Oulu (Finland) (AFP)

Spectacular costume, outrageous makeup and a good dose of energy: twenty competitors went on stage for a guitar gig over the guitar ... without guitar, and try to win the coveted title of world champion air guitar. A reward this year for the American Rob "Marquis" Messel.

The specialty world championship has been held for 24 years each summer in the small Finnish town of Oulu, near the Arctic Circle. This contest has become an institution in a country still proud to organize competitions of almost anything, from races where you have to take your wife to the ultimate endurance test: sitting naked as long as possible on an ant hill.

And if the idea of ​​squirming on stage disguised as a caveman, wizard or gorilla while frantically playing his invisible guitar may seem a little futile to some, the 20 competitors in this year's race have prepared their case very carefully .

"I have played different instruments over the years but I am limited by my technique," confessed AFP winner Rob "Marquis" Messel. "But the air guitar is a blank page and you can do it all".

The American dazzled the judges with his slides across the scene, which allowed him to take first place to the two-time defending champion, the Japanese Nanami "Seven Seas" Nagura. However, she also delighted the audience with her devilish energy and managed to play her imaginary guitar ... with her teeth.

Others went so far as to sprinkle themselves with ketchup and the French candidate Frederic "French Kiss" Reau, surprised by taking the time to answer a call (imaginary) of his mother in the middle of his performance. But it was obviously not what the judges were looking for first. His compatriot Vincent "Lord Scrat" Roussel, champion of France of the discipline, did not convince either.

"As a guitarist, you first look at whether their finger movements are right, or if what they are doing would be completely ridiculous if you really try to play the guitar," AFP told AFP. judges, Douglas Blair, famous for being the guitarist of the WASP metal band

Several hundred fans braved the rain to come to attend this particular kind of concert.

© 2019 AFP