Serbia's State Of Exit 04: Better & Better

"What makes Exit so important is the fact that there's nothing else substantial in Serbia that challenges the past or offers local people a viable reason to think things could be better. When the artists visit they love it because it's a great gig though most don't even realise that they're helping to make history."

With Serbia's recent history including ethnic cleansing, genocide and war, British promoter Paxton Talbot's claims are neither overblown nor exaggerated, though he's wrong about at least one of the artists on this year's bill.

"What makes this gig particularly interesting is the fact that we were bombing Belgrade and Novi Sad just three or four years ago," says breakbeat pioneer Howie B.

"It's mad when you find out what the fuck we've done to these places; or rather, what others have done to them."

The 'we' or 'others' Howie's referring to are NATO and the most visible sign of their handiwork in Novi Sad today is the still severed Sloboda ('Freedom') Bridge, whose disconnected ends slope at 45º angles into the murky Danube river. Blown up by three cruise missiles at 8pm on the night of 3 April 1999, the clinically cut former 6 lane highway remains a powerful reminder of just how recently 'the West' was at war with the citizens of Novi Sad; the same people now flocking to an event headlined by a Western bunch of performers. As German philosopher Martin Luther presciently put it, in the Middle Ages; 'music is a gift of God. Satan hates music: he knows how it drives the evil spirit out of us.'

And Exit itself almost literally began as a contemporary battle between good and evil, with festival founder Dusan Kovacevic helping transform the first event in 2000 into a bloodless coup that eventually ousted tyrannical Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic. Four years on Milosevic is still fighting war crime charges in the Hague, while in Serbia, Exit is now primarily about music, specifically four nights worth of music from a cast of hundreds of performers and DJs.

The festival's other key raison d'etre is leisure, ie the opportunity to (over) indulge in Novi Sad's extremely cheap food, booze and lodging as well as the chance to meet the locals, a proud, good looking, friendly bunch of people, all of whom seem to speak English fluently. Newcastle native Simon Stuart, who's been coming to Exit for 4 years as one of the festival's resident DJ, is an enthusiastic advocate of the locals' charms, both as people and discerning lovers of music.

"Serbian's party hard, but they know their shit too, " he explains.

"I can't say I know of any crowds where both those qualities exist, it's really an absolute pleasure to play for them every time I come here."

Simon reckons word of mouth shouts from DJs who played there previously (including the likes of Darren Emerson and Lottie) have boosted this year's bill, and it's certainly a star packed plane that jets off from London's Heathrow airport on a sunny Thursday July morning. While headliners Massive Attack sit on their own up front in Business Class the likes of Adam Freeland and Way Out West rub shoulders with journos in economy, all heading to test Exit's increasingly recognised reputation as 'Glastonbury in a Fortress'.

Thank God It's Friday

Thursday night's opener is subdued (many of the 40,000 revellers seem intent on strolling round the whole massive open air site) though in the dance tent, US DJ Roger Sanchez provides some light relief. Spinning funky (rather bland) US style house, the Ali G lookalike surveys the thousands gathered in the dance arena (he's perched on a split scaffolding tower, facing a field enclosed by 10 metre high ramparts), while from behind, he never stops shaking his ass. Whether his Beyonce' style impersonation is intended to entertain the hacks clustered to his rear remains unclear, though he's already successfully curried favour by locking them out of the VIP bar area, a rule that becom Tags

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