For years, the idea of Split Enz returning to the stage felt uncertain — the kind of long-shot reunion fans didn’t dare count on.
Now, with the band quietly stepping back into the spotlight, their legacy is revealing itself in a way that feels less nostalgic and more enduring.
So far, the reunion has been understated. Split Enz have played just one show during this current run, headlining Christchurch’s Electric Avenue festival, but the response hinted at something bigger.
“We are getting younger people who seem to know the songs and that’s interesting,” Finn told Rolling Stone AU/NZ recently. “At the Electric Avenue festival, it was very multi-generational – festivals are, I suppose – and you could see people in their twenties who would never have seen the band before singing every song – singing the words – and that was incredibly pleasurable to experience for us old guys; to connect across the generations. Music spans decades.”
That cross-generational moment lands differently when viewed against the band’s early years, when their ambitious, off-centre approach often clashed with mainstream expectations. Finn recalls one particularly hostile reception supporting AC/DC at Melbourne’s Festival Hall in the mid-’70s.
“That took a bit of time – to see through that self-created barrier,” he says. “But I do remember meeting Bon Scott in, I think it was late ‘75. We had supported AC/DC at Festival Hall and got booed off – well, more or less. We stayed on, doggedly, but we were being yelled at by the crowd, who were there to see AC/DC – and Skyhooks, actually.
“But I met Bon sort of six months, nine months later, and he said, ‘I’ve got no idea what you’re doing, but I dig it.’ And I went, ‘Great!’ That’s the best you could hope for, you know? From another band, and especially somebody as great as Bon.”
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Ticket information for Split Enz’s tour is available via Live Nation AU and Live Nation NZ.
