Lights Go Out won the band category in last year's regional final.
Lights Go Out won the band category in last year's regional final.
Twenty-three acts from the region’s schools will compete on the Royal Whanganui Opera House stage in the Smokefreerockquest and Tangata Beats regional final.
They will perform original music to a packed-out crowd on Saturday as the 2026 Smokefreerockquest and Tangata Beats season begins, with nine events over three days acrossNew Zealand.
Smokefreerockquest, which started in 1988, is an annual competition that challenges students to create original music and perform it on stage before regional and national audiences.
In the solo-duo Smokefreerockquest category, Raia (Waihīrere Fifield-Taylor) from Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu won, while Nisi (Denise Pio) from Rangitīkei College took the solo-duo Tangata Beats title.
Director and co-founder Glenn Common said the event offered a “good mix of performers, standards and experiences”, with some acts performing for the first time and others polishing previous years’ attempts.
Common said the Whanganui region, which had been running events since the early 2000s, performed “very well for its size”.
Whanganui High School band The Havewon the national Smokefreerockquest in 2002.
Last year's Smokefreerockquest regional solo-duo winner Raia (Waihīrere Fifield-Taylor).
Common said what made the events good was the autonomy students were given.
“We put very little constraint on what they can do and how they should do it. We give them the platform but ultimately the event is what students do onstage,” Common said.
“That, to me, is the enduring part of it. If it were people directing what they do, I don’t believe it would have the longevity that it’s had.”
He said it was important to keep the event alive for years to come because it encouraged young people to work together.
“When you perform in a band, you have to work collaboratively to an end,” he said.
“The other side of that is the performance side where you are communicating with your audience – that experience is invaluable.
“That is one of the powers of live music performance.”
The Whanganui event features acts from Whanganui High School, Ruapehu College, Whanganui Girls’ College, Rangitīkei College, Cullinane College and more.
It will decide which Whanganui bands and solo-duo acts advance to the next stage of the competition, submitting video performances for the national finals in September.
The Smokefreerockquest and Tangata Beats Whanganui Regional Final begins at 6pm on Saturday. Tickets are available through the Royal Whanganui Opera House website.
