'Silly and joyous' air guitar championship revived

A competitive air guitarist has set his sights on re-starting a UK championship for the unique hobby.

Piers Burnell, from Henley-on-Thames, represented the UK at the World Air Guitar Championships in Finland last year.

The short-lived UK Air Guitar Championships took place in 2019, but was not been repeated due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now Piers, a former secondary school teaching assistant, is resurrecting the tournament, with the finals planned to take place on 27 June in London.

Explaining his plans to BBC Radio Oxford, Piers invoked the classic 1980s film Field of Dreams, saying: "If you build it, they will come."

"I've been going to Finland and they always say we need an official UK championship, so I've got the rights," he said.

Piers said the "whole point" of air guitar was that "it's totally absurd".

"It's silly, it's joyous, and you get a real mix of people," he said.

"For one minute only you are the greatest rock and roll star in the world."

Explaining how he got into the unique hobby, Piers said it came after he quit alcohol in 2018 as a way to "just immerse yourself in the joys of absurdity".

Alongside the UK championships, Piers is also looking at establishing a junior competition.

"It's great for kids, because it means they can perform," he said.

"A lot of kids do it anyway, whether they're at a concert, they just naturally go Bill and Ted and all of that," Piers said, referencing another classic '80s film.

"With the music, they smile, they start to interact a bit with the audience, and you see how their confidence grows."

As for the adult competition, Piers has put a light-hearted spin on the modern world with the tournament's slogan: "Make air, not war."

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