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Exit Festival cancels 2020 edition

The last of the summer line-ups: Exit will not be taking place this year, as one of the final major European festival dominoes topples under the weight of Covid-19

By IQ on 14 Jul 2020

Exit Festival cancels 2020 edition

Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike perform at Exit 2019


image © Bernard Bodo/EXIT photo team 2019

The organisers of Exit Festival, one of the last major events of 2020 still standing, have announced the event will not go ahead this year, amid a deterioration of the public health situation in Serbia.

The Serbian mega festival had given some hope to music industry professionals and fans earlier this year, after organisers declared the event would be postponed from July to the end of August, rather than cancelled, in accordance with advice from the government and health officials.

The team went on to announce a stellar line-up of acts including Amelia Lens, Nina Kraviz, Denis Sulta, Maceo Plex and Robin Schulz, set to perform to a 50% capacity crowd at the Petrovaradin fortress in Novi Sad.

The first warning signs appeared last week, when IQ learned that organisers were planning on reducing capacity by at least 90% and exploring options of having a merely “symbolic” audience, with most of the event playing out to fans online, due to new outbreaks of the virus in Serbia.

Now, however, it has been confirmed that no physical edition of Exit Festival will take place this year, with the potential for a symbolic livestreamed-focus event to take place in September.

“We have gone through many challenges. This is one of the greatest of all, but as always we will prevail”

“The health situation in Serbia has not improved since we last addressed you and having in mind that your health and safety comes first, the 20 year celebration of Exit Festival will not take place from 13 to 16 August this year at Petrovaradin Fortress,” reads a statement from organisers.

“We will announce Exit 2021 dates by the end of the month, but as rescheduling the festival dates is such a huge and comprehensive process which takes time, we are asking you for a little more patience.

“It has not been an easy decision to make, but, again, the health and safety of festivalgoers, artists and all our team members paramount and under the current circumstances, this was the best decision to make.

“We have gone through many challenges. This is one of the greatest of all, but as always we will prevail and we still hope that soon we will be able to send positive message of hope to all colleagues, friends, festival community and fans to strive on, and that we will see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Organisers state they are currently “considering” the option for an event in September, which would incorporate the festival’s environment-focused Life Stream and Green R:Evolution platforms.

Information regarding refunds will be released soon for those who do not wish to carry their ticket over to next year.

 


This article forms part of IQ’s Covid-19 resource centre – a knowledge hub of essential guidance and updating resources for uncertain times.

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