Dutch Air Guitar Championships

After an intense virtual battle, John Sniffler from Utrecht won the sixth Dutch Air Guitar title. Currently preparing himself with his personal coach and trainer in secret foreign training camps, John Sniffler will be representing the Netherlands at the 13th Air Guitar World Championships, that will be held on Friday 22nd of August in Oulu, Finland. National team manager Vergouw will join Sniffler to Oulu in his quest for global recognition. Sniffler played a wonderful free round, in which he performed a mix of Gypsy music by the Rosenberg trio. He defended his 1st place in the compulsory round, which was the first minute of Brainstorm by The Arctic Monkeys. Second place was for Pedro Elastico (last years # 4), third place for Queen Bitch Christina (Amsterdam). Last years champ The T came in at 5th place, while long lasting champs like Tremelo Theun (champ in 2005; now # 4) and the Hurricane (7th) showed air guitar of the highest quality. The show was presented by Rick de Leeuw, and not forgetting that during the judging, the Sugarettes and The Bloody Honkies played on real guitars! (Photos: c. Marike Benschop)

This must be a high score for this website: within a timeframe of one week, I found evidence of three famous musicians playing air guitar. Billy Idol was strumming the virtual instrument on may occasions during his excellent performance at the Paradiso in Amsterdam (read the review). Friends told me Erykah Badu couldn’t leave the air guitar alone during her gig at the same venue last week. And finally, what can one say when one sees the cover of the new album of Gilbert O’Sullivan, the singer-songwriter who had several chart topping hits in the seventies and seems to be on his way back to the top, playing Glastonbury and The Carre in Amsterdam this year, after living in obsurity for many years.

In this category, please read the articles on Beyonce, Harry Potter, Joe Cocker and/or reverend Morton, the guitar playing Bishop!