A world tour that keeps writing an interesting story for itself. EXIT confirms Starlight Festival, a brand-new multi-day concept that takes place October 8-11 near the Great Pyramids of Giza, in partnership with Venture Lifestyle and its electronic music platform P+US.
After being forced out of Serbia, losing public funding, and watching long-time sponsors walk away under government pressure, EXIT hasn’t stopped in its tracks. It has gone global instead. Now, the world tour reaches an extraordinary stop. For a festival that spent 25 years at a 17th-century fortress in Novi Sad, this is quite the way forward. Both for festival goers and organisers alike.
How EXIT Got Here
If you missed the backstory, it matters. Founded in 2000 by student activists, EXIT spent two and a half decades building one of Europe’s most respected festival brands from Petrovaradin Fortress. It won Best Major Festival at the European Festival Awards twice. Also, generated over €300 million in tourism revenue for Serbia, and became a cultural institution.
Then, in 2025, EXIT publicly supported Serbian students during widespread protests. The government cut funding. Sponsors disappeared. After 25 years, EXIT left its home.
The response? A world tour. EXIT launched its 2026 ‘First Chapter’ across six countries: Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, India, and Egypt. The industry sure did notice. The tour earned EXIT Promoter of the Year at the European Festival Awards in January 2026. EXIT is about to deliver two major summer events in Montenegro. One in July and the other in August. And now, October brings one of the most iconic stop on the entire run.
The Setting
The main festival nights fall on October 9 and 10 against the Great Pyramids of Giza. This is the same location where P+US previously staged Anyma’s Quantum Genesys show, which drew global attention and proved that world-class electronic music and ancient history can share the same skyline.
Starlight won’t stage directly on the pyramid site. The monuments serve as a backdrop from a specially designated location, developed in accordance with the site’s historical importance and protected status. Opening and closing events will take place across selected locations throughout Cairo, spreading the festival experience across the city. More than five stages and zones will run across the four days, alongside one of the world’s most advanced VR experiences.
The Lineup
Charlotte de Witte headlines her first-ever performance in Egypt. For techno fans, that’s a notable moment. CDW has built a reputation for choosing her stages carefully, and this adds the pyramids to a list that includes Printworks, Tomorrowland, and the world’s most significant venues.
Michael Bibi brings his sound to the pyramids for the first time. Adriatique return, they previously played this location to nearly 10,000 people, and return now as part of a stronger billing. Vintage Culture, Pete Tong, WhoMadeWho, and Enrico Sangiuliano complete the top tier, alongside dozens of regional and international artists.
The Bigger Picture
EXIT founder and CEO Dušan Kovačević has always been direct about what the festival stands for. He put it plainly here too: “It is a great honour to be invited to bring the premium festival concept near one of the grandest monuments in human history. EXIT has always been known for combining world-class entertainment with a strong social mission, which in this case will be dedicated to celebrating Egypt’s extraordinary cultural heritage to a global audience.”
Venture Lifestyle founder Rabih Mokbel added the economic context: the festival expects to attract significant international visitors and contribute tens of millions of dollars to Egypt’s tourism economy, in a market where music tourism now exceeds $100 billion globally.
Tickets for EXIT Festival’s Starlight are on sale now at starlight-festival.org.
