Air guitarist shows golden fingers at world contest

A MAN from Henley has told of how playing air guitar helped him on his sobriety journey.

Piers Burnell, 53, has recently returned from the World Air Guitar Championships, held in Finland.

Mr Burnell represented Great Britain at the event, which sees competitors perform routines with their invisible instruments in front of a panel of five judges.

The competition, held in Oulu last month, has been going since 1996 and saw competitors from all around the world, from countries including France, the USA and Japan.

Mr Burnell, who lives in Henley town centre, performed as the 007-inspired character “James Bond Double Air Seven”.

It is the second year he has represented the country at the event after taking part in the competition last year under the name “Söbermann”.

He said that the art form had allowed him to prove to himself and others that it is possible to get out and experience new things while living life alcohol-free. Dressed in a tux, he performed a one-minute routine which featured a mash-up of three songs, John Barry’s 007, a Spanish version of Sheryl Crow’s Tomorrow Never Dies as well as Live and Let Die by Guns N’ Roses.

Mr Burnell was second on stage out of 30 qualifiers and narrowly missed out on a place in the final by 0.7 points.

“Only seven went through, so it was always going to be tough,” he said. “I didn’t make the world stage but the audience and the competitors loved the James Bond character.

“It’s high energy, it’s the absurdity of it all, it’s embracing joy and spreading humour.”

The championships were won by a Finnish guitarist for the first time since 2000. Aapo Rautio, who goes by his stage name The Angu, beat Yuta Sudo, known as Sudo-Chan, in the final.

The competition was decided after an “Air Off”, as the two competitors were tied after two rounds. Rautio, who is from the event’s hometown of Oulu, then clinched the win by just 0.1 points.

Judges use the same score system as in traditional figure skating, which ranges from 4.0 to 6.0 points across categories including technical merit, mimesmanship, stage presence and “Airness”. The competition’s stated purpose is to promote world peace and Mr Burnell’s Bond encapsulated this in his routine by throwing his gun away at the start of the performance in place of an air guitar.

Partway through his routine, he “ripped off” a pair of trousers that he had custom-made by Henley seamstress Emma Hawes Taylor, transforming him from James Bond to Austin Powers.

Mr Burnell said: “They loved it. It’s like Eurovision on steroids. It has got humour, quirkiness. No matter what you do, the audience will enjoy it.

“The world guitar motto is ‘make air, not war’ because it is about the message of believing that world peace can be achieved through joy and air guitar.”

Mr Burnell picked up the hobby after quitting alcohol in 2018 to prove that he could do things outside of his comfort zone while sober.

“I just knew my drinking was getting out of hand,” he said. “I never thought I would quit permanently. I thought that it would just be impossible.

“But in 2018 I thought I’d go on a break and, during that break, I realised that I was actually living a much better, healthier, joyful life and that my creativity was much better.

“I think an alcohol-free life doesn’t solve all your problems but it certainly goes a long way to managing them.

“What I wanted to do was to immerse myself in new challenges and be able to socialise and inspire other people that you can and do Henley Festival or weddings or whatever sober.”

Mr Burnell had thought about entering the Air Guitar World Championships and qualifying about two weeks before it started.

He said: “I had to think of a song, think of some choreography and I flew out to Finland not knowing anyone or really anything about it.”

For his debut performance in 2024 Mr Burnell wore a frilly shirt and a kilt, which he described as his “party outfit” from when he used to drink.

He said: “It was symbolic to go out in my party outfit and to call myself ‘Söbermann’ to demonstrate that you can be brave and you can go out and do these things and survive.”

Mr Burnell said he wanted to show others that they don’t have to miss out on “adventure or joy” if they quit alcohol.

He said that performing air guitar gave him a “natural buzz”, adding: “In Finland, we do ‘airaoke’, air guitar and karaoke. It’s quite extraordinary just to have two or three hours of connection with different people without alcohol.”

Mr Burnell said that, to him, air guitar represented being fully immersed in what was in front of you.

“It’s given me a real sense of self, freedom of expression, community spirit and belonging,” he said. “It’s a complete celebration of people being together.”

You can follow Mr Burnell’s sober journey on Instagram @soberandstanding.