EXIT Festival Announces ‘Full-Scale Comeback’ in Serbia Following Student-Led Election Victory

EXIT Festival is returning to its home at Serbia’s Petrovaradin Fortress, it announced on Thursday (Oct. 29), with plans for a special edition in 2027 ahead of a “full-scale comeback” in 2028.

The news follows a period of intense political upheaval in Serbia, where President Aleksandar Vučić resigned in September ahead of a snap parliamentary election. The student-led protest movement emerged following the November 2024 collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad railway station, which killed 16 people and sparked protests over alleged corruption and government negligence.

Related

What began as predominantly student-led demonstrations grew into a political movement that defeated the alliance led by Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party in Sunday’s (Oct. 25) early parliamentary elections. As per a BBC report, the Student List secured 52.71% of the vote and 140 seats in Serbia’s 250-member parliament, giving it a majority. The formation of a new government remains pending.

EXIT has publicly backed the students over the past year, a stance the festival says contributed to the “political, security and financial pressures” that prevented it from staging its event in 2026. In May, Miloš Kovačević, the brother of EXIT founder and CEO Dušan Kovačević, was detained on the eve of one of Serbia’s largest student protests, according to a report from national news outlet Vreme.

Over its 25-year history, EXIT has welcomed a wealth of international headliners to Petrovaradin Fortress, including The Prodigy, Skrillex, Wu-Tang Clan, Black Eyed Peas, Liam Gallagher, Carl Cox and more. Its 2025 anniversary edition featured DJ Snake, Solomun and Eric Prydz, among an extensive electronic music lineup.

“After three days of celebrating this historic victory, we are absolutely ecstatic to confirm that EXIT is coming home,” the festival posted to Instagram on Thursday.

“We always said that EXIT would return when freedom returned to our country — and thanks to the courage, determination, and incredible perseverance of Serbian students, that moment has finally arrived!” 

“Our original plan was to return in 2028, as a full-scale comeback of the magnitude we’re envisioning requires at least 18 months of preparation. But you’ve overwhelmed us with so much love! Thousands of incredible emails, messages, comments, and media attention have made one thing clear: you simply can’t wait that long, and neither can we!”

The planned 2027 edition of EXIT will serve as a return to the fortress, with a full-scale edition scheduled for 2028. Further details including dates and programming have not yet been announced.

Irish rock band Fontaines D.C. also acknowledged the student movement’s election victory during a performance in Belgrade on Wednesday (Oct. 28). “Victory,” Chatten reportedly said before the five-piece performed Dopamine Chamber track “Demolition,” adding: “This is your moment, this is not ours. This is your moment.”

The festival was first held in 2000 as part of a student movement to vote out Slobodan Milošević in the Yugoslavian presidential elections. During its year away, EXIT expanded internationally, delivering events across six other countries, including Malta, Croatia and Spain. Its team was also behind the Starlight Festival at the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt earlier this month, which attracted over 40,000 visitors.

“Last year, when a new student movement emerged to fight for freedom and justice, we simply had to stand with them and uphold the very values EXIT was built on, even if it meant sacrificing everything we had spent our lives building,” Kovačević said in a statement announcing the festival’s return.

“Now, thanks to the courage and perseverance of Serbia’s students, freedom has returned to our country. And after taking EXIT’s spirit around the world, we are finally coming home!”