x

The latest industry news to your inbox.


I'd like to hear about marketing opportunities

    

I accept IQ Magazine's Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Record 350,000 for Exit’s summer of love

Exit welcomed a record number of people to its 2017 festivals, with a combined 350,000 festivalgoers from more than 90 countries attending Sea Star in Croatia, Revolution in Romania, Sea Dance in Montenegro and Exit Festival proper in Serbia.

Exit’s ‘Summer of Love 2017’ – which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the original – kicked off on 25–28 May with Sea Star Festival, a new dance music event in Umag, Croatia, announced in December and headlined by The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim and Paul Kalkbrenner’s Back to the Future. More than 50,000 people attended, having to increase capacity three times to cope with the demand.

The next event, Revolution (1–3 June) in Timisoara, Romania, broke its own attendance record with 20,000 festivalgoers, while Exit itself (5–9 July) welcomed a record 215,000 people to the Petrovaradin fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia. Highlights of Exit Festival included headline sets from The Killers, Liam Gallagher, Years & Years, Hardwell and Rag’n’Bone Man; an opening ceremony that included speeches from motivational speaker Nick Vujicic and the environmental movement Standing Rock; and a performance of iconic ’60s musical Hair.

There will be “another exciting theme” tying together next year’s festivals, says Exit

Summer of Love 2017 wrapped up on the shore of the Adriatic with the fourth Sea Dance Festival on 13, 14 and 15 July, headlined by Fatboy Slim, John Newman and Swan.

Those who wanted to visit more than one festival could invest in what Exit calls the “biggest holiday offer in its history”: The ‘1 ticket = 4 festivals’ deal, which offered early buyers of an Exit festival ticket (priced at €99) complimentary entry to one of the three other events.

There will be “another exciting theme” tying together next year’s festivals, says Exit. Exit Festival 2018 will take place from 12 to 15 July.

 


Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Royal Albert Hall to revisit Summer of Love

London’s Royal Albert Hall has become the latest venue to announce a series of events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the summer when the world turned on, tuned in and dropped out.

Summer of Love: Revisited, running from May to July, will explore the 5,272-cap. venue’s pivotal role in the 1960s counterculture, during which time it hosted Allen Ginsberg’s International Poetry Incarnation, regarded as the first British ‘happening’; underground art event Alchemical Wedding, featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono; the Gorgeous Girls Gala, dubbed the ‘world’s first mini-skirt ball’; and shows by Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, The Move, The Nice, Soft Machine and Deep Purple.

The event series, programmed by Royal Albert Hall’s Sara Jane Power, includes shows by underground veterans Soft Machine, Julie Felix and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, screenings of Pink Floyd: London ’66–’67, Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London, Yoko Ono’s Bottoms and Wholly Communion (which documents the International Poetry Incarnation) and listening parties with The Zombies, Billy Bragg and Laura Mvula.

To celebrate the launch of Revisited and get audiences “in the mood”, Power has also curated a Spotify playlist to get audiences:

Other events marking the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love include Serbia’s Exit Festival, Liverpool’s 50 Summers of Love and an ill-fated festival in the city where it all began: San Francisco.

 


Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Exit launches Croatian festival Sea Star

Serbia’s Exit will launch its first event in Croatia in 2017, headlined by The Prodigy.

Beach festival Sea Star will run from 26 to 27 May at the Stella Maris resort in Umag, joining Exit festival proper, Revolution in Romania and Sea Dance in Montenegro in the promoter’s festival portfolio. Local acts Dubioza kolektiv and Urban&4 will also perform, with more acts due to be announced nearer the time.

The festival will kick off Exit’s ‘Summer of Love 2017’, celebrating 50 years since the original in 1967, a theme that will run across all four events.

‘1 ticket = 4 festivals’ offers early buyers of an Exit festival ticket complimentary entry to one of its three other events

To tie them together, Exit has introduced the “biggest holiday offer in its history”: Dubbed ‘1 ticket = 4 festivals’, the deal offers early buyers of an Exit festival ticket (priced at €99) complimentary entry to one of the three other events. Registration opens 1 February.

The first Croatia Music Event was held in London in June, with panellists concluding a lack of beds and direct flights is hurting the Croatian festival scene. “Currently the travel options into Croatia are still limited, as are the accommodation options once in the country,” said Hideout Festival’s Mark Newton. “It is still a struggle for UK customers to find affordable flights into the country – something that can only change with support from the top.”

 


Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Exit turns on, tunes in and drops out for 2017

Following a record-breaking 2016 in which it welcomed its most visitors to date, Exit Festival has revealed its dates and theme for next year.

The independently promoted event, held at the 17th-century Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia, will take place from 6 to 9 July and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love with its own ‘Summer of Love 2017’.

“The Summer of Love symbolises the beginning of the hippie movement that changed contemporary music forever and gave birth to modern music festivals, whose aim was to fight for peace and to change the world through music and celebration of life,” says festival founder Dušan Kovačević. “Similarly, Exit was founded from the youth resistance fighting for peace and freedom in the Balkans 16 years ago.

“It is our duty to remind the world of the events that happened 50 years ago and spread once again the peace movement’s messages”

“It’s one of the rare active music festivals that still nurtures the legacy of the early contemporary music festivals from late ’60s and early ’70s that first and foremost were founded because of a strong social agenda. That’s exactly why we believe it is our duty to remind the world of the events that happened 50 years ago and spread once again the peace movement’s messages, which are desperately needed in today’s world, now even more than ever.”

Artists who performed at Exit 2016 included Bastille, David Guetta, Ellie Goulding and headliners and festival regulars The Prodigy.

 


Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.