The Dance Arena lights up for Sasha and John Digweed

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FOR the past ten years, hordes of foreigners have stormed the imposing Petrovaradin Fortress high above Serbia’s second city of Novi Sad.

Armed only with beer tokens and a keen sense of hedonism, these invaders have come to conquer Europe’s best new festival – Exit.

It’s official - you don’t need to be standing in a muddy farm in Somerset, or in the overcrowded grounds of a stately home in Essex to find the ultimate festival experience.

Exit was voted the continent’s best at the UK Festival Awards in 2007, and has long outgrown its “Glastonbury of the East” tag.

It’s come a long way from its student protest roots and in a remarkably short space of time.

It was just a decade ago, when this war-scarred former Soviet state was still in the grip of Slobodan Milosevic’s reign, that three students set up a gathering of local musicians in protest against their country's warmonger leader.

From there, the festival has grown year-by-year into the extravaganza of 2009 – global stars, dozens of stages, and still a pint costs just over a pound.

But what really makes it is the setting.

In the grounds of a sprawling fort that rises far above the Danube, 90,000 revellers can admire the views and the tunes all at once.

There are stages and chill-out zones hidden down among the moats - with secret tunnels and ridges linking them all. You couldn’t reach the Suba stage without stopping to get your groove on at the reggae arena first.

Then there’s the diverse line-up. For the 10th anniversary, organisers attracted the Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, The Prodigy, Kraftwerk, Manic Street Preachers, Madness, Moby and Patti Smith.

Even among such esteemed company, Stockwell’s very own Roots Manuva managed to steal the show on the main stage on the first night.

London drum and bass duo Chase & Status had the almost impossible task of following what was the best set of the weekend from The Prodigy - and handled it with aplomb.

"You don’t need to be standing in a muddy farm in Somerset or in the overcrowded grounds of a stately home in Essex to find the ultimate festival experience"

And finally the dance arena - set in a natural amphitheatre just behind the main stage, this temple of decadence was lit up with thumping DJ sets and stunning visual shows until well after sunrise each day.

John Digweed, Sasha, Steve Lawler, Alex Metric, Eric Prydz, Steve Angello – even for a casual appreciator of house music there was a lot to like.

But the star of the show had to be Etienne de Crecy - or cube dude, as he became known.

Appearing on stage in the middle of a 15m square cube, this musical wizard aligned every kickass beat in time with a mind-boggling light show, leaving the audience agog.

According to aficionados, he has usurped Daft Punk as having the best live lighting in the world, and who could argue.

Four days of festival madness came to a close with a sunrise set from Carl Cox – leaving revellers to trudge home in a happy haze.

Walking back on the bridge over the Danube, it would have been easy to miss the plaque which told how it was destroyed by British-backed Nato bombers on 1 April 1999, killing a Novi Sad resident.

A small reminder of just how much has changed.

Exit factfile

Tickets: Early bird festival tickets this year were around £80

Getting there: Although Belgrade is yet to join the budget airline revolution, flights can be booked easily using travel websites such as edreams.co.uk for as little as £100 return

There were plenty of taxi drivers on hand to ferry you from the airport to Novi Sad for around £15 per person

Eating: A delicious meal of savoury pancakes washed down with numerous pints of local brew Lav in Novi Sad came to £8 a head – ridiculously cheap

Accommodation: The Serbian heat makes camping uncomfortable, far better to rent from a local – a three bedroom apartment costs around £60 per day