Last night the sold-out Theatre Royal was rocking with 12 acts who made it through to the Nelson Rockquest final, with teens, younger siblings and even grandparents along for support.

Taking home top band for the second year running was Garin College band Oh Blok. The band is made up of Garin students Louie Persico, Paddy Sanders, Kieran O'Connor and Sam Butler as well as Robbie Day of Nelson College.

Band keyboardist Paddy Sanders, year 13, said the band was "pretty surprised" by the win.

"The competition was quite high, we are super proud of all the other bands. We were more confident coming this year [than last year], we were more familiar with the structure and how it all works."

He said they had Garin College music teacher Kyle Proffit to thank as he had done "wonderful things for the school". Continue reading