“Hey Joe” on 7,967 Guitars! New Guitar World Record in Wrocław, Poland!

Wrocław, the city of guitars, has once again become the center of the guitar world on May 1st, 2023, as it broke the Guitar World Record with 7,967 guitarists playing Jimi Hendrix’s legendary “Hey Joe” together during Thanks Jimi Festival. Helping break the record included music legends Steve Vai and Michael Angelo Batio. The World’s Largest Guitar Orchestra was conducted by Leszek Cichoński, the event’s creator, who emphasized that while breaking the record was an achievement, it’s the positive energy and the spirit of playing together that truly matters – in what he terms as “Uni-Vibe”, the uniting vibration of music.

The event featured performances by Vai, as well as the metal band Lordi and others. Renowned Grammy nominated American bluesman Vasti Jackson, who, just after breaking the record, led all those there in an unplanned encore of “Stand By Me”, a song very much associated with Playing For Change, with which Vasti cooperates regularly.

Highlights included Kamil Bednarek performing Marek Grechuta’s “The Only Days That Matter Are the Ones We Don’t Know Yet”, Mrozu singing his hit song “If Not Us, Then Who,” and the premiere of Dżem’s “Red as a Brick” by Sebastian Riedel, Jose Torres, and Leszek Cichoński. The event also saw Grzegorz Skawiński, Wojciech Pilichowski, The Voice of Poland finalist Łukasz Drapała, world-renowned jazz pianist Leszek Możdżer, and former captain of the Polish national basketball team, Maciej Zieliński, and Wrocław Mayor/President Jacek Sutryk joining in playing guitars.