With the finish line in sight and ‘back to work thoughts’ creeping onto the horizon everybody wanted to go out with a bang. The heat of Saturday had continued to magnify so the bars in town – the other side of the river to the festival – were heaving with revellers lounging in the shade and desperately trying to get some carbs onboard for the final assault. To be fair the food available was pretty awful. Pasta or pizza was pretty much all that was on offer and at tourist prices it did stick in the throat a little bit - or was that the dust?
Apparently all of the restaurants on the main square had full menus available at a fraction of the price they were offering but they were kept out of sight for the week either side of the festival. Although far from ideal, this was the locals only opportunity all year to rake in the cash so from that perspective, fair play. The campsite offered cardboard tubs of Chinese that was pretty good for the English festival price of a fiver and then there was slices of pizza for 2 quid and freshly squeezed fruit juices for a bit more. It wasn’t exactly Hell’s Kitchen but it did the job.
Booka Shade tonked it in the Dance Arena to an audience that had the pit bursting at the seams. The bass reverberated against the back walls for ‘Charlotte,’ which is definitely one of the tunes of the summer. Their finish of ‘In White Rooms’ and ‘Body Language’ is the kind of signature other artists would kill for. Ben Nott’s deep house set before them was pretty boring in truth although the M.A.N.D.Y. remix of ’49% Percent’ proved a rare treat. It was then left to Deep Dish to finish things off, now playing separately Sebastien Chabal-lookalike Sharam, played the big vocals before Dubfire kept his big bassy start going right up until 6.30. Local Marco Nastic closed things off with a minimal techno set that showed why he is the only artist to play every year of this festival.
If you’re planning on going next year then a kick heads up on the Serbian border control. It seemed our reputation preceded us as every English bus, travelling from Budapest, was forced to stand at the side of the road for upwards of an hour in order to prove we were sober enough to enter their country. As we did this, the Serbian Police took great delight in turning the bus over and in refusing one poor chap from going for a piss. He nearly burst and to be honest it was pretty funny. That and the dust aside, Exit festival is quite simply brilliant. The range of acts and setting make it “completely unique.” Not my words, Mike Skinner’s and who’d argue with him after a set like that?
Click here to see all The Exit Festival highlights in pictures!
