Guide to 9th Beer Fest

Belgrade's Usce plain, near the confluence of the two rivers, will be the venue of the biggest festival of beer in South-East Europe between 17 and 21 August.

As for the entertainment programme, the biggest stars of the festival will most definitely be Simple Minds, while other headliners will be former Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth, Bosnian reggae-rock band Dubioza kolektiv, British house and techno DJ Mark Knight, as well as the drummer of the famous band The Ramones, Marky Ramone. Simple Minds, fronted by vocalist Jim Kerr, are famed for creating an electric atmosphere at their live shows, and around 150,000 festival-goers are expected to be at the show.

The unavoidable detail in the programme will be the fast-drinking contest in both men's and women's events – a showpiece which attracts huge attention at the annual beer festival.

The weather forecast is favourable for the five-day event and the organisers expect the festival to attract a record number of visitors, with the figure expected to go as high as one million beer-drinkers.

The appeals of Beer Fest since 2003 for both local people and foreign tourists have been fine musical programmes, reasonable prices of beer and free entrance into the venue. Domestically-produced beer is expected to be in the range from 100 to 200 Dinars. Those who wish to try out new beer flavours will need to splash out more than usually as the list of breweries has never been larger. What the festival-goers should know is that the venue perimeter has been fenced off, with security presence and video surveillance at all entrances.

Parking will not be allowed in the festival zone – with only a limited number of parking places ensured for VIP guests – while the Nikola Tesla Boulevard will be closed for traffic throughout the festival between 5 pm and daybreak. Due to the nature and location of the festival, its organisers appeal to the visitors to take city buses or walk.

Band "Simple Minds' began their career in late seventies, and they achieved worldwide popularity in the eighties with albums "Empires and Dance", "Sons and Fascination", "New Gold Dream", "Sparkle in the Rain", and with their hit single "Don't you forget about me".

This year, as years before, Belgrade Beer Fest is to be held with the support of the City Assembly, the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, Ministry of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning, Tourism Organization of Belgrade and Tourist Organization of Serbia.

Ninth Belgrade Beer Fest™ will be held at Ušće, from August 17th till August 21st 2011.