The Electric Avenue festival will be held at Christchurch's Hagley Park in February 2025. Photo: SUPPLIED / TEAM EVENT
A bumper lineup of international and local acts has been revealed for next year's Electric Avenue festival with two top-drawer names heading up proceedings.
The Prodigy and Chase & Status will both deliver headlining sets at Christchurch's Hagley Park in February 2025.
The announcement comes less than a month after organisers confirmed the country's biggest one-day music festival will expand to two days.
Several of the international artists booked will make exclusive New Zealand appearances, according to promoters.
Elsewhere, Empire of the Sun, Wilkinson, The Kooks, Rudimental, DJ Shadow, Khruangbin, Maribou State, Real Estate and Tash Sultana are the big drawcards of the international contingent.
Returning again to Hagley are several prominent local acts including L.A.B, Fat Freddy's Drop and Shapeshifter, the latter joined by prior collaborators the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and Ladi6.
More than 50 artists will perform across four stages on 21-22 February.
Photo: SUPPLIED / TEAM EVENT
The Prodigy - now comprising of keyboardist and producer Liam Howlett and vocalist Maxim Reality - will make their first visit to Aotearoa in six years after the Essex icons played Auckland's Trusts Arena in early 2019.
That show would ultimately be the final performance for founding member, dancer and vocalist Keith Flint, who died a month later.
The controversial outfit, who trailblazed their way our of their underground rave beginnings at the turn of the 90s, hit a commercial zenith with their third studio album The Fat of the Land in 1997.
The album - that has sold more than 10 million copies - is bolstered by the singles 'Firestarter', 'Breathe' and 'Smack My B*tch Up', a high watermark for a group considered one of the most successful and influential dance music acts of all time.
London duo Chase & Status could be considered descendants of their fellow headliners, and have cemented themselves as one of the major-league festival favourites for purveyors of low-end sub-bass.
Outside of the ferocious high energy of the headliners, Empire of the Sun, out of Sydney, and Texan trio Khurangbin will offer fans a more nuanced, multihued dancefloor sensibility.
Californian hip hop instrumentalist DJ Shadow (aka Josh Davis) is also a legendary figure among crate digging mavens, cementing his stature almost immediately with his classic 1996 debut Endtroducing,,,..
Festival director Callam Mitchell said people have already registered for more than 25,000 tickets, with 90 percent wanting full weekend passes.
Mitchell predicted both days would sell out.
"We're stoked by the level of interest - it's amazing to have a lineup of this calibre to celebrate our 10th birthday and we can't wait to party with you all.
"For anyone travelling from outside Christchurch we do encourage you to snap up your accommodation nice and early - generally around 60 percent of our audience travel from around the country to attend."
Friday 21 February:
Chase & Status, Empire of the Sun, Tash Sultana, L.A.B, Tones and I, Shapeshifter (ft. Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and Ladi6, Jordan Rakei , Mall Grab, The Jungle Giants, Coterie, Troy Kingi & The Cactus Handshake, Bag Raiders, Sin & Brook, Aroha & Tali, 1 Drop Nation, Dick 'Magik' Johnson, Frank Booker, Dylan C, Beccie B, Jaz Paterson, Craigslist Soundsystem, Loveta, Goose, Th' Dudes
Saturday 22 February:
The Prodigy, Wilkinson, Khruangbin, The Kooks, Rudimental, Fat Freddy's Drop, KALEO, Peking Duk, Maribou State, DJ Shadow, Isabel Larosa, Salute, Ladi6, Fleetmac Wood, Park Rd, Elipsa, Georgia Lines, Jujulipps, Yurt Party, OB1, Craig Shaw & Eamonn Fevah, Aragon & Pyre, King Al & Nick T, Willy Styles, Miss Implicit, Real Estate, Kate Land