To air is divine
Contestants unleash their inner rock stars at Mod Club for the Canadian National Air Guitar Championships
Maybe it was when he bashed open a beer can using only his skull. Or maybe it was those low-riding floral tights he wore.
When the final air-string had been air-plucked at the Canadian National Air Guitar Championships on Saturday, Ottawa’s Jason “Thrust” McNeely had bested Toronto’s hairspray-heavy Carlos “Hanzel the Manzel” Mengual by just 0.1of a point to win first place.
Holding his steel maple-leaf trophy and wearing a Canadian flag as a cape, McNeely was planning to take his victory celebration off-site following a performance in the final round in which he jumped offstage, climbed atop the bar at Toronto’s Mod Club and air-shredded to Loverboy’s “Working for the Weekend.”
“I broke a little more glass than I’m sure management, or anyone, appreciated so I am taking off right after this before they charge me,” he said.
With his winning performance of “Born to Kill” by Australian rock band Airbourne, McNeely earned a trip to Oulu, Finland for the Air Guitar World Championships, running Aug. 26 to 28. Canada re-entered the international competitive air-guitar circuit last year for the first time since the annual competition faded out in the mid-2000s. This year’s shred-off also raised $3,500 for Right to Play, a non-profit that funds sport and play for children in developing communities internationally.
This was the second year that Kristian Bruun, known for his role as Donnie Hendrix on Orphan Black, had served as judge (he was joined by Edge radio host Adam Ricard, Mr. D’s Suresh John, Naked News anchor Kat Curtis and Little Foot Long Foot frontwoman Joan Smith).
Bruun was awestruck after an evening that included an airguitaring puppet, moonwalking, scissor kicks, an air-guitar interpretation of Jon Snow’s recent Game of Thrones story arc and explicitly snug tights.
“That last round was the most insane round of air guitar I’ve ever seen at any competition,” he said, his table covered in beer from a performance by third-place finalist Jesse “Loverboy” Herron, who gyrated atop the judge’s table as friends showered him with beer. “Every year this thing gets better.”
For fan favourite Bob “Mr. Bob” Wagner who, at 71, is the oldest competitive air guitarist in history, the fun of wiggling along to a classic Presley tune has an added poignancy because of the event’s charity ties.
He mentions a recent news story about ISIS training child soldiers. “I sat there with my morning paper and I actually cried,” he says. “Where Right to Play should be going is right into there. This is fun, but at the same time my mind works on that also.”