10 iconic UNTOLD Festival moments

In 2025 Romania’s UNTOLD Festival celebrates 10 editions. Across the past decade, the event has established itself as one of the world’s leading festivals and put its hometown Cluj-Napoca firmly on the map. Last year, 250 local and international artists played, with more than 427,000 attendees hailing from all corners of the globe.

With eight stages, off-the-scale production and immersive conceptualisation, everyone from global stars like David Guetta and J Balvin to local favourites like Priku has sung its praises. “I would say the festival has raised the standards for large events and put Romania among the top countries with the best festivals in the world,” says Priku.

The 2025 festival, known as Chapter X, looks set to be another banger, taking place between August 7 and 10 with the likes of Black Coffee, Anyma, Irina Rimes, Metro Boomin, Tiësto and Becky Hill on the bill.

As we gear up for the landmark edition, relove 10 of the most memorable UNTOLD moments from over the years. 

The venue UNTOLD settled in for its debut edition is nothing short of spectacular. Taking over a full stadium - the sixth largest in Romania - and a significant chunk of a large urban park to form a 235,000 square meters wonderland of immersive partying and wider festivities has to be experienced to be believed. UNTOLD has now brought the record attendance to the venue, with more than 100,000 people inside. “The first time here, I was just so mind blown about the huge size of the stadium and the energy of the people,” remarked Martin Garrix in 2023. There’s also been occasions where ticketholders received a discount to visit the wider wonders of Transylvania, from the Gothic-Renaissance landmark Corvin Castle to the breathtaking Turda Salt Mine, showing off this part of the world to UNTOLD’s many visitors in various forms. “UNTOLD has propelled Cluj-Napoca onto the global music map, bringing the world’s biggest artists to Transylvania while also giving local and regional talent a powerful platform to grow,” says Emil Boc, Mayor of Cluj-Napoca.

Pulling off an event like UNTOLD is no mean feat, but to nail it on the first attempt is even more impressive. It launched at the perfect time, with Cluj-Napoca being made the European Youth Capital in 2015, and attracting 170 artists and 240,000 to the city for the festival across four days with a stacked line-up and high-level production. All the stars aligned and UNTOLD was duly recongised with the top prize at the European Festival Awards that year, beating off competition from giants such as Tomorrowland and Lollapalooza. “We couldn’t believe it!” recalls Edy Chereji, co-founder UNTOLD Universe. “It was the most important thing that we were living in that moment, a recognition of our work, and proof that we know what we do. I still feel the goosebumps I felt that day. Priceless moment.” The plaudits have kept on coming since. “UNTOLD changed the game in Romania. It showed that we can organize world-class events right here at home. It brought international attention, gave artists a huge platform, and created a real community around music,” says Irina Rimes. “I love UNTOLD as it set Romania on top of the European music festivals, it became a tradition and joy for me and my band to perform and it always challenges us to make our performance even better.”

Another major feature of the first UNTOLD was a Romanian debut from Avicii. It was a historic moment to bring the EDM icon to the country. After his tragic passing, UNTOLD has continued to pay tribute to his unforgettable legacy, and performers at the event regularly honour his memory with messages of love and memoriam

Romania has one of the lowest rates of blood donation in Europe and its hospitals are often in dire need to build their reserves. UNTOLD decided to do its bit to help out with the Blood Network campaign, offering festival tickets and shopping vouchers to people who donate. “So far, the Blood Network campaign has saved over 60,000 lives with 20,000+ liters of blood,” says Edy Chereji, revealing the campaign has encouraged more than 45,000 donors across its own mobile caravan and partnered transfusion centres in Romania. The festival also partakes in other socially conscious activity, such as offering vouchers and discounted tickets to high school graduates who achieve top grades.

The 2019 edition of UNTOLD saw a historic set from Dutch trance legend Armin van Buuren who played for eight hours, starting off with a Romanian orchestra and treating the crowd to more than 100 tracks. “I think doing the show in 2019 was quite extraordinary because it was the first time I played an 8-hour set on such a big area, and I felt very humble,” said the Armada Music founder.

This is a moment that happens every year but it’s always significant. Every edition has a theme which feeds into the conceptualisation of the festival, informing creative choices such as stage design and production, building up a visual world to get lost in. “UNTOLD is not just a music festival. It tells stories and connects people. And people connect deeply with stories. We talk about unity, love, community, friendship, diversity, courage, passion, authenticity, uniqueness, and pure joy. We encourage people to believe in their dreams because they can turn them into reality. If we made our dreams come true, they can too,” says Edy Chereji. Previous themes have included ‘Code Of Magic’, ‘Human Is Nature’, and ‘The Light Phoenix’, while 2025 is ‘Self-Expression’. “Music festivals have this power to encourage everyone to be their authentic selves,” notes Chereji, “and what better year to celebrate this than a decade of UNTOLD?”

After the bleakness of the pandemic and long months of isolation and lockdown, the world reopening in 2021 was emotional. UNTOLD has been on hiatus for two years when Chapter 6 finally arrived in September 2021, with the theme of ‘Luna- The Rising’ aiming to “send darkness back in its place”. The volley of fireworks at this edition felt particularly celebratory. The aftermovie captured the essence of the event, going viral with more than 1 million views to date.

In 2021, Belgian superstar Lost Frequencies decided to don a disguise and rove around the festival interviewing attendees with his ‘Lost Frequenquiz’. Hijinks ensues. Big fans clock him immediately, others gradually realise and their faces contort in shock, while some guests are pretend to know more about him than they do in truth, telling the man to his (covered) face how much they love that ‘band’. Woops!

Romania lost one of its great musical heroes in 2024 when Nicolae "Nicu" Covaci, founding member of Romanian rock band Phoenix, died. Later that year, Brazilian DJ Alok honoured the legend in his headline set, leading the stadium in a touching sing-a-long to Phoenix track ‘Nunta. Speaking backstage, he spoke of his admiration for the event and crowd, saying: “This is one of the greatest festivals in the world” and reflecting on the need to hit new levels for the audience every time he plays. Paying tribute to one of their greats was a stirring salute. 

This is yet to take place but we’re calling it now as a must-see. Alongside hosting global popstars and EDM icons, UNTOLD is also a hotbed of Rominimal, the minimal techno music style which developed in the country and became a clubland phenomenon. As Cezar proudly proclaimed in our 2024 interview: “No other cultural movement from Eastern Europe has achieved such global recognition.” This year the legendary [a:rpia:r] trio - AKA Rhadoo, Petre Inspirescu & Raresh - play the Galaxy stage in a set that’s sure to be unmissable, bringing deep, hypnotic and transfixing sounds. It’s the perfect place for them all to come together and craft a masterclass. “I think the crowd at the Galaxy stage is very knowledgeable about club culture, and the entire production on that stage creates an unforgettable experience,” says fellow Romanian DJ Priku.

UNTOLD Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary from August 7 - 10, 2025. Grab your tickets here