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Sydney Band Fathom Break Guinness World Record For Most Concerts Played In 12 Hours

Mary Varvaris

Fathom played nine shows across NSW in twelve hours last month, successfully breaking the Guinness World Record for the most concerts in that time span.

Fathom
Fathom(Credit: Alicesara Chaimala)
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They’ve done it: after setting an ambitious target for themselves, Sydney pop-prog outfit Fathom have broken the Guinness World Record for the most concerts played in 12 hours.

On Saturday, 12 September, Fathom performed nine short sets at different venues across NSW in 12 hours, breaking the Guinness World Record for the most concerts played in that timespan.

The duo started the nine-show run in Singleton at 11 am, followed by shows in Newcastle, Gosford, Sydney, Penrith, Lithgow, Bathurst, Goulburn, and finishing with a Canberra celebration finale at 10 pm.

For half of the shows, Fathom were accompanied by local support acts. 50% of all ticket sales are going to Beyond Blue.

In addition to attempting to break the record, the band unleashed the new single, Record Breakers, on 12 September - a cheeky title that’s now a reality. It’s an 80s-inspired synth-pop track that’s filled with excitement and self-belief.

According to a press release, the first half of Fathom’s day started smoothly, staying ahead of schedule for the first five shows of the day. After the hometown show in Sydney, things started to fall apart.

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Then, the band faced a late-arriving helicopter to get to Lithgow as the pilot was extinguishing fires in the Blue Mountains. They narrowly arrived at the show before sunset, but another small problem emerged: keyboardist Jaxon Italiano realised he’d accidentally left his keyboard’s power cable in Penrith, so he provided backing vocals for the next three shows.

At Bathurst Airport, the band had to change aeroplanes after their first one had a right propeller that stopped working. An hour behind schedule, the duo arrived in Goulburn and drove to Canberra ahead of their final show. Fathom finished their set with just 15 seconds to spare, successfully breaking the record.

Discussing the challenge of the record, Italiano told The Music in a recent interview, “We are both excited and nervous because what I’m worried about is the helicopter. We have to get there before nightfall, otherwise they won’t fly it.

“As long as everything before that goes well, we should be fine from there on, but everything before then, we need to be pretty much dead-on time. So, it’s stressful, but you can't let that overcome you.”