Untold Festival returns for phenomenal 2018 edition

After last year’s edition proved to be one of the highlights of the summer festival calendar, expectations were incredibly high ahead of Untold 2018. Held yearly in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the festival always delivers a stacked lineup, offering mind blowing performances within the mythical grounds. During the festival, the Cluj arena and surrounding woodland is transformed into a fantasy land, filled with mesmerising sights and numerous activities for attendees to enjoy. With nine unique stages, festival goers were truly spoiled for choice across the 4-day extravaganza.

This year’s edition offered an even more stacked lineup than ever, with an abundance of industry leaders in attendance, including Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, The Chainsmokers and Diplo. Among the several smaller stages in the festival grounds, Untold hosted its own techno stage and a trance stage, leaving attendees with an abundance of legendary performances to choose from. Highlights at the techno stage included Nina Kraviz, Solomun, Seth Troxler, Paul Kalkbrenner and Jamie Jones, while the trance stage offered sets from Gareth Emery, Markus Schulz, Ferry Corsten and ATB, to name just a few.

Highlights from day one included a huge opening ceremony abundant with fireworks, taking place before The Chainsmokers took to the stage, delivering a ferocious bass-heavy set. The pair dropped one of their all-time most popular anthems ‘Don’t Let Me Down‘ which unsurprisingly resulted in shrieks of approval from the huge crowd. Following their set, Oliver Heldens provided a future house infused performance before Diplo took to the stage and delivered his usual unrelenting energy. His hit ‘Where Are Ü Now‘ with Skrillex and Justin Bieber provided one of the pivotal moments, proving hugely popular with the crowd.

Day two saw even more spectacular artists take to the main stage, with Kygo delivering a euphoric tropical house performance filled with stunning visuals and an incredible selection of fireworks. Tiësto was up next, delighting crowd with many of his more recent hits as well as revisiting classics. His whole performance was explosive and packed with energy, highlighting exactly why he has managed to dominate festival mainstages for so many years. Next up, fellow Dutchman Don Diablo unleashed his signature future house energy on the mainstage, dropping a number of his most popular hits as well as a host of brand new IDs. Towards the end of his performance he dropped his upcoming collaboration with Emeli Sandé and Gucci Mane and lit up a flare on stage while a mindblowing firework display took place, creating the ultimate spectacle. Closing the night in spectacular style, KSHMR provided a monumental set, including some of his best-loved hits like ‘Dharma‘ and ‘Secrets‘ with Tiësto.

Saturday included many more jaw-dropping performances, with a wide variety of artists taking to the mainstage. Showcasing the diversity of the festival, British band The Prodigy unleashed their unrelenting ferocity on the mainstage as mosh pits opened up within the crowd. Up next, Danny Avila created mayhem in the crowd, dropping a diverse selection of hits spanning the electronic music spectrum. Progressive house mastermind Alesso was next to take to the stage, delivering a stunning performance filled with euphoria and emotion. Highlights included his collaboration with Sebastian Ingrosso ‘Calling‘, his remix of OneRepublic‘s ‘If I Lose Myself‘ and ‘Take My Breath Away‘. Belgian brothers Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike were next up, unleashing their usual level of carnage at the mainstage. Undoubtedly the most exciting spectacle occurred when the Belgian duo dropped ‘Crowd Control‘ and the crowd jumped from left to right in unison, an incredible moment of energy and ferocity. Last to perform was Steve Aoki, who performed a highly charged set filled with bass-heavy weapons. Naturally, he delighted the crowd when he caked audience members as part of his world-famous tradition.

The final night of the festival included performances from a number of high-profile artists including the Black Eyed Peas, Tujamo and Fedde Le Grand. The focus of the night, however, was on Dutch sensation Armin van Buuren, who is extremely well-supported in Romania. Last year his performance at Untold Festival went viral when he performed an extended set, shedding a tear at the end of it due to the sheer emotion of the moment. This year he was scheduled to perform a four hour set finishing at 6am, but in actual fact continued to perform for a full seven hours. The whole performance encompassed the magic of the festival and illustrated the dedication Romanian fans feel towards Armin van Buuren.

Filled with sensational visual displays, a-list artists and impeccable stage designs, Untold Festival’s 2018 edition was undoubtedly the best yet. With so many incredible performances having taken place across the four days, attendees were truly spoiled for choice. Next year the festival is due to celebrate its fifth anniversary in what will undoubtedly be a phenomenal experience for attendees.

Registration for Untold 2019 is now open, register for your ticket here.