There was no shortage of excitement at this year’s Exit festival as young people from Serbia, the neighbouring countries and all other parts of Europe arrived to hear a lineup that included bands like Placebo, the Chemical Brothers and an impressive number of other well-known bands. Faith No More's performance of "Ajde Jano", an ancient and popular Serbian folk song, and the bandleader Mike Patton's attempts to dance the Kolo ("Kolo Baby!") became an instant You Tube hit with 100,000 views only 48 hours later and over 280.000 a week later.

The festival was held in the Petrovaradin fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia's second largest city, for the 11th year in a row, from July 8-11. The festival's closing evening will long be remembered, at least by local fans, by an impromptu performance by Faith No More. The American band, which recently reassembled after a lengthy break, symbolically began with "Reunited," moving on to "Easy," "Epic," "King for a Day," "Caffeine," "Be Aggressive" and "Evidence." The show was all the more attractive for frontman Mike Patton's antics which included climbing a camera crane above the crowd with the microphone in his mouth.
 
"Ajde, Jano, kolo da igramo," sung Patton in Serbian, in the manner of a seasoned folk singer, as the rest of the band focused hard on keeping the uneven Balkan rhythm, to the backdrop of an accordion. The stunned audience quickly recovered and responded with applause. Patton, who possibly acquired an interest in the Serbian melodies during several previous visits to Serbia's capital Belgrade over the years, invited a girl from the audience to teach him how to dance the Serbian national dance - the kolo.

This year's four day event gathered almost 600 performers, who played on 20 stages, including LCD Soundsystem, Mika, DJ Shadow, Missy Elliott and Röyksopp. Rock sounds, electro, hip-hop, punk, metal and reggae blasted from stages around the fortress. Numerous bands from Serbia and the region also debuted at the festival, like Repetitor, an alternative band from Belgrade, Elvis Jackson from Slovenia and Lollobrigade from Croatia, the current holders of MTV's regional music award.
 
This year's main star was British singer Mika who took the stage on the festival's opening evening, July 8, thrilling the audience with hits like Relax, Grace Kelly and Lollipop, and his genuine attempts to communicate with the crowd in Serbian. Mika's concert gave way to the U.S. hardcore punk rock band Bad Brains, followed by LCD Soundsystem and DJ Shadow.

The first evening saw DJs Chromeo, Erol Alkani Boys Noize, Black Rose and others man the Dance Arena, while Fusion Stage hosted Serbian alternative bands Petrol, Kandža Kodža i Nebojsa and Generacija bez Prošlosti, a punk rock band that started out 20 years ago. The main star of Fusion Stage was Miike Snow [sic], who won the audience over with his smash hit Black and Blue.
 
On the second day, July 9, festival goers listened to Placebo on the main stage. The stage for Placebo was set by Atari Teenage Riot, and The Horrors, a British band. Moderat Live played in the Dance Arena, with notable appearances by DJs Josh Wink, Ricardo Willalobos and DJ Marko Nastić, who stayed with the dance crowd until the early morning.

Missy Elliot whipped up a huge crowd on the third day of Exit. Röyksopp, who did an excellent job of blending electronic music with live instruments and vocals, opened the concert with Eple, Remind Me, and a single from their most recent album "The Girl and the Robot."

Culture Shock, a band from Seattle played on Fusion Stage. The band enjoys a small following in Serbia by merit of its combination of traditional Balkan music and hard guitar rock music. Stuttgart Online, a young band from Belgrade, their somewhat older colleagues Veliki Prezir, and the legendary KUD Idioti punk rock band from Pula took the same stage during the evening. Then at midnight, the infamous Scottish punk rock band, The Exploited, filled up the area in front of Explosive Stage to capacity. The band played its uncompromising punk rock music for over an hour, which in combination with stunning pyrotechnic effects blew the audience away.

On Exit's final evening, July 11, after Faith No More's memorable performance, The Chemical Brothers took the stage with "Galvanize."

Most of the festival's foreign visitors camped out in Exit Village, the festival's official camp, where according to the organizers, more than 6,000 people stayed this year, half of whom were from Great Britain. According to unofficial estimates, the festival was visited by over 20,000 foreigners this year.

When asked to explain their preference for the Novi Sad festival in a sea of European summer festivals this year, Ben, 23, and Jane, 23, from Great Britain said that they learned of Exit from fellow college students and that the festival was held in high esteem in their country. Rocket, 22, Tom, 23, and Nick, 22, all from Bristol, said they liked the festival because of the low prices, while Lorenzo, 23, from Italy said that he learned of the festival through a friend who is a DJ.

"I chose Exit because my friend told me that this is one of the best festivals in Europe, and he is into music so he knows what he is talking about," Lorenzo said.

Keith, 17, and Elliot, 18, from London said that they had wanted to visit other parts of Europe and that Exit was a good opportunity for that. "I liked Serbia, Novi Sad and the whole festival very much. I am sure that we will come next year too," Keith confirmed.

Many participants of this year's Exit festival also shared their impressions of this year's festival on Twitter. Atari Teenage Riot wrote: "Playing Exit Festival in Serbia tonight was surreal and powerful...man! THANK YOU!!!!" And Gareth McGrillen, Pendulum's bass guitar player wrote: "Just came off stage exit best show we've had in ages!"