Tease your hair and practice your stance, the Canadian Air Guitar Championships are tonight.
[This is worth a re-post. I’m one of the judges tonight! – AC]
The lights will be shining down from the Velvet Underground stage when Canada’s best air guitarists take the stage on tonight (June 7), vying for the chance to win the coveted crown as the nation’s champion.
This is no joke: the winner of the 2025 Canadian Air Guitar Championship will be flown to Oulu, Finland to represent the True North as part of the 28th Air Guitar World Championships in August, going up against such luminaries of air guitar as Zachary “Ichabod Fame” Knowles, last year’s winner of both the Canadian and world championships.
“Winning the World Air Guitar Championship, and the hurricane of experiences that followed, didn’t even feel real,” he says. “I feel blessed to be surrounded by the air guitar community and I’m excited to see both veterans and newcomers rock out at the Canadian Air Guitar competitions this summer. We need air guitar now more than ever and I believe that Canada will have a very strong showing at Worlds in August.”
The contest is presented by Smoke’s Poutinerie, in true Canadian tradition, and promises “a night of wild antics, high-flying riffs and air-shredding performances.”
But to make a fun night more meaningful, this year’s event benefits the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, supporting the heartfelt request from the late Gord Downie to “Do Something” in the name of reconciliation between Canada and its Indigenous population through awareness, education and action.
“An ancient air guitar proverb is that when you’re holding an air guitar, you can’t be holding a gun,” says Genevieve “The Phoenix” LeBlanc, co-director of Air Guitar Canada and herself the 2017 champion. “By adopting their air guitar persona and rocking out with us, contestants not only put on a wicked show but also contribute to a meaningful cause. We’re thrilled to partner with the Air Guitar World Championships and to support the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund in their important work. It’s awesome to be able to do something that’s so unapologetically silly and fun while making the world a bit of a better place.”
Among the talent taking the stage at the Velvet Underground will be “Rocksradamus,” “SlaterDays” and “Danasaurus Rex,” representing Monreal, Ottawa and Toronto respectively, but regional competitors are welcome to try their luck on June 7 as well with the opportunity to take the stage and show off what they can do.
If you’re a fan of the underdog or know a competitor and want to help them succeed, there’s a way: “Generous audience members can ‘Boost the Ballot’ by donating dollars to the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, with each dollar counting as a vote – that’s democracy baby!,” the organization says.
The grand finale will have all competitors performing the same song, decided by an audience vote.
If you’re looking to join the fun, as a competitor or a supporter, doors will be at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. at Velvet Underground.
