- On June 3, 2007, 2,000 guitarists of all ages and skill will gather at Community America Ballpark in Kansas City for the largest ensemble performance of Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” in history. Should the attempt—being put on by radio station KYYS in Mission, Kansas—succeed, it will break a record which has stood since 1994. In February 2007 a world record attempt proved unsuccessful at the department store Harrods in London.
- Representatives from Guinness will be on hand to verify the record has been broken. Celebrity guitarists will also be participating in the history making event.
- “The first song everyone learns on guitar is ‘Smoke on the Water,’ so we thought this would be a good song to try and break the record with,” KYYS morning show host Max Floyd said.
- Participants in the event have been signing up via 99.7’s web site, kyys.com, and the music store Funky Munky over the past three months. The event is completely free to anyone wishing to attend and will begin at approximately 11:00 a.m.
- “We’re pretty confident we’re going to break the record,” said Floyd’s cohost, Tanna. “We know our listeners are going to rise to the challenge or else we wouldn’t even attempt this.”
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