Around 500 people turned up to the inaugural Vibe music festival.
The festival, organised by the Whanganui District Council's youth committee, was held at Cooks Gardens on Saturday evening.
It featured a number of local musicians, as well as Christchurch band Nomad. There was plenty of other entertainment including games and food stalls.
But youth committee administrator Claudia Perkins said there was a serious message behind the festival.
"Our reason for holding this was to get word out to young people where they can go for help. We've found that a lot of kids don't know what to do if they are being bullied, or if they are depressed," Ms Perkins said.
"Schools have counsellors, but often kids don't want to go there because they're worried their peers will find out and tease them."
She said representatives from a number of social agency that work with young people were at the concert.
Proceeds from the concert will go to Youthline.
Ms Perkins paid tribute to the youth committee organisers of the event, Josie Verhaaren and Ahilan Saravanapavan, who she said had worked very hard to make the event happen.
Ms Perkins said she hoped Vibe would become an annual event.
"This year was a really good start," she said.
'I can't stress enough that once your dog has signs, you're too late.'