Wollongong's live music mega-fan breaks world record 'for being himself'

Music journalist David James Young got the word that he's now the official Guinness World Record holder early this week.

His record stands at 257 gigs, but he says he actually saw 365 between January 5, 2023, to January 5 this year.

For a gig to be eligible for the record, it needed to be in a venue which could hold more than 200 people, wasn't at a festival and the tickets had to be sourced by Mr Young himself and not for review.

Mr Young did not know about the record until May 2023, when he had already seen more than 100 gigs.

"I viewed it as a kind of win-win situation, if I went through with and submitted everything and I got the record then you know, great," Mr Young said.

"I got to see a bunch of great shows, the majority of which I was kind of just planning to go to anyway.

"When I told my dad about it, it was like 'they just basically gave you a record for being yourself'."

When he got the word from Guinness World Records - fittingly on the way home from a gig - Mr Young took to social media to thank the many people who helped him to get the record.

"Last night on the train home from a gig, I got the email I have been waiting 12 long weeks for," he said.

"I've reread it probably two dozen times and it still doesn't feel real."

He thanked everyone who has "gotten around me on this very silly and expensive journey into the record books".

Also on his Instagram page, Mr Young listed his top 100 gigs for 2023 with his favourite being a band called Fiddlehead.

"They were touring Australia for the first time on the back of their third album ... and because it was their first time here there was a lot of pent-up excitement and anticipation for this band," he said.

"As soon as they started playing it was just pandemonium in there, there were just bodies flying and people screaming every word to every song."

As part of the record, Mr Young saw 15 shows at La La La's in Wollongong and 11 shows at the North Wollongong Hotel.

Mr Young's love for live music did not finish with the record and he has continued to go to shows, but he did miss out on the biggest concert of 2024, Taylor Swift's The Era Tour.

"Not for the lack of trying ... I was in about three different Ticketek lounges at a certain point trying to get tickets," he said.

"I was kind of intrigued by the production and how everything was going to go, I didn't realise it was going to be of those nigh-on impenetrable fortresses and shows to try to get to."