Aline Westphal, known as ‘The Devil’s Niece’ on-stage, has been crowned the first female winner of the annual Air Guitar World Championships in Finland.
Thousands gathered to watch the 16th Air Guitar World Championship at Oulu marketplace in northern Finland.
The entrants, wielding their invisible guitars, were judged not on technical ability but on enthusiasm.
According to the judges, musical talent is not necessary for the competition, nor is the ability to play an actual guitar.
The winner is chosen for their ability to move around the stage playing the air guitar as skilfully and realistically as possible, with marks awarded for being original and charismatic.
All finalists had to perform twice – first with their own selection of songs and the second time to Rage Against the Machine’s track Without a Face.
Justin ‘Nordic Thunder’ Howard travelled from the US to take part.
He said: “My strength is that I have absolutely no shame.
“I’m not concerned with looking like a fool and I’m planning on looking like a fool tonight.”
Howard took second place in the competition, while Veronica ‘Like Ever Gin’ Mullerova of the Czech Republic took third place, ultimately losing out to Westphal’s energetic performance of the Foo Fighters’ Pretender.
Westphal has become the first female Air Guitar World Champion and the first female contestant to win a medal at the Air Guitar World Championships since 2004 – when American Miri ‘Sonyk-Rok’ Park won silver.
Check out the top 3 finalists of the 16th Air Guitar World Championships in action in the video below:
View Comments
Loading ...
