RADOMSKO, Poland – It is official: using a Telefunken Elektroakustik M 80 vocal mic and a Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar, Alex Carlin performed for 32 hours, earning him the new Guinness World Record for "Longest Concert by a Solo Artist." The extended show took place at the Pub Bourbon Street and broke the previous record of 27 hours, 3 minutes and 44 seconds by a French-Canadian known as "Gonzales" in Paris.
By the end of his show, Carlin had performed 500 songs, including the entire Beatles catalog, which took only 12 hours. "Around hour 12 things were getting difficult – my head felt like it was exploding, and I had dark thoughts about what later hours could feel like if it was already bad like that. But soon things started getting better and better. In fact, by the moment I was beating the 27-hour record I felt great, and the last five hours were quite easy. The last hour I was feeling very strong, playing Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Metallica and my song, "No Sleep, Only Rock and Roll" – high-energy stuff. I was amazed that I could still sing those kinds of vocals at the 32nd hour."
Carlin was formerly in the 1977 cult-punk band Psychotic Pineapple, based in San Francisco. Now he plays 130 concerts per year, mostly in Eastern Europe. Many of these shows are long solo concerts, typically lasting more than seven hours. After these concerts, Carlin likes to go to "after-parties," where he plays for many more hours. This Guinness Record-breaking concert was the next logical step in pushing the limits of Carlin's stamina and endurance.
Local boosters of Radomsko (pop. 50,000, in the center of Poland) were excited about the wide-ranging attention being paid to this concert, and to their city. The successful record attempt coincided with the annual weekend-long festival named "Days of Radomsko," typically drawing over 15,000 people to the various events.
The enduring Telefunken M 80 is designed for both stage and studio, performance and recording. The M 80's directional pickup pattern and wide frequency response yield a microphone that offers a blend of functionality, isolation and pleasing tone. The M 80 is billed as being sonically open, requiring little or no EQ to fit into a live or recorded mix. With minimal proximity effect, the microphone is neither boomy nor overpowering.
For more information, please visit www.t-funk.com.
