The Spinoff’s top pick of events from around the motu. Here’s the best for the week January 22–29.
Welcome to The Spinoff event guide, your weekly, curated selection of gigs, events and exhibitions happening across Aotearoa. If you want to pitch your event for future guides then please use this handy form.
Tāmaki Makaurau
Outdoor festival: 2026 Auckland International Buskers Festival
Auckland Waterfront Harbour and CBD
From 12pm daily, Jan 23–26 (plus 6pm show on fri, 23 Jan – at Te Rimutahi)
Free
“With everything from juggling, death-defying acrobatics, fire, world champion jump roping, diabolo, and hand-crafted marionettes, there’s guaranteed to be plenty of laughter, spectacle and surprises.”
Rotorua
Comedy: Jimmy Carr: Laughs Funny
Sir Howard Morrison Centre
7.30pm, Jan 23–24 (and an additional 9.30pm show on Jan 24)
$89.90–109.90
“Jimmy tells jokes, and jokes are like magnets. Jokes attract people, but they can also repel. Some people are repelled by Jimmy’s dark brand of comedy. This show is not for them. But if it’s the kind of thing you like, then this is the kind of thing you’ll like.” (For pre-show research, or for those both repelled and intrigued by Carr, here’s an interesting interview with him by Louis Theroux).
Te Whanganui-a-Tara
Music: Gardens Magic Concert Series
Botanic Gardens ki Paekākā Soundshell
7pm–9.15pm, Jan 22–25
Free
Free gigs while the sun is up: see the programme on the Wellington City Council website.
Ōtautahi
Musical theatre: The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical
Cobham Intermediate School, 294 Ilam Road, Ilam, Christchurch
6.30pm, Jan 22–24 (and 1.30pm, Jan 24 & 25)
$15
Independently produced and run entirely by students! “Percy Jackson: teenager, son… and half-blood? There’s trouble in Olympus, Zeus’ master lightning bolt has vanished and Percy is marked as the prime suspect. On his quest to prove his innocence, he makes new friends, slays monsters, and comes to terms with his new reality at Camp Half Blood.”
Ōtepoti
Festival / ecology: Taiari Wai River Festival
Pātearoa, Central Otago
12pm–5pm Sat, January 24
Free
“The Taiari Wai River Festival is a music festival with a purpose – to engage the Otago community in the extraordinary freshwater ecosystems of the Taieri/Taiari river.”
