Features
12 photos from the otherworldly spectacle of UNTOLD Festival 2024
With a star-studded line-up and ambitious production, UNTOLD celebrated another successful year in the heart of Romania's Cluj-Napoca
Returning earlier this month for its ninth edition, UNTOLD once again proved its weight as Romania’s biggest and best party. More than 420,000 music lovers descended on the northwestern city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania's second city, in pursuit of one common goal: to celebrate the magic of music, dance and community.
Set in the Transylvanian capital, UNTOLD invited some of the world’s best-loved producers, DJs and artists to play across its eight stages this year. Performances spanned everything from hard techno to pop, bringing together fans from every corner of the world in a unique festival experience.
Across four days and four nights, UNTOLD came alive with fireworks, lasers and colourful light displays – the visual equivalent to the explosive sonic soundscape they accompanied. In a warm-up to the festival's landmark 10th anniversary next year, UNTOLD 2024's epic spectacle encouraged thousands of fans to return next year, with tickets to 2025's edition already flying off the shelves.
This year's edition saw live music performances from Louis Tomlinson and Tom Grennan, who brought a pop-rock sensibility to the UNTOLD repertoire, matched by America’s leather-clad icon, Lenny Kravitz. "Love is the only thing that matters, and you've given it to me," Kravitz told the crowd after his set.
Meanwhile, bridging the gap between soul and pop, king of ballads Sam Smith gave an emotional performance, adding to the diverse range of musical experiences on offer across the weekend.
But for dance music diehards, there was plenty to choose from.
Purple Disco Machine got the crowd two-stepping with an uplifting disco-infused house set, while Carl Cox delivered his world-renowned house and techno selections from inside a UFO-shaped DJ booth at the Galaxy Stage.
Also on the Galaxy Stage, Afro house trailblazer Black Coffee tore up the spaceship with his deep, spiritual sounds, while techno maestro Solomun took crowds to another dimension.
Steve Aoki, who has played at every edition of the festival so far, returned once again to UNTOLD, this time bringing with him Romanian artist Irina Rimes, who Aoki has collaborated with on a remix of her track 'Dudadu'. Speaking on the track, Aoki told fans: "UNTOLD is my home away from home, and sharing this song with you was a special moment. I made this remix for 'Dudadu' by Irina Rimes out of love for Romania".
Waving the flag for Belgium, DJ duo Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike brought a different vibe with their high–energy, big house stompers, while Lost Frequencies took the crowd on a journey through EDM, weaving in tracks from his newest studio album ‘All Stand Together’.
Swedish House Mafia supplied fans with club favourites 'Don't You Worry Child', 'Save The World', and 'One', as Netsky mixed up a drum ‘n’ bass concoction at the Alchemy Stage.
Salvatore Ganacci took the art of DJing to a whole new level, dancing and mingling with the crowd while donning a Romanian football jersey and kicking a football around on stage.
The weekend’s festivities ended on a high as GRAMMY Award winner Burna Boy left the crowd ecstatic with his Afrobeat bangers on the Main Stage, and FISHER got everyone ‘Losing It’ over his pumping set on the Galaxy Stage.
Edy Chereji, co-founder of UNTOLD Universe, said on this year's edition: “UNTOLD is not just a music festival but a global celebration of music, love, friendship, community, pure joy and all the good emotions and feelings. You have to live it to feel everything. Otherwise, the rest is… UNTOLD. We cannot wait to see you in 2025 and celebrate 10 years of UNTOLD together."
Check out some photos of this year's mammoth edition below.
