EXIT to Montenegro Draws Over 50,000 to Ulcinj as First Chapter Closes
EXIT wrapped the first chapter of its move to Montenegro with more than 50,000 people at Long Beach in Ulcinj. Here is the recap and a look ahead to the Budva edition in August.
EXIT has closed the first chapter of its move to Montenegro, drawing more than 50,000 people to Long Beach in Ulcinj across three nights. The run officially opened the country’s summer season and marked the festival’s first summer since it left Serbia’s Petrovaradin Fortress for the Adriatic coast.
Maceo Plex, Jamie Jones, Stephan Bodzin and Monolink led the bill, with Argy, Awen, Fiona Kraft, Konstantin Sibold, Space Motion, Deer Jade, Lanna and a long list of regional names rounding out the programme. The story now moves up the coast to Budva at the end of August.
A festival built around the coastline
Across three days and nights, Long Beach worked as a meeting point of music, nature and production. The daytime programme spread along the shore with beach activities and a kitesurfing display over the Adriatic, then shifted after sunset to full sets in one of the Mediterranean’s more dramatic natural settings.
Organisers also framed the weekend as a way to stretch Montenegro’s tourism season, pulling visitors in at the very start of July and filling an early-summer lull that has long sat awkwardly in the country’s calendar. On that measure alone, Long Beach made its case as one of Europe’s emerging festival sites.
The installation at the centre
The main talking point of the stage design was a 12-metre monument, built through a collaboration between Montenegrin and Serbian artists and brought to life with immersive 3D projections. It quickly became one of the festival’s defining images. The piece was conceived as a homage to Ivana Kovačević, wife of EXIT founder Dušan Kovačević and a figure close to the festival, and set out to celebrate compassion, hope and the protection of life.
Budva is next
The second and final Montenegrin chapter runs from 28 to 31 August at Bečići in Budva. Peggy Gou, Charlotte de Witte, HUGEL, John Newman, Enrico Sangiuliano and RPR Soundsystem sit near the top of a bill that is still growing. As in Ulcinj, the Budva edition is free to attend with advance registration.
For background on how the festival ended up here, read our earlier report on EXIT’s move to Montenegro, and browse more coverage in our festivals section.
The TA view
Moving a festival with EXIT’s history away from Petrovaradin was a real gamble, and a 50,000 opening weekend answers the first big question. A free beach event on this scale is rare, and pairing Ulcinj with a late-August return keeps the momentum rolling rather than treating Montenegro as a one-off. If Budva lands the way this weekend did, EXIT will have turned a relocation into a genuine second act.
