I headed down from Manchester to London last Friday for an event that sounded way too good to miss- the UK Air Guitar championships. Held at Carling Academy Islington, the venue suddenly went from practically empty to rammed full in the space of about 15 minutes. On walked the hostess- a short, mulleted, leotard-clad American woman, who did a rather decent job at presenting the night and dealing with some of the more eccentric characters on stage.
Previously, the week before, a qualifying round took place, meaning that those Guitarists who got through could skip the Gong Round on the night, and go straight through to Round 1.
The Gong Round saw everything ranging from the most rockin' of rock 'n' roll to a performance which didn't even include any air guitar. Each competitor had 30 seconds to prove themselves, and received a score out of 6 from each judge.
The scoring throughout the night did seem rather random at times. Almost everyone scored over 5 out of 6, scoring below 5 meant you were pretty shit. Even the guy who's thirty seconds unfortunately included no guitar scored over 4 from two judges. One judge, quite rightly, gave him zero. If there is no air guitar, surely there should be no score!
Round 1 saw the pre-qualified entrants join the 5 that just got through. First up was The Hoxton Creeper, last year's winner. He put on a pretty solid performance, but the judges seemed to be somewhat in love with him. One sensed slight favouritism. Highlights of this round included Turak, a truly rockin' air guitarist who is what the word METAL was invented for, The Hooded Fingerer and Shreddie Van Halen, who were both quite mad, and The Axel Vicious, who, from the reaction of the crowd, was the people's favourite. Rightly so in my opinion; he played the air guitar how it is meant to be played, rocking out and managing to keep it technical at the same time.
Turak, The Hoxton Creeper and The Axel Vicious were the three who went through to the final. They had a minute of an unprepared song, which turned out to be Icky Thump by the White Stripes. What a shit song to air guitar to. All the performers gave good, sold performances, especially considering the shitness of the song, but it was The Hoxton Creeper who the judges chose to represent the UK in the World Air Guitar Championship in Finland. This was not so much of a surprise...
All in all, a great night, with a responsive, up-for-it crowd, and a lot of heavy mettle from the competitors. The Axel Vicious was the highlight for me, and for most of the crowd, and he will surely be crowned champion next year.
What next?More features? More rock?