Christchurch's Electric Avenue: Benee, Fat Freddy's Drop announced as part of full line-up

Benee, Fat Freddy's Drop, Montell2099, and Savage are on the line-up for the Christchurch outdoor...
Benee, Fat Freddy's Drop, Montell2099, and Savage are on the line-up for the Christchurch outdoor music festival. Photo: George Heard
Benee, Fat Freddy's Drop, Montell2099, and Savage have been announced as part of the line-up for Christchurch's outdoor music festival - Electric Avenue.

Electric Ave has announced it will go ahead on February 26 next year. Under the traffic light system, all attendees will be required to provide their vaccine certificate.

The ticketing provider has integrated the vaccine certificate into the existing website and attendees will be able to upload their vaccine certificate to their Ticket Fairy account ahead of the festival.

The four Kiwi acts will replace Lorde who was set to play the festival as part of her Solar Power tour of New Zealand and Australia. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the dates have been shifted to February and March 2023 and she can no longer attend.

Electric Ave will go-ahead on February 26 next year. Photo: George Heard
Electric Ave will go-ahead on February 26 next year. Photo: George Heard
The acts will be joined by Australian electronic duo Peking Duk, who will be performing their brand-new live show, and hip-hop/funk artist Genesis Owusu.

Already announced artists include UK Drum & Bass star Sub Focus, Drax Project, Lee Mvtthews, Teeks, and Sachi. It will also be the first ever festival appearance of the acclaimed Synthony show featuring a full 48-piece orchestra.

After a record attendance earlier this year, the 12-hour inner city festival is expected to draw a sell-out crowd of 30,000, with over half of the tickets snapped up already.

Festival director Callam Mitchell says that it has been another tumultuous year for the events industry.

The Electric Avenue music festival in Christchurch earlier this year. Photo: George Heard
The Electric Avenue music festival in Christchurch earlier this year. Photo: George Heard
"The past few months have been pretty rocky to navigate, but it's great to now have the certainty that we can proceed under the new traffic light framework."

While border closures have made securing international acts difficult, Mitchell said they're fortunate New Zealand has such amazing talent.

"We'd normally have up to a dozen international artists on the lineup. It's amazing to have two years in a row with record crowd numbers, and a predominantly Kiwi line-up. It speaks volumes of the strength and diversity of artists in this country".

General admission tickets are on sale now from Ticket Fairy. VIP Tickets have sold out.