Electric Avenue: Scribe back on the mic at Christchurch's biggest outdoor music festival

Scribe entertains during the Friday Jams 2019 concert held at Western Springs. Photo / Dean Purcell

Christchurch's biggest outdoor music festival, featuring Kiwi artists Scribe and P-Money, will go ahead this weekend.

The Electric Avenue Music Festival at Hagley Park has been sold out for a month with 25,000 people expected on Saturday.

All of the acts on the day are Kiwis after three Australian performers, Tash Sultana, Ocean Alley and Bootleg Rascal, were unable to attend due to Covid-19.

One of the key performers will be Christchurch-born rapper Scribe who has been out of the limelight for years.

The father of four burst onto the New Zealand hip hop scene about 15 years ago, his drug-use intensified after finding fame, landing him in jail and rehab on several occasions.

The Electric Avenue Music Festival in Christchurch in 2020. Photo / Supplied

After a stint in rehab in late 2019, Scribe said he is now sober and has kept out of trouble.

Some of the other key performers include Benee, Fat Freddy's Drop, L.A.B and Tiki Taane.

Ticket scamming has been rife with organisers having to warn those wanting to buy tickets to only purchase them through official channels.

Tickets have been listed on TradeMe for well above the market value of $169 with many having a starting bid of $300 and buy nows of around $600.

People are selling Electric Avenue tickets on TradeMe for well above market price. Photo / Supplied

Organisers put out a warning to attendees on Facebook after drug-testing service KnowYourStuffNZ discovered an increase of synthetic cathinone known as eutylone, being sold as MDMA, or ecstasy, this week.

About 40 per cent of the samples brought by people thinking they had MDMA during O-week tests have turned out to contain the substitute.

Free drug testing was offered to concertgoers on Monday and Tuesday this week.