After four fantastic days and nights, the second year of Montenegro’s Sea Dance Festival closes with rapturous applause, firmly proving that it is worthy of the title of ‘Best European Mid-Sized Festival’. Totalling 110,000 visitors who descended on beautiful Jaz Beach to witness a visual and audible feast, Sea Dance added up to 300,000 visitors to the Exit Adventure, a unique festival holiday package comprised of two festivals in two neighbouring countries, whose first part is the globally acclaimed Exit Festival in Serbia.
The opening night headlined by iconic band The Prodigy saw an explosion of wild energy as an epic fireworks display kicked off the show on the UKF main stage. The sounds of classic ‘Firestarter’ were met with deafening screams from the crowd as the band played their first ever show in the region. Classic anthems like ‘Voodoo People’ and ‘Omen’ ignited 35,000 people in front of Liam, Keith and Maxim, as the audience sang along to new tracks such as “Wild Frontier” and “Nasty. As emotions ran high Slovenian superstar Gramatik played a high-octane set on TheSoundYouNeed’s Dance Paradise stage filled with his signature glitchy hip-hop and dubstep, setting the bar high for day two of the festival.
Photo by: Marko Ristic
With temperatures soaring to the high 30’s, Europe’s best beach proclaimed by leading tourist magazine Lonely Planet was the perfect setting for the laid-back vibes of American collective Crew Love and their prominent duo Soul Clap. The day quickly turned into a night full of love crowned with a Rudimental DJ set, seeing the crowd join in to sing Bob Marley’s hit ‘One Love’ – a special moment at Sea Dance 2015. Hit duo Sigma continued in the same tone with hits such as ‘Changing’ and ‘Nobody to Love’, whilst those on the beach enjoyed flying high with the pilots of Flight Facilities accompanied by excellent live female vocalists xx and xx.
Friday saw an avantgarde, art-disco performance from modern music diva Roisin Murphy consisting of tracks from her first album in seven years, Hairless Toys. Seamlessly shifting through over six outfit changes, Roisin finished her 90-minute set with the ultimate finalé – the unanimously sung ‘Familiar Feeling’. US duo Odesza delighted crowds with their own style of instrumental house, whilst the always smiling maestro DJ James Zabiela saw one of the biggest sets on the beach for an acid-tinged techno set that carried the party into the early hours of the morning.
Photo by: A Kamasi
The final day of Sea Dance and Exit Adventure went to Serbian choir Viva Vox who’s repertoire of covers excited the crowd, not-to-mention local group Van Gogh who received some of the biggest cheers of the weekend. London hit maker Wilkinson rounded of proceedings with hits ‘Afterglow’ and ‘Higher’ plus brand-new material from his awaited new album, bringing a very special Sea Dance Festival to an equilibrium.
This year’s Exit Adventure will be remembered for its record-breaking attendance, several anniversaries including Exit Festival’s very own 15th Birthday and a vibe full of love with performances from Emeli Sande, Hardwell, Manu Chao, Motorhead, Faithless, Martin Garrix, John Newman, Chris Liebing, Dixon, Zomboy, Breakage, Dirtyphonics and many more at Exit Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia, followed by The Prodigy, Roisin Murphy, Rudimental, Sigma, Wilkinson, Flight Facilities, Bondax, Odesza and many others at Sea Dance Festival on Jaz Beach, Montenegro. The Exit Adventure is a one-of-a-kind festival holiday package that offers two top music festivals, Exit and Sea Dance, held in two neighbouring countries, Serbia and Montenegro, both located in spectacular settings. Exit Festival is held at the colossal Petrovaradin Fortress with mind-boggling stages in the long moats surrounded by huge ramparts and Sea Dance Festival located at the mile-long beach cove called Jaz, with a turquoise sea just outside of the historic town of Budva. Uniting two beautiful countries through the love of music, the Exit Adventure 2016 is the perfect way to combine festivals and travel. For more information check back into the Exit website later this year.
