Australasia’s biggest party
Electric Avenue to be a two-day festival
New Zealand’s largest one-day music festival, Electric Avenue, will become “the biggest party in Australasia”, expanding to two days next year.
The event, which takes place at Hagley Park in Christchurch, will run on Friday, February 21 and Saturday, February 22, with 60,000 entries expected over the two days.
The 2025 lineup will be announced in early September but will feature around 20 international artists and 40 local acts across four stages.
Organisers said most of the international performers would exclusively play Electric Avenue.
Karena Finnie, head of major events for the Ōtautahi economic development agency body ChristchurchNZ, said it was “thrilled” to support the festival’s evolution to two days.
A two-day festival would mean “twice the music, twice the play, and an increase in visitor spend”, Finnie said.
Festival director Callam Mitchell, from Christchurch-based Team Event – which founded the festival 10 years ago – said the 2025 event would “unquestionably be the biggest party in Australasia”.
“By comparison, next year’s festival will be the equivalent of this year’s one on steroids.”
The 60% of festivalgoers who usually attend from out of town are being advised to book their accommodation quickly. “This year the entire city sold out weeks in advance, and because next year’s lineup is so strong, the problem is going to be worse,” Mitchell said.
The one-day Electric Avenue 2024 festival saw 35,000 festivalgoers dancing into the night to acts including The Chemical Brothers, Six60 and Shapeshifter.
Ticket-holders praised both the lineup and the festival planning, while police said the majority of attendees were well-behaved and enjoyed themselves.
Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger voiced his support for the expanding event.
“When we invest in events, it’s to develop them to become internationally significant, so this is a prime example,” he said.
“Electric Avenue also doubles as an opportunity to showcase our local talent alongside international acts.
“It’s such a bonus the event itself is homegrown, too.”
ChristchurchNZ contributed $200,000 towards staging the 2024 event, after economic analysis demonstrated the “significant visitor benefits”.
It generated $6.3 million, the largest visitor spend of any major event in ChristchurchNZ’s portfolio, Finnie said.
The level of ChristchurchNZ funding for 2025 has not been revealed, due to contract negotiations still taking place.
The agency invested in Electric Avenue on behalf of the city to ensure the homegrown event remained in Ōtautahi, Finnie said.
“Electric Ave is the embodiment of what Ōtautahi Christchurch has become. You only have to look at University of Canterbury’s record enrolment numbers to know we have become a place where people want to live.”
Speculation about a possible change to the event had been building on social media.
An image, featuring the number 2, was posted on Wednesday by official Electric Avenue accounts.
Among hundreds of comments, one follower wrote, “do we think it’s a 2 day festival next time?!”, with another adding “imagine a 2 days festival? we better start preparing ourselves”.
Another poster urged caution: “2 days till line up any other answer and you’re getting your hopes up.”
Team Event is also responsible for the Great Kiwi Beer Festival, Nostalgia Festival, and the South Island Wine and Food Festival.
Mitchell said it had seen “phenomenal growth” in the sector over Electric Avenue’s 10-year history.
“Also, as our profile has grown internationally, interest has grown among the artists, who now really want to perform here – hence the reason for wanting to celebrate our 10th birthday with a bang.”
Noting the cost of living crisis, the organisers have pledged to make the starting price for a two-day ticket only “around 30% higher than the average price of a one-day ticket sold for this year’s event”.
Ticket sales for Electric Avenue 2025 open in mid-September, with pre-sale registration now available via electricavenuefestival.co.nz. Gates will open at 2pm on Friday, February 21 and 1.30pm on Saturday, February 22.
“Interest has grown among the artists, who now really want to perform here – hence the reason for wanting to celebrate our 10th birthday with a bang.”
Festival director Callam Mitchell, Team Event