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Air Guitar Heroes
Eeva Riihela/AFP/Getty Images
Matt ‘Airistotle’ Burns plays some imaginary licks for the crowd.
You’ll find them in school hallways across the nation—people playing imaginary guitars to songs in their headphones (or just in their heads), contorting their faces like rock stars. Air guitar may seem like a frivolous pastime, but people in Finland take it pretty seriously, as hosts of the annual Air Guitar World Championships. Performers from all over—no actual musical ability required—come to show off their air shredding skills at the annual event in the city of Oulu. It all started when some Finnish college students suggested—tongue-in-cheek—that air guitar could be the solution to world peace. A nearby festival arranged a local competition, jokingly referring to it as the Air Guitar World Championships. But the event was a hit, and the “sport” of air guitar has now spread to other countries, drawing in more and more fans. This year, American Rob Messel won the championship crown in front of 3,000 spectators. His prize? An actual guitar. It’s all pretty goofy, but the absurdity is part of the reason why people are flocking to the competitions, Messel says. “It’s equal parts rock show, improv comedy, and pro wrestling match. The shows are . . . hard not to enjoy.”