Kosovo Clubbing

Written by: Saranda Vraniqi Exit , now world-renowned, held its 24th festival this year.   This article won't cover who performed or how many awards the festival has garnered so far. You can find all that on Exit's official website.  Instead, I'll try to paint a picture of one evening/night at the festival from my perspective —how the eyes, soul, and other senses of a long-time clubber (and journalist) experienced one of my favorite festivals. To better understand why you might consider my opinion on the festival, I'll share a bit about myself. I'm 45 years old and have been a clubber since I was two. It sounds surreal, but it's my truth . My love for music and dancing started on my dad's lap as he bounced me to the rhythm of the music. My dad, who deserves his own novel (which I won't write now), took me with him to discos and cafes like a little sidekick. By the age of four, people recognized me on the street as the "little girl from the disco....

The recent EXIT Festival resonated with the biggest hits and a buzz of diverse languages from over 200,000 people gathered from 120 countries.  Guests from Kosovo, Turkey, Slovenia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Hungary, the UK, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and many other countries converged in Novi Sad for a grand celebration of music, love, and freedom from July 6th to 9th at the enchanting Petrovaradin Fortress, which, besides the fantastic lineup, stood out as the festival's highlight.  Visitors left the Fortress this year feeling happy, excited, and filled with memories from these four unforgettable days.  "It's so amazing,"  "The festival is fantastic,"  "We loved a hundred things about it,"  "The festival exceeded all my expectations and more" – these are just a few of the impressions shared by Exitors :)  Though each festival experience was unique, they all united in the desire to return to EXIT next year and eve...

EXIT Festival 2023 shines a light on vital issues, promoting mental health and ecological consciousness. With a mission to create a better world together, the festival organized multiple opening ceremonies focused on spreading messages of peace and love.  Throughout the event, festival-goers experienced designated phone-free zones, recycling initiatives, and inspiring messages highlighting mental well-being.  In a powerful move, EXIT Foundation launched the "Life Is Live" campaign, raising awareness about the importance of young people's mental health and addressing digital addiction.  The festival's eco-conscious e fforts included large-scale recycling campaigns, collecting three times more packaging than in previous years. Visitors participated in green activities, earning prizes for their responsible waste disposal. In addition to promoting peace and unity, EXIT bestowed every visitor with the title of "peaceful traveler."  Messages emphasizing mental...

Every Visitor to the Petrovaradin Fortress is a Peaceful Traveller!  The collaboration between the EXIT Festival and the Institute for Peace Through Tourism marks an inspiring initiative to promote peace and unity among festival visitors. This joint mission has resulted in an agreement that grants every visitor to this year's festival the esteemed title of "peaceful traveller." This designation reflects the values of gratitude, tolerance , and appreciation of diversity that define peaceful travellers.  One of the noteworthy aspects of this collaboration is the distribution of the credo of the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism to all EXIT lovers. This credo encapsulates the principles that characterize a peaceful traveller, emphasizing the individual's commitment to journey with an open mind, accept diversity with grace and gratitude , and protect the natural environment. By embracing these principles, peaceful travellers foster an atmosphere of f...

Another EXIT Dance Arena Belgrade Takeover :) Boris Brejcha Returns in Exclusive “In Concert” Tour! After Paul Kalkbrenner’s spectacular performance in the Belgrade Arena, EXIT has announced the return of another local audience favorite – Boris Brejcha. Brejcha will arrive at the Main Hangar of the Port of Belgrade on November 10 as part of the exclusive “In Concert” tour. Serbia’s capital is again on his map, along with London, Berlin, Paris, and other metropolises. Brejcha is accompanied by representatives of his prestigious label Fckng Serious – talented producers Deniz Bull and Moritz Hofbauer.  Boris Brejcha has made a significant contribution to the music program of mts Dance Arena with his performances so far. He stated in a previous interview that he “always enjoys performing at EXIT, especially at dawn. Over time, Boris Brejcha has developed his own style – “high tech minimal” techno – as a separate genre, sometimes referred to as the “intelligent music of tomorrow.”...

After the EXIT Festival premiered an exclusive VR project last year at World Expo Dubai, EXIT and Coca-Cola are launching a series of events from May 28 to June 18 called EXITVERSE @ Coke Studio in five Serbian and two North Macedonian cities. The world’s best festival VR experience will allow visitors to see the EXIT Festival from an entirely new perspective — standing right next to David Guetta on the Main Stage or next to Solomon and Paul Kalkbrenner on the Dance Arena! To mark this occasion, special merchandise packages will be created, with one in each city containing two EXIT VIP tickets, while all funds collected on behalf of the EXIT Foundation will be donated to humanitarian causes. Exit’s exclusive VR project was initially presented within the Serbian Pavilion at World Expo 2020 in Dubai. Since then, the VR zone has been an integral part of every festival and event organized by Exit. This unique audio-visual project showcases recognizable festival locations, including some e...

After receiving an award for Best Innovation at the U.K Festival Awards, EXIT has entered into a multi-year collaboration with ticketing platform NFT-TiX for its upcoming festivals and events. EXIT, a multiple Best European Festival Award winner, became the first major music event in the world to use blockchain technology to sell NFT tickets for an event of this size, enabling the purchase of tickets on a decentralised ticketing platform.  It was this project that won the U.K Festival Innovation Award mentioned earlier and it has now been shortlisted for the DISRUPTOR Award at the Ticketing Business Awards, one of the most prestigious global awards in ticketing business industry.  The collaboration with NFT-TiX will include a series of events organised by the EXIT team, with a special offer for the upcoming EXIT Festival, which will take place from the 6th to the 9th of July 2023 at the Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad.  In addition to NFT tickets, EXIT was the first...

UK platform Savoo conducted research to answer the question of which festivals offer the best value for money. Out of the 12 most popular European festivals, EXIT came in second place. According to research by Savoo, considering the headliners of this year’s EXIT Festival, including Wu-Tang Clan, The Prodigy, Skrillex, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Eric Prydz, and many others, as well as the prices of festival tickets compared to tickets for their individual concerts, EXIT offers visitors from abroad the opportunity to hear their favorite global stars at a discount of €350!  By comparing the prices of festival tickets with the biggest festival headliners’ average solo concert ticket prices, the British platform Savoo researched the most famous music festivals in the UK and Europe to find out how much visitors can save by visiting each of them.  EXIT took a high second place on the list of European festivals, with the most affordable ticket price in relation to the quality o...

The growing effects of the internet on young people, mental health concerns, and the increasing dependence on digital technologies were the main topics of Exit's "Life is Live" panel , which concluded this year's edition of the TMRW Conference. This panel also proposed strategies through which the IT sector and the music industry could join forces with social communities in a bid to solve acute problems.  The panel featured musician and expert in digital technology, one of the members of the legendary rock group Pink Floyd, Scott Pag e, adviser to the Minister of Tourism and Youth for youth policy Snežana Klašnja , UNICEF adviser in the program for the development of adolescents and young people Bojana Jevtović , and founder and director of the EXIT festival group Dušan Kovačević.  Experts in the field of mental health, law, youth development, and politics discussed the consequences of replacing real life with the virtual one, especially when it comes to young peop...

Belgrade was conquered by the EXIT Dance Arena event, which officially launched EXIT's festival season.  The main Hangar of the Port of Belgrade was packed with more than 5,000 people who danced to the sophisticated tech house sound of Hot Since 82.  The event was a perfect prelude to one of the strongest editions of mts Dance Arena, featuring renowned artists such as Eric Prydz, Nina Kraviz, Amelie Lens, Indira Paganotto, Keinemusik, Michael Bibi, CamelPhat, and many others.  The evening was opened by last year's Let's Mix It competition winner Dakman, and the music project IDQ performed their hybrid DJ set, premiering unreleased tracks from their long-awaited album "Borderline."  The EXIT Dance Arena event in Belgrade was a massive success, and the upcoming mts Dance Arena is set to be one of the most exciting editions yet. [source] 

Within the MOST project, Urban Project Hub is open for supporting the local music scene in the Balkans. The EXIT Foundation , a partner on the MOST project , invites creative minds to apply for the open call and present ideas that will contribute to the development of the music scene in the Balkans.  The Urban Project Hub competition is looking for creative and unique projects that will reveal n ew ways of cooperation between creatives and local policymakers in the field of culture. Ideal candidates should be capable of managing project and making ideas a reality, with financial and professional support from MOST.  Regional and city-level projects providing exchange and network opportunities to local musicians, and activities that can strengthen the local music scene will be shortlisted for funding. Six of the best projects will receive financial and professional support for implementation: MOST will provide up to 5,000 euros for each of the six projects, on top of coll...

No Sleep Festival  is set to have a grand celebration of its European title in Belgrade in the spring!   After a two-year break, No Sleep, still officially the Best New European Festival, is coming back to Belgrade with two editions in 2022.  In addition to the regular date in November, there will be an additional celebratory edition on 8th and 9th April 2022.  The location remains the Port of Belgrade, but this time, it is the new, even more enormous, and more spectacular Matrez hangar, whose brutalist architecture will take your breath away at first sight!  After a four-year break, we’ll see the return of Nina Kraviz , whose performance at this year’s EXIT was, in the opinion of many, one of the best in the world in the entire year! Her record label is working overtime, and the techno-trance anthem “Lolytrance,” signed by Antigone, is considered by many to be the track of the year! While we wait for the new single and the upcoming album, we can “meet” Nina in...

On Thursday, September 24 at 20:20 EXIT will launche a new project InfinitX .  The first InfinitX livestream event is being realized together with  Charlotte de Witte within her New Form series and with the support of Beatport. The Belgian superstar recorded this special performance from the unique location of the Mogren Fortress in Budva . Charlotte’s performance will have an exceptional global promotional value, bearing in mind that with this project she is launching her new EP “Rave On Time”. It will be exclusively available to purchase on Beatport from the onset of the livestream and comes on her own label KNTXT which is also an influential party that has held special showcases round Europe. Again the EP showed a subtle evolution in her style as she laced dark , driving techno , acid and rave with her own mystic ambience and stylish sense of sound design. This new stream is a perfect chance to tune into one of the world’s foremost techno innovators while soaking u...