomend you dont camp, it looked awfull!!

Yeah you have to kind of be prepared as ppl try n rip you off from the moment you get off the plane.The atmosphere in the campsite is amazing but dont expect to sleep , the temperature (in the shade and out) combined with the all day cheesey funky house beach party = no sleep , ever. The Fortress is ridiculously big and the views from the top into the dance arena are priceless.

Highlights:
Audion - best set ive ever heard (tho he is my favourite producer)
Sven Vath - a close second
Skream & Benga - Half the audience had never heard dubstep n went mental
DJ Hype
Dubfire - All round perfection , tunes , atmosphere etc (it rained then the heavens seemed to open just above the dance stage to let the sun in)
Mcdonalds! The only place with air - con!

Lowlights:
Hearing someone dided in the campsite from a falling tree branch
Having dodgy chest pains n missing the saturday nights festival
Not being able to sleep for 5 days

Im def going back next year i reckon but will get an apartment as well as a camping pass. It really is what a festival should be , no noise restrictions , cheap prices , amazing ppl but yes the police are well militant

Aiii, think i went there at least three of the days!


Shared an apartment with my girlfriend and mate, always good to have a base for a quick kip and a nice shower. Was expensive but worth every penny, will get one with aircon next year though!


Gutted, fuckin missed it and i love his shit! Agreed that Dubfires set was the nuts, Marko Nastic was ok after aswell, Thursday and Sunday were my fave days!

yeah agreed , thursday and sunday definite highlights

Bang on, i could have written that myself.


Highlights:

The Streets - Fuckin smashed the main stage

So i heard from my sister, not sure where i was at that point. :(

Sven Vath - Best set on Dance stage

He was good to start but i thought he got a bit stale half way through, he's played MUCH better sets this year.

High Contrast - Best DNB of festival (shame they turn main stage system down at 4am though)

Throughly enjoyed that and ive not really being into DnB for years, neither had all my gang who came along with me. Lots of fun and just what was needed in the morning.

Booka Shade - Brilliant live set

Very average IMO, plus it seemed to go quieter half way though and lost a bit of its momentum.

Anja Schneider - Rocked the happynovisad stage

FUCKING AWESOME ! ...definetly one of the best things i heard over there.

Dubfire - Techno in the moat, thats why i went

Good solid set with some stonking basslines, just what i was looking forward to after Sharam's diabolical set.

Dancing outdoors with the sun coming up and wearing a vest and shorts night and day
Stunt Planes with smoke/fireworks/pyrotechnics/performers
Relaxed and friendly crowd and atmo...

:-D

Yeah then security werent raking no shit, did you see the guy climb up onto the gazebbo thing on the monday morning only to literally dragged down to the ground by some burly orange topped fucker !!...proper hilarious.


i passed though the main arena whilst that was on and i was literally taken back at how shocking their set was, what ever happened to what was supposedly a living dj legend ??!?!?!


I didnt even bother with the piss take line up in the Mybel dance arena on the saturday as i knew exactly what id hear, it gave me a great excuse to explore deeper into the other stages up in the Exit village at the other end which was really cool.


day by day it just got worse and worse and i was well glad id packed a bandana in my bag which came into play on the sunday / monday as my chest was totally fucked up and almost made me go home early.......thank god for go-go narcotics. ;-)

If the views over the stages don't take your breath away then the smog will. hehe


For me i think this could well have been the highlight set for me over the entire 4 days, musically it pissed all over the other dj's and artists although Anja's whipped me into such a frenzy that im still debating this with myself.



i chatted to a couple that were sleeping in the Exit campsite when the tree fell down and they told me 3 people had died, none of which were English though. One 28yrs, one 23 yrs and one 22yrs old. The incident was in the local paper i picked up on the monday morning on the way home as well. - nice little souvenior. ;)

Did you notice that security were keeping everyone away from the trees and tops of the banks during the first few hours of opening on the sunday night due to having severe paranoia over more trees falling......that lasted long hahahah

I rented an apartment about 20 minutes walk from the fortress in the main town (approx 5 mins in a taxi though), which il add varied in price every single time. from as low as 82 dinars to 700 dinars on one ocassion *i told that one to fuck right off* but on average 200 dinars which equates to roughly £2 - superb.

The place we rented only costed about £20 a night and slept 6-8, it was someones actual home i think and still had all their belongings in it which il add got quite trashed, whoops !
cheap as it was i think il be looking for one with air-con next year though, coming back after sweating one out for 12 hours you really dont want to continue dehydrating whilst static in the mid day heat in your room.



I can't believe nobody has mentioned how fucking shit their cuisine (or lack of it) over there is, do the Serbians not eat anything other than badly made pizzas, kebabs and corn on the friggin cob ?!?!?

More highlights:

Marko Nastic provided some much expected techno nastiness to close.

Kos was superb as ever and is most definetly getting the sets he deserves now, he's gonna be huge.

Seba played an amazing deep & intelligent / progressive DnB set in the Happy Novi Sad stage.

Pete Philly & Pequisite delivered one of the coolest hip hop sets ive ever witnessed over in the Converse Fusion stage, true musicians and worth checking out.

The Urban Bug stage was consistantly dishing the goods when the other dance stages lacked, thumbs up to them throughout the course of 4 days.


Can't wait to see what the Exit guys have up their sleeves for next years 10th anniversary, im expecting a damn serious line up which you'd be stupid to miss.

Spent loads of time by that urban bug stage, was ace. Caught start of Seba but we left for some reason and i think i missed audion as we werelate getting back from the streets, really gutted i missed both. Was it me or was Anja Schneiders mixing a bit loose? I just love those Booka Shade tunes, not an aweinspiring set i know but just seemed to captivate the crowd!

Cant believe how much corn they eat, i got a taxi to the air conditionedmcdonalds every day and nailed a few £6 20 inch pizzas aswell.

Missed Kos aswell, typical festival activity, always miss something you plan for some reason or other. I also agree Sharam needs shooting, whats that daniel beddingfield shit all about, ican see why dubfire went solo!!!! Also agree not Vaths finest hour, but my fave little technostint of the festie, maybe cos i was still shocked how good the dance moat was, always like his stupid dancers aswell. Thought Heidi was quite good aswell, first time id seen her and the only time i made it to the festival befre midnight!

If the ten year anniversary lineup is a belter, i may just go, and mix it up with some time in Croatia aswell!!!

Still cant believe i missed audion, he was ace in Birmingham before Vath in May.

Holy fuck how much did i type last night haha

I reckon that'll be what i do next time around as a few of mates did when they left us monday and went to chill in Split for a while.

Bloody hell ive just realised that not one single person has even mentioned how bloody good 2 Many Djs were, now that's how you open up a set. Their re-edit of Chemical Brothers 'Hey boy Hey girl' literally destroyed it !!! Ive not seen a crowd go that mental over a set in yonks, a proper party atmosphere in full swing and EVERY track went down well without a single hitch or glitch in beats or mixing throughout. I salute these guys.

Also worthy of a mention was Ben Watt, he played some of the nicest non cheesey proper house of the weekend. Dropping some Everything But The Girl and Bjork remixs in there was much appreciated by all i think.

I caught a bit of Ben Watt and liked what i heard but thought 2 many djs were shit, i fucked off after about 3 tunes but appreciate how popular they are. Soulwax live however i liked, worked in some old belgian techno classics towards the end and tweaked em about, brilliant!

Although i totally disagree i can see why you might think that as im generally not for big anthems and cliched sets but there was no denying that was superb programming by Exit and the lads definetly owned that place once they stepped up to the decks. At the end of the day they are not about whats hot and fresh but about creating a certain vibe that ive yet to see them fail at.
I didn't catch Soulwax as i was soaking up Marcin Czubala & Anja Schneider, plus id seen Soulwax a few times before anyway.

Think i comprimised him for soulwax, caught anja though which was a winner!

2 Many DJs are really good at what they do and they had the crowd eating out of their hands, just wasnt in the mood i think!

Really deep and tripped out techno, it certaintly put me in a strange place if you know what i mean ! ;-)

Exit 2008. i had the most amazing time. i can not fault this festival.
the music, the people, the price, the atmosphere were all perfect!

we stayed in some old dears house about 1/2 hrs walk from the site. well cheap at £60 for the 4 days. ment we could nip back for a quick kip and a shower!
i got to see. Nerd, gossip, paul weller, primal scream.
not to mention all the boss djs, sven vath, bukka shade, tom novy and a million more, i cant remember...but the techno was to die for...proper pounding bass lines, turns me on just thinkin about it lol.

on the final night we made it right up the back on top of the hill....1 week i will never forget.
can wait for next year. x

2 many dj's set was incredible

they had the same sort of stuf from the past year, but seemed to step it up a level an really hammer it!

av never experienced an atmosphere or dj set like that in my life

amazing!!!



as for the rest of it, cusione was quality loads of restaurants if u looked

i shall b camping again next year, the location is amazing, an the all day beach partys to psy trance amognst others well down a treat haha

if u want to sleep an be a general crank and nitpick i suggest u opt for an apartment

this festival certainly aint for sleeping or eating, so putting that aside its perfect!

*NB.i have never seen such a bunch of messes! everybody was off ther nut 24/7 hahah

What at the main Exit camp site by the beach ? All i ever heard there was reggae and rubbish house. Or did you stay at the other camp site right by the fortress ?

Ouch, so wrong. But I don't blame foreigners for not knowing about local cuisine specialties, perhaps someone should do an effort and improve advertising of local restaurants that offer quality local food... As Frenchville said, there are quite a few restaurants in the city centre and around Spens. Better luck next time ;)


In other news -- one girl has died in camp, and two were hardly injured and were immediately hospitalized. Nobody is to blame for the accident, nor it was possible to predict or prevent it somehow; it is categorized as an act of God... So sad :(

I blame them pesky squirrels myself.