There will be many observers who think she's jumping the gun, but Serbian PM Ana Brnabic has asked the organiser's of the EXIT Festival to run in some form in August rather than cancelling the July event, which was to have been headlined by the likes of David Guetta, Fatboy Slim, James Arthur, Tyga and Sepultura, completely.
"We recommend moving the festival to August because we expect that the situation (with pandemic) in the whole of Europe will be totally under control by then,” she said whilst speaking in Novi Sad, Serbia's second city which has been home to the internationally renowned EXIT for 20 years.
Responding, EXIT co-founder Dušan Kovačevi says: "The festival in its full format with 55,000 per day and 40 stages will probably not return until 2021, but we are delighted to hear that health situation is becoming increasingly better and that we’ll be able to mark 20th anniversary of EXIT this summer with a meaningful and safe event. Health and safety of the audience and everyone involved at the festival is our top priority. We will work closely with health officials in order to take all precautionary measures and make the festival in August as safe as possible. Between fear and optimism we always choose later and we’re thrilled that we will have opportunity to be together with our fans and favourite artists this summer."
Ivan Milivojev, another leading EXIT light, adds: "This decision is very important for event fans all around the globe as even in different formats and smaller capacities, if possible and safe, events could bring back much needed relief from the hardship we have all been through."
Held in the 18th century Petrovaradin Fortress, EXIT was born out of student protest and the desire to give Serbian music lovers something to feel good about following the Balkan War. In recent years, it's become a big favourite with British students who camp en masse next to the Danube. Hot Press has been several times in the past and always had an absolute blast.