Rae Sremmurd brought the Beach, Please! energy to NIBIRU, and for Swae Lee the return to Costinești was more than just a concert.
After two appearances at Beach, Please!, in 2024 and 2025, the American artist returned last night to the seaside, this time alongside Slim Jxmmi, for a new Rae Sremmurd show at NIBIRU Arena. And if on stage it was once again Swae Lee, the one the audience knows from the hits that have traveled the world, off stage a different story is already visible: one about friendship, familiarity, and a place where you begin to feel at home.
The friendship between Swae Lee and Selly was built over time, from their first meetings at Beach, Please!, and continued naturally from one summer to the next. This year, Selly was waiting for him again in Costinești, this time at NIBIRU, and their reunion did not end with the last verse on stage.
They walked together through NIBIRU, made it to the basketball court, spent some time talking, and at the end stopped by KFC, where they shared a box of chicken wings. Nothing spectacular on the surface. Perhaps precisely for that reason, the moment says so much. Beyond the stage, lights, and concerts, a relationship has been built between the two that resembles an old friendship more than the usual encounters between an artist and an organizer.
The evening also had some of those moments that cannot be planned. After looking around and saying “NIBIRU is bigger than Coachella,” Swae Lee received, right on stage, one of the most original responses from the audience. During Sunflower, several fans dressed as Spider-Man joined him on stage, and the artist did not hide his surprise: “I’ve never had this many Spider-Man on stage.”
It was one of those evenings when the stage and the audience came so close together that the distance between them was barely felt. Rae Sremmurd, DJ Spade (Drake’s official DJ), and Romanian artists such as Albert NBN, Petre Ștefan, Noua Unspe, Vanilla, Badd G, Madatorricelli, and Lazy Ed brought the Beach, Please! festival energy to NIBIRU, and NIBIRU Arena became the place where the festival continued, even after it had ended.
But summer at NIBIRU doesn’t stop here.
This weekend, the venue changes register once again. PORC FEST, on August 22 and 23, brings two days dedicated to Romanian hip-hop and underground culture, with Deliric x Silent Strike, Guess Who, Sami G, Blanco, Ștefan Costea x George Pitariu, and Vlad Flueraru on the first day, and CTC, El Nino, Maximilian, D.Z.W.S, Lucawts, and Tomi Marfa on the second.
Also this weekend, NIBIRU takes on a vineyard-by-the-sea atmosphere for a few days, with the Wine Festival. Damian Drăghici, Alina Eremia, ANTONIA, Alex Velea, Rareș, Mario, Minelli, and Vescan take the Center Stage, in a combination of music, tastings, and that relaxed atmosphere you get when you’re in no hurry to be anywhere. Access is free, with a minimum spend of 25 lei on drinks.
On August 25 and 26, it’s nostalgia’s turn. Popcorn Days brings to NIBIRU INNA, Edward Maya, David Deejay, and DJ Sava, on a journey through the years when Romania was producing hits that reached radio stations in over 50 countries and was transforming the seaside into one of the places where music was heard the loudest.
And between August 28 and 30, NIBIRU’s first season closes with RETROGRADE Festival: Timbaland, Busta Rhymes, EVE, Fat Joe, Ja Rule, and Keri Hilson. A meeting with the artists and sounds that defined the pop culture of the 2000s and have remained in the memory of a generation.
