Belgrade Beer Fest 2012: Wild nights taste like beer

It’s not all the same where you choose to drink beer – if you come to the Belgrade Beer Fest at least once that is what you will realize, and will definitely wish to spend those 6 nights of august every year jumping to the sound of the best gigs in rhythm with 700 000 people and a can of beer in your hand.

Old, young, rich, poor at the Belgrade Beer Fest it doesn’t matter. In the river of people which around 8 starts flowing down towards the plateau on the confluence of the Sava and the Danube, the only thing that is important is to have comfortable shoes because with cold beer and great bands you will be jumping until morning.

The team of Serbia.com knew this well and headed for the confluence and Belgrade Beer Fest well prepared.

Belgrade seemed like it was in a state of emergency, as if no one had stayed home. The city buses were crowded like we have never seen before, sweaty bodies shoving and pushing, but who cares! You don’t miss the Belgrade Beer Fest!

Since we had to work the next day, we wanted just to smell the festive atmosphere without staying to long. But when we got cool beer cans at the very entrance our favorite one being among them, our plans changed with every sip and we stayed longer and longer.

This year it was the Belgrade Beer Fests tenth birthday so it had to be celebrated the right way – with beer of course, but also with 49 Rock, Blues, Pop, and trumpet performers and with the record breaking 700 000 festival visitors.

They were swarming around the stands waiting to get to the can of their favorite color. Jelen, Nikšićko, Lav, Carlsberg, Staropramen, Heineken, Amstel, Bavaria, Guinness… – heaven for beer drinkers. People drank beers in one sip at the stands, and those who didn’t want to miss a second of the action took their cans in to the crowds, cheered, danced and rejoiced with their friends.

We also jumped in the rhythm of the hot nights on the confluence of the great Belgrade rivers screaming with the masses when we heard the famous voices utter the repeated sentence: “Good evening Belgrade!”

Until the end we couldn’t understand what magic those words carried but every time before the end of them tens of thousands of people were already on their feet jumping and singing the good old songs devoted to our long lost lovers whom we always remember while drinking beer.

When we searched for our next beer challenge we moved away from the stage, and the “streets of the Belgrade Beer Fest” took us to the carousel – an old childhood vice. We couldn’t resist. We were overcome by the uncontrollable wish “Just one more round” on the big shiny contraption. But with a belly full of beer?

Oh yes!! On the Belgrade Beer Fest all the carousels work until early morning so the queues for the merry adventures never wither. Screams of pleasure joined with fear spread through the air in the rhythm of the energetic music and raise the atmosphere of this festival corner to the boiling point.

Especially if you take those rides that raise you sky high so you can witness the crater of the festival from bird’s-eye view.

And just when we unwillingly realized that it’s been enough beer, rides, dancing and singing for one night, coming from the stage we heard sounds that you don’t miss.

Tens of thousands of beer drinkers were beside themselves, leaped on each other’s shoulders in complete disharmony. But no one paid attention because Dejan Petrović was on stage the world trumpet champion from the Guča brass festival.

To the surprise of many, instead of the famous traditional songs his orchestra played Sting, Tina Turner, EKV, Deep Purple… We were stunned! We couldn’t even imagine how good this music sounds when played by Dejan and his orchestra.

Only the soft sunrise reminded us that we had forgotten the time and that tomorrow’s tasks will be much harder. Still, it was worth it experiencing a night like this which, truth be told wore us out, but not enough so that we don’t go to the Belgrade Beer Fest the next night… or the one after that.