Reston resident Jeanette Pagliuco set a new Guinness world record last week for most live music shows attended in a week with 27 concerts.
From Aug. 2-9, Pagliuco went to 27 live music events across the D.C. region, attending a mariachi performance, symphony orchestra concert and various rock band shows.
The self-described music fanatic officially broke the record on Aug. 7 when she went to see The Road Ducks, a five-man southern rock band, at Burke Lake Park, part of the Fairfax County Park Authority’s free “Springfield Nights” summer concert series.
Pagliuco even encountered Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who happened to be attending the show.
“[She] even came over and acknowledged [me] because at that point, everybody there knew what was happening,” she told FFXnow.
At many of the shows, the performers publicly acknowledged Pagliuco’s attempt because she had to contact either the band or performer’s manager and the venue manager to officially document each show for Guinness World Records.
Pagliuco said it was an exhausting feat, but she was happy she achieved her goal, besting the existing world record of 21 live music shows in a week.
According to her record-keeping, she recorded 1,620 minutes of video of the performances — which she needs to submit to officially claim the world record. She drove 570 miles, totaling 734 minutes on the road, and spent $278 on the shows.
She said most of the money went to parking and cover charges, especially at the D.C. shows. Since she has a season pass to Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, she didn’t have to pay upfront for tickets to bands she saw there during the week, like Train and The Doobie Brothers.
In addition to recording each show, Pagliuco had to collect multiple witness statements from other people in attendance.
“I needed two to three actual witnesses that saw me there during that set or that show that I was there for,” Pagliuco explained. “And what that entailed was getting their name, phone number and email and having them sign, because [Guinness] may randomly select some witnesses and call them.”
Pagliuco surprised herself with the new genres of music she ended up enjoying, even finding a new band she’ll add to the regular rotation for the NoVA Live Music Mingle meet-up group she runs.
“The best part of it was finding more local music to go see,” she said. “…Otherwise I probably would not have known them or have seen them because I kind of have my type of music, but now I’m definitely expanding my horizons from here on out.”
Pagliuco isn’t swearing off the possibility of trying to break her own record at another time. She wanted to continue and go to even more shows, but last week’s stormy weather cancelled some events and made the possibility of 29 shows pretty slim.
Now, Pagliuco is organizing all of her documentation to send to Guinness, including recordings of each show, all 81 witness statements, a spreadsheet of each show and venue, photos of her at the event and advertisements for each show. After the submission, it should take around eight to 12 weeks for her to officially receive a certificate of her record, she says.
