N*E*R*D and The Streets open EXIT Festival

Serbia | | 11 July 2008

Travelling fans from western Europe united with Serbs, Croats and other eastern Europeans, dancing together until dawn among the historic walls of Petrovaradin Fortress in the Serbian city of Novi Sad. It’s clear to see why you voted it Europe’s very best at last year’s UK Festival Awards.

Following early evening sets by The Bell Rays and Nightwish, Pharrell Williams’ side project N*E*R*D got the party properly started on the main stage, despite the enigmatic singer suffering from illness.

Made up mainly of songs from latest album Seeing Sounds, the set took a while to warm up, but old favourites such as ‘She Likes To Move’ soon had the crowd dancing along.

The Streets took things up a gear further, with Mike Skinner in fine crowd baying form. All the classics came out with highlights including ‘Blinded By The Lights’ and ‘Fit But You Know It’.

But the best moment came when Skinner asked: “Serbia, I want you to do me a favour, I want to see the world’s biggest jump.” The singer then instructed everyone to crouch down before getting everyone to jump on his command and “go crazy”.

That spectacle, though, pales into insignificance compared to the jaw-dropping site that is the dance arena, the biggest of its kind in Europe.

Audion kicked things off there from midnight with a thumping live show, before in form DJ Sven Vath shook the fortress walls to their core as around 20,000 ravers flooded the open air amphitheatre.

Francois K followed with a stylish tech set as the sun rose over the Danube river, illuminating the fortress and all who were in it, while back on the main stage DJ Hype whipped up the early morning masses with some furious drum’n’bass.

EXIT Festival continues until Sunday, Sex Pistols, Booka Shade, Manu Chao and The Hives just a few of the artists performing over a staggering 25 stages. We’ll keep you posted.       

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