Finn felt the familiar alchemy last month when Split Enz came back together and played their first gig of the 2026 tour at Electric Avenue Festival in Christchurch. There, the band’s 1000th show, they were met by an enthusiastic, intergenerational crowd.
“The songs have travelled through the years, and they don’t seem to get older. When you get to play them live, they’re in the air again, and they live and they breathe, and it’s a magical thing,” Finn says.
“It’s a very up-tempo set. It’s the energy level of the band around the time of True Colours, when we really stepped it up in terms of the songs. So it’s got a real energy, and we’re more than capable of delivering that, which is a lovely thing to know when we’re not quite as young as we used to be.”
“The songs have travelled through the years, and they don’t seem to get older,” says Neil Finn.
Finn first saw Split Enz as a spectator. It was his big brother Tim’s band. They were art students, and they were delivering something wholly unique in 1970s New Zealand.
“It was a gateway into other worlds. This incredible band was unlike any other – they completely had their own way of doing things,” Finn recalls.
He officially joined in 1977. Nigel Griggs had just entered the mix and Phil Judd had left the group.
“We spent time at a place called The Old Mill house in the Welsh countryside, which now has sort of mythical status for us,” he says.
“It was the birth of a new band and the jamming is what I remember. Nigel always used to record the jams, and he’d have them edited up the next morning for us to listen to. Some of them spawned actual songs, and some of them were just delightful moments in time.”
Split Enz have reunited for live shows in 2026, the first time they’ve played together in 18 years. Photo / Karen Inderbitzen-Waller
Electric Avenue was the first show of their 2026 comeback. The band plays two shows in Wellington and two in Auckland in May, and on Thursday announced two new shows in Hamilton and Christchurch due to “overwhelming demand”.
But one thing fans won’t see on this tour is Split Enzs’ signature makeup, worn by the band in their heyday. Asked why, Finn is frank.
“There’d be nothing worse than seeing a sweating, heavily made-up face start to crack halfway through the set on those big image screens, so we thought better of it. It’s one thing to be young and fresh-faced and put heavy makeup on – that has a certain allure glamour – but we just thought it might end up looking a bit unfortunate.”
But he assures fans, the OG glamour is still well and truly on display. Their legendary suits are out and proud, and in line with Split Enz tradition, have been made by percussionist Noel Crombie and his wife Sally-Anne Mills.
Split Enz at Electric Avenue. Photo / Radlab
“They printed all the fabrics themselves from scratch on some linen they bought several years ago,” says Finn. “So it’s a pretty comprehensive job, and you’d expect no less from Noel and Sally. They’re both meticulous and extremely resourceful. The suits were wonderful to wear.”
Crombie has played a key role in the band’s look.
“He was, in many ways, the emblem,” Finn says of his bandmate. “He was emblematic of the band as a personality on stage, but also in his contribution to the look, to the styling, to the haircuts, to all of it.”
Split Enz in 1976, before Neil Finn joined the band. From left, Emlyn Crowther, Eddie Rayner, Phil Judd, Tim Finn, Noel Crombie and Rob Gillies (band member Mike Chunn is missing).
Alongside Finn and Crombie, this band features original members Tim Finn and Eddie Rayner, and pays tribute to Nigel Griggs, who was unable to travel for the tour.
“My suit is a very enlarged and exaggerated pinstripe, reminiscent of a suit that Nigel, our bass player, wore several years ago. It’s a homage to that.”
“We missed him, but the addition of James Milne [Lawrence Arabia] and Matt Eccles [Betchadupa] on bass and drums brought a new fresh energy as well.”
Both accomplished musicians in their own right, Finn says they fitted right in to the band.
“They just were sort of people that might have ended up in the band. They understand the humour and they have a kind of band aesthetic.
“We’ve known them for a long time. So there’s a sort of soulfulness to that. They’re not strangers, they’re not session musicians, they understand the dynamic of bands, and they put themselves into it, heart and soul.”
Finn says that once they start playing the songs, “they have their own way of kicking in muscle memory”, giving a connection to the songs again and to the band.
“It doesn’t feel strange that we’re still laughing about the same things and we’re still just as adolescent with our jokes.”
From decades of experience as a musician, he knows this is special.
“I feel sorry for bands that don’t get on, and there’s quite a few of those that get together and can’t even be in the same room, and they’re doing it purely for the money. I don’t knock anybody for playing music for any reason, particularly if it’s good music, but we have the benefit of really liking each other’s company and really enjoying the laughs and the camaraderie and the rehearsals.”
Both the band and the crowds at Electric Avenue enjoyed the sense of nostalgia from Split Enz first performance in 18 years. Photos / Radlab
In an age where artificial intelligence is playing an increasing role in music production, he says those rehearsals and live gigs are a gift.
“The beautiful thing about live music is that it can’t be replicated. A band like ours, we’re not on a computer grid. We’ve got time to stop if we want to talk, to jam on an ending, to extend things, to shorten things. It’s a beautiful thing that’s responsive to an audience, and we’ll throw it back to them, and they’ll throw it back to us, and I think people are appreciating that more than ever.”
Because songs and music, he says, are something that can be relied on in uncertain times.
“It’s positive. It’s going to make you have a better day. It’s going to comfort you in your sad times. There’s a lot of things that are separating us now from humanity, not the least being these little things that we’re talking on here,” he says, pointing to the phone. “Feeling slightly connected to a chat group is completely different than being in an audience, singing a song and sharing that communal feeling.”
A feeling he says will be captured in the Auckland and Wellington shows this May.
“I think those songs are ingrained in the psyche of many New Zealanders so I would expect it’ll be a unifying thing. You’ll come and listen to songs like Nobody Takes Me Seriously, and enjoy the drama and humour of it. You can expect a high-energy set, some good humour, amazing visuals courtesy of Noel and a fully immersive experience of Split Enz.”
Split Enz take their Forever Enz Tour 2026 to Hamilton’s Claudelands Arena on May 2, Christchurch’s Wolfbrook Arena on May 4, Wellington’s TSB Arena on May 6 (sold out) and May 7, and Auckland’s Spark Arena on May 9 (sold out) and May 10.