THE POWERHOUSE OF THE FESTIVAL CIRCUIT

Electric Avenue marks its 10th Anniversary

Electric Avenue 2025, now in its 10th year, screamed success. Expanding to two days and hosting 35,000 attendees daily, the line up featured heavy hitting international acts The Prodigy, Empire of the Sun, The Kooks, Tash Sultana, Chase and Status, Wilkinson, and Maribou State. Set in downtown Hagley Park, the festival boasted sixty acts across five stages, bars, food trucks, hangout zones and amusement park rides, earning it the title ‘Coachella of the South’ and sparking claims in the media of being Australasia’s largest festival.

Founded in 2015, Callam Mitchell, Festival Director and owner of Christchurch event and promotion company Team Event, has carefully nurtured the music festival from an 8,000 strong audience to its current scale, complete with a 20,000 strong wait list. Callam and his Production Manager Bevan ‘Dexta’ Hancox reflect on this year’s Electric Avenue.

The Evolution

Callam launched Team Events with the ambitious goal of establishing five sustainable events in five years. Electric Avenue, the third, has seen 20 percent annual growth, “We keep things fresh by adding new elements while refining our offering. The beauty of Hagley Park is we can keep changing the site layout and extending our footprint. Last year we levelled up production for The Chemical Brothers and we have used the same model again. This year we added the extra day, something that I have been working on for the last couple of years and fortunately it all came together in time for our 10th birthday.”

Secrets to Success

With other festivals falling over across New Zealand and Australia, Callam has frequently been asked why Electric Avenue is going from strength to strength, “I’ve thought about it, and I think key for us is our programming. It’s very diverse. We don’t target one genre, instead we offer a good day out that’s accessible across a broad range of ages. We offer a big and strong international line-up and have been fortunate that our timing works well for the acts’ Australian tours. We have a reasonable overall artist budget due to the scale of the festival and can build on strong relationships with agents. They are even starting to target Electric Avenue as a springboard into the Australian festival season.”

Alongside the international acts, sit the Kiwi diehards, “Take L.A.B. They’ve been here five years in a row and I don’t think anyone could do a better job in their time slot. They love the festival and want to keep coming back.”

The central city location is another plus, “Personally, I think for a lot of people camping at festivals is a short-lived phase. Most people don’t want to camp out. They want to go home or back to their hotel to have a shower, relax and then come back the next day, and we meet that criterion.”

Callam admits to facing the same challenges as everyone else around the increased regulatory demands and is putting the time and resources in to manage it, “When we are applying for a licence, we expect for it to go to a hearing, and we are currently appealing the number of permitted serves.” He remains bemused as to why there seems to be more issue with licensing festivals, a relatively safe environment with way more controls compared to other hospitality venues, “You are screened before you get to the gate, screened at the entry to the bar, and screened at the bar, yet we’re judged by a handful of intoxicated attendees rather than the 34,995 who behave.”

Fulfilling the Technical Riders

Electric Avenue’s commitment to top-tier production and providing exactly what the riders request has cemented its reputation amongst international acts. Now in his ninth year, Dexta has been pivotal to Electric Avenue’s success, “This festival is definitely one of my favourites. I grew up in Christchurch and have strong ties to the city and to the local companies who supported me when I was just cutting my teeth.”

Dexta collaborates with industry leaders Western Audio, ACL, Big Picture and Stageset NZ, while supporting Christchurch companies Bounce (audio and backline), Pixel (LED), ETS who supplied the power distribution, TES who provided all the production on the Circo Disco stage and the festival’s Wi-Fi needs, along with The Soundpeople & Backline Ltd. All up, he oversees a production crew of about two hundred people.

Highlights for Dexta this year included the transparent ROE Visual Vanish LED panels for Prodigy, “The Chemical Brothers brought their own with them last year, but as of November, this product is available for hire. Western Audio’s d&b audiotechnik SL-Series in full force is another element we are proud to be able to use.”

The two hundred odd channels of RF were also an eyebrow raiser, “You see the riders and wonder if it’ll all work, but with careful planning, it does.”

With so many production-heavy acts, changeovers were intense, “Shifting from Tash Sultana to L.A.B. to Empire of the Sun to Chase and Status on the Main Stage was a major feat. Overseas, they’d have twice the space. We maximised every inch, the excellent production and stage management team delivered seamlessly. I couldn’t do it without them.”

Bigger and Better

Looking ahead, Callam plans further refinements. “I want to ease pressure on The Hanger during changeovers. It’s a 40 by 80 metre marquee holding 10,000 people, but with Rudim3ntal, people were watching from outside.”

More significantly, he envisions further growth, “We’re considering two outdoor main stages and expanding our footprint by a third to increase capacity by 15%. With 20,000 on the waitlist and strong feedback on event organization, we’re on the right track.”

Electric Avenue 2025 has cemented its place as a powerhouse on the festival circuit, delivering an unforgettable 10th anniversary with world-class production, a stellar lineup, and an unmatched atmosphere. With an ever-growing fan base and a reputation for innovation, accessibility, and top-tier entertainment, Electric Avenue is a giant of the Southern Hemisphere festival scene.