Electric Avenue kicks off with a Split Enz reunion

Iconic Kiwi band Split Enz will headline Australasia's biggest music festival in Christchurch on Friday night, with a record crowd set to descend on Hagley Park for the historic on-stage reunion at Electric Avenue.

The band, led by song-writing siblings Tim and Neil Finn, will play an 80-minute set, marking the first time they've performed since a one-off appearance at Melbourne's Sound Relief concert in 2009.

Now in its 11th year, Electric Avenue has returned on an unprecedented scale, with 90,000 tickets sold to the $20 million two-day event.

More than 50 acts will perform across five stages at an expanded site covering the equivalent area of 26 rugby fields.

The weather is expected to be on the cooler side for Friday's festival-goers, with a high of 16 degrees and a low of six, while Saturday has a sunnier high of 18 degrees.

Grammy-nominated Australian house DJ/producer Dominic Matheson, better known as Dom Dolla, will headline Saturday's event.

Other international drawcards include Kesha, Pendulum, Basement Jaxx, Leftfield, Becky Hill, The Streets, Sammy Virji, Peking Duk, and Sudan Archives.

Aside from Split Enz, the local contingent includes L.A.B., Supergroove, Kora, Fazerdaze, Drax Project, Leisure, Greg Churchill and Frank Booker.

Last year's sold-out festival was the first time Electric Avenue was staged over two days and proved to be a boon for Christchurch's economy, with about $10.5m of visitor spending reported by the city council's economic development agency.

Festival director Callam Mitchell said Split Enz was the most significant booking organisers had ever made.

"It goes far beyond 'just another headliner'," he said in a statement.

"It's going to be a cultural landmark event of epic proportions."

Split Enz released nine studio albums between 1975-1984, a period that saw the band deliver some of the country's most pre-eminent pop anthems.

Underlining the event's knack of defying the generation gap, Split Enz's fellow headliner Dom Dolla was not even born by the time of the band's second leg of post-breakup reunion shows.

The 34-year-old DJ is a prolific remixer and has unleashed a slew of dancefloor singles over the past decade.

It is the first time the festival will be held under a partnership with American-owned multinational Live Nation, which acquired a 51 percent stake in Team Event, the company behind the Electric Avenue, in July.

Tickets were in hot demand for 2026, with more than 200,000 people scrambling for 90,000 tickets, leaving thousands empty-handed.

Gates open at 2pm on Friday and 1.30pm on Saturday.