Exit History
Monday, 16 April 2007
History
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The Beginning
The EXIT festival came into being in the year 2000 as an act of rebellion against the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, that had for years been keeping Serbia out of touch with the outside world. That summer thousands of young people from Novi Sad gathered in the campus park by the Danube River where concerts, parties and art performances took place. There were also discussions and debates where the young were able to express their opposition to the imposed nationalism, xenophobia, censorship and repression. The event lasted for 100 days and its grand finale was the 'Get out to Vote' party, which was held one day before the elections that saw the downfall of Milosevic.
Having been inspired by the enthusiasm brought on by the changes in the country, the team behind EXIT decided to continue with the festival and create an event of true regional importance. They chose the historic Petrovaradin Fortress as their venue, built high on the banks of the River Danube and offering a stunning view of Novi Sad. The site was originally occupied by the Romans, and re-built by the Austro Hungarian Empire as defence against the Turks in the 17th Century.
Although very few people believed the idea would be a success, the first event held in July 2001 was visited by 200,000 people from all over Serbia and neighbouring ex-Yugoslav countries.
The festival lasted for nine days, had five stages, a theatre and a cinema. Apart from listening to bands from Serbia, the EXIT audience also enjoyed performances by internationally recognised artists such as Finley Quaye, Kosheen, Roni Size, Banco de Gaia, Tony Allen, Max Romeo, Luke Slater, Salome de Bahia, and Tim Simeon. For the first time since the end of the Balkan war, performers from Croatia played in front of a large audience in Serbia.
Spreading the Word
Those who came to EXIT spread the word that it was the best party in the Balkans and the following year the number of visitors doubled to 400,000. The festival camp sprang up on the other side of the river with more than a thousand tents and a grand Dance Arena for 25,000 people was constructed at the fortress where David Morales, Darren Emerson, Lottie, Erick Morillo, Marshal Jefferson, LTJ Bukem, Brenda Russell, Derrick Carter and Kevin Yost performed. Artists who took to the main stage were the Asian Dub Foundation, Rundamenthal, Transglobal Underground, Smoke City, Roni Size, KAOS Night and Horace Andy. An enormous banner was placed on the walls of the fortress facing the city of Novi Sad saying "SERBIA, ARE YOU READY FOR THE FUTURE?" The success of EXIT caused a chain reaction of festivals to spring up all over the country, but most of them did not manage to survive.
After the first two festivals the appetite of the audience grew and the EXIT team decided to shorten the festival to four days so that the budget could be concentrated and more resounding names could be brought in. EXIT 03 had seven stages with performances from over 400 artists, including Stereo MC's, Moloko, Shane McGowan, Chumbawamba, Tricky, Jeff Mills, Darren Emerson, Lottie and DJ Marky. Apart from the festival goers attending from the Western Balkan states the festival also hosted guests from Hungary, Greece, UK, Sweden and Australia.
The festival proclaimed the State of EXIT - a state for those who share values, environmental awareness, and tolerance and are open to the different cultures and also want to make the world around them a better place. The festival flyers were printed as passports.
The festival kept on growing and the EXIT 04 line-up included Massive Attack, Iggy and the Stooges, Cypress Hill, Brand New Heavies, Neneh Cherry, Goldfrapp, Peaches, Senor Coconut, Timo Maas, Roger Sanchez, Satoshie Tomiie, Steve Lawler, Technasia amongst others.
Music and So Much More
As well as being one of the biggest festivals in South East Europe, Exit has an enormous impact on the society and the organisation's political agenda is still paramount. In 2004 MTV Europe's Foundation partnered with EXIT staff, anti-trafficking organisations and local media to raise awareness of trafficking and sexual exploitation in the region. 20,000 information booklets were handed out during the festival and workshops were organised with journalists, police, activists and cultural figures. MTV also produced a one-hour documentary about EXIT that included the trafficking issues that was aired in 20 countries across Central and Eastern Europe.
The fifth festival year was highlighted by the White Stripes, Garbage, Ian Brown, Underworld, Slayer, Apocalyptica, Datsuns, Fatboy Slim, Carl Cox, Felix Da Housecat, Sasha and 2manyDJs. BBC Radio 1 also chose Exit for a special live broadcast with Annie Mac, Annie Nightingale, Fabio and Gilles Peterson.
Jason Carter, Radio 1's executive producer of live events, commented "Exit Festival has a diverse and credible line-up and is our principal international music festival this summer. We plan to reflect for our listeners what is new and important in live music today." The festival was visited by around 1500 Brits who seemed to have brought the English weather with them as it was the first time EXIT had faced bad weather. The audience showed however, that rain and mud could not spoil their fun.
Freeing Your Mind
In 2005 MTV Europe Foundation introduced the Free Your Mind Stage at EXIT, which provided an invigorating environment for festival goers to openly discuss, debate and learn about the topics surrounding trafficking, abuse, exploitation, gender issues, economic pressures, youth unemployment, substance abuse and migration.
EXIT 06 was marked by the 'Visa Abolishment Campaign', which is against the complicated and hard Schengen visa regime that has kept young people from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Albania in isolation for years. Prior to the festival, EXIT instigated a "NOT60EUROS!" campaign, where people from all around the EU were invited to record the phrase "NOT60EUROS!" in their own language and to send it to the campaigners. During the festival, a large billboard with a picture of the Eiffel tower was set up with the words "GREETENGS FROM EUROPE" written on it. Visitors were invited to have their picture taken in front of it so that the image could be sent to them as an e-card together with the e-mail addresses of EU institutions, the Western Balkan Government and the media. The point was to show that these people are the same as tourists in the front of the real Eiffel tower - the only difference being that they are not allowed to travel there.
The MTV Europe Foundation also hosted Free Your Mind Stage for the second year round and launched the Radis Nesto? (Are you doing anything?) campaign. This was a multimedia campaign designed to increase awareness about youth unemployment issues in South East Europe and thousands of informational booklets containing key messages and resources were handed out at the festival.
In the same year UK's The Observer newspaper recommended EXIT as the best festival to visit that year, and the number of visitors from the UK rose to over 5000. There were 24 stages and the festival line-up included the Pet Shop Boys, Scissor Sisters, Franz Ferdinand, The Cardigans, The Cult, Billy Idol, Him, Dizzie Rascal, Madball, Goldie, David Guetta, Dave Clark, Derrick May, Hernan Cattaneo, Jeff Mills, and M.A.N.D.Y.
2007 was a milestone year for the festival. Not only were there over 190.000 visitors to the festival (30% of who were foreigners) and not only were there two campsites to accomodate all the 12,000 EXIT campers but the star-studded lineup included Snoop Dogg, Ms. Lauryn Hill, The Prodigy, The Beastie Boys, CSS, Basement Jaxx, Robert Plant, Groove Armada, LTJ Bukem and Pendulum among many many other world-class musicians. On top of all of this, EXIT was awarded the prestigious UK Festival Award for the best festival in Europe for 2007, as voted for by festival-goers from all over the world.
Running on the high from last year and with the amazing lineup announced thus far, Exit 08 will undoubtedly be as wild, as exciting and as fun as any Exit to date....if not more so.
EXIT is rapidly gaining more and more international recognition and proves that music is a universal language that can connect and bring people together and make the world a better place.
Click here for an overview of the artists and stages of all the past EXIT Festivals.
