Chris Schulz: Entertainment Reporter live from Electric Ave

Hagley Park plays host now to the biggest two-day festival in all of Australasia, Electric Ave, and entertainment reporter Chris Schultz is there live. 

"It really is something, the city is maxed out - you can't get accommodation, there's queues for food places all over town. Its that busy down here." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at Basel.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Where did I see it?

Speaker 3 (00:36):
We are always running right here? Empire of the Sun
and Walking on a Dream. They were one of the
day one acts at Electric Avenue in christ Church. Hagley
Park plays host now to the biggest two day festival
in all of Australasia, and Chris Schultz has the very

(00:58):
difficult gig of going along to Electric av thirty thousand
steps on day one. Chris, that's very impressive. Howre you feeling.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Like I've been hit by a bus. I was not
prepared for what I went through yesterday. I thought i'd
stretched enough, I thought i'd drunk enough. I got plenty
of sleep, but nothing really prepares you for like just
a full festival day, you know, like running around a
massive site like that. Hackley Park is huge. It's a

(01:28):
really big place. They've got five stages set up in there,
and yeah, I honestly don't think I've been to a
festival of that scale since the days I used to
go to Coachella, those kind of big overseas events. It
really is something. The city is maxed out. You can't
get accommodation. There's cues for food places all over time.

(01:50):
You can barely get a flat white at the moment.
It's that busy down here.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Oh it's great. I mean christ is just thriving at
the moment, so you just love to see it. You've
got five stages at Electric, tens of thousands of attends.
Talk us through your experience of day.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
One, just just pumping from the moment I got there.
This is thirty six thousand people on the site. So
you're just kind of running around trying to like not
get that feeling of fomo. You know, you want to
catch everything you want to see. So you know, I
saw a shape shifter playing with the Christ Church Symphony Orchestra.

(02:24):
They sounded meaty and grunty, local lads in the hangar. Actually,
the biggest moment for me came in the evening, and
for a lot of people it came with the Dudes. Now,
the Dudes are a band that are nearly fifty. They
turned fifty in a couple of years and their big
anthem is Bliss that's about forty five years old. I
did not expect to see probably about twenty thousand people

(02:48):
crammed into a stage area to see them hanging off
their every word, going completely and utterly ballistic. It was
just one of those kind of special moments where the
sun was going down. I guess everyone had had a
couple of drinks, so Bliss felt like the right song
to play in that moment. But Peter Rulicht not even
believe it. He was sort of grinning on stage and

(03:09):
at one point I think he said something like, this
feels Shakespearean because you know, it was just so ridiculous.
He's a band, you know, at the age they are,
with the career they've had, suddenly having this maybe possibly
the biggest moment they've ever had. Yeah, electric, electric is
a great word for it, you know it. It was

(03:32):
a really well planned day that sort of started with
a bit of reggae but a dub. Then they moved
into some of the more summary acts. Tash Sultana as
an Australian busker who plays all her own instruments on stage.
She just kind of runs around doing the guitar and
the drums and was really well timed for a sort

(03:52):
of late afternoon set, and then it sort of moved
into the more dancing acts for the evening that the
drum and bass headliners Chasing Status put on a the
kind of pounding, huge firework display that y'dix spected at
a festival of the scale. You know, you need someone
to close it out like that, and they did a
really good job at all.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, and some amazing acts playing today. So you've got
the Prodigy top of the list. But run us through
what you're looking forward to today, Well.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
The Prodigy of the Big One. They were last here
in twenty nineteen and I saw them in Auckland and
that was the last show with Keith Flint. He died
just a couple of months later, so that is going
to be a special one. Apparently they do pay tribute
to him during a show, and the shows aras full
on and electric as ever. Fat Freddy's in Lady six.
I think the local acts on my must see list today.

(04:44):
They're always great, especially in a festival atmosphere. I'm also
looking forward to seeing Dj Shadow. He's he made introducing
one of the great vinyl hip hop instrumental albums of
all time, and he always puts on a great show
with a really good visual display too, so he's definitely
on my list.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Nice, and they I mean, it's going to be massive today,
even bigger than yesterday, presumably given some of the acts
that are playing today. Yeah, are you going to do
thirty thousand steps? Do you think.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
I'm going to rest up? Well, I've got a couple
of hours before the things kicks off. I'm going to
put my feet up, I'm going to have some lunch
and shell and yeah, there are scooters. I'm going to
try and get around with scooters. I got an uber
the other day and the guy said it's his busiest
day of the year Electric Avenue. Oh yeah, and it's
almost impossible to get a taxi or an uber, but
they've got these scooters around the city. So I think

(05:37):
I'm going to log and download the AP for one
of those and try and get around using that.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
I think wise, yeah, very wise. I always remember my
sister went to a big festival a couple of years ago,
and she was really looking forward to the festival and
to celebrate and to get ready for festival seasons, she
bought herself a brand new pair of Dot Martin's. And
if there are any shoes you were going to choose
to wear to a festival, were you're going to be
spending fourteen hours on your feet. I can tell you

(06:03):
right now that Dot Martins are not a good choice,
so so long as you've got something a little bit
more comfortable.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
There were a lot of Doc Martins yesterday.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
Well, if they're warning, it's not so bad. But if
there are a new pair of Doc Martins and the
leather is still a bit firm, yeah, not so much.
You'll be tending to those blisters and wounds for months afterwards.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
I reckon absolutely.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
Yeah, Hey, look a joy today, Chris, really appreciate you.
You give us a call and yeah, we'll all be
enviously thinking of you and looking forward to hearing about
all the performances today, including the Prodigy tonight, Chris Shultz
in christ Church for Electric av twenty twenty five, Australasia's
biggest two day festival. We'll pick one of those acts.
How about Crungbin. Crungbin playing today. They're friends of the show.

(06:46):
We interviewed Crungbin, so they're playing today and christ Church.
We'll pick one of their tracks and play out in
a couple of minutes. Right now, it's nine to twelve
on News Talks EDB.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
to news Talks EDB from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio