-Sometimes, I'll go onstage,
and some otherworldly energy takes over my body.
-You're about to do something super weird
in front of a bunch of people, and they're about to love it.
-This is a thing that most people do in their bedrooms,
and you're putting it onstage.
-Georgia Lunch is ranked number one in the country right now.
There's no way that she is not the person to beat.
-My biggest nemesis this year is Airistotle.
He's got multiple world and national titles.
He's a fan favorite.
-It's anyone's game, right now.
My name is Matt Burns, better known as Airistotle,
and I'm a competitive air-guitarist.
Competitive air guitar is the act of going out
onto a stage, in front of hundreds of thousands of people,
and putting on a show for them with nothing in your hands.
These are all, like, grown adults putting on spandex,
and just, like, high fiving each other because
they, like, threw a guitar in the air that wasn't real,
and, like, caught it without missing a lick.
And I was like, "What a good way to be as stupid as possible,
and be, like, rewarded for it."
Competitive air guitar started in Finland in the mid-'90s.
A bunch of college kids had a homework assignment,
and they were like, "Realistically,
how could you come up with world peace?"
And they were like, "Well, if everyone in the world
was holding an air guitar, nobody could be holding a rifle.
Boom! It's a cost-effective method to,
like, ensure world peace."
I grew up kind of just, like, a class clown,
trying to make everybody laugh, dancing at stupid songs.
My air-guitar persona, Airistotle,
is kind of a super exaggerated version of that.
Most people in an air guitar contest come out in,
like, a heavy metal Metallica fan
or they come out like an '80s glam star --
big hair, and everything like that.
I grew up listening to, like, Green Day,
so I try to come out looking like a kid
who just came over from detention.
So, this is, like, some of the stuff
from my journeys and travels.
Like, I am some of them, which is pretty cool.
This is my prize for my first world title.
This is a pretty awesome thing to just,
like, hold above your head. And you're like, "Yes!"
These are some of the various articles that I've appeared in.
This is my Sports Illustrated.
It was, like, a two-page spread --
'cause, like, I'm an athlete, I guess.
I started in 2008.
Since then, I've become a four-time
United States air-guitar champion,
a two-time world champion.
-He wins again!
-And I'm an Air Guitar Hall of Famer.
I haven't been outplaced by an American since 2014,
and I'm gonna be going against the defending
national champion, Georgia Lunch,
and competitive air-guitarists from the rest of the country.
It's gonna be a bloodbath, to be honest.
♪♪
-Georgia Lunch is this raw, energetic, debaucherous person,
just a version of me when I don't give a fuck.
She's a monster truck, and Brittany can, I guess,
maybe, be a little more of, like, a Prius sometimes.
[ Laughs ]
I've tried playing instruments in my past,
and not with a lot of success.
You do not need to know how to play anything
to be a good air-guitarist.
All you need is the love of whatever you decide
to do with your air guitar.
My first air-guitar performance
was for the Manhattan regionals in 2017.
And I just went for it, and I just wound up winning.
I was not expecting to win.
It was just supposed to be, like, a one-off, if anything.
They sent me to Finland, to compete
in the world championship, which is held every year
in a little city in Finland called "Oulu."
And, like, 20-something countries from around the world
all send their best air-guitarists --
which was insane, to have my first time in Europe be
to play an imaginary instrument,
and someone else sent me to do it.
It's really taken on a life of its own.
I never expected it to get to this point so soon.
As the national champion, I have a lot at stake.
The 2017 champion, Mom Jeans Jeanie,
couldn't compete last year because she was having a baby.
She's back to try to get my belt.
And Airistotle, who's trying to get that title again,
and hopefully, I will stop him from doing that.
We are in Nashville, Tennessee, also known as "Music City" --
which, what better place to have
the national air-guitar competition
than a place called "Music City"?
-Last year, 3 weeks before nationals,
this little thing was born. So...
Say, "Hello," Julietta.
I had to forfeit that right away,
you know, before it happened.
Part of transforming into Mom Jeans Jeanie is the hair.
She is 50% blonde wig.
This outfit is the other 50%.
What do you think, y'all?
Mama is in the house.
Is Airistotle the person to beat?
Let's be honest.
Yes, honey.
I like to tell everyone that he's my son,
but, sweetheart, Mama says it's time to go inside.
You need to do your homework, and just sit this one out.
-We are backstage at the 2019 U.S. Air Guitar National Finals.
I've never competed against Airistotle directly in the U.S.,
so I'm a little nervous about that.
Hopefully, the judges like mine a little more than his,
at the end of the night.
-I'm feeling pretty stoked, right now.
It's real. The night is getting started.
The feelings are kicking in.
And just being able to make it to the Olympics of air guitar,
and represent your country -- it's a beautiful feeling.
[ Cheering ]
-Are you fucking ready?
[ Cheering ]
-We're going to kick off round one, here, in a second.
The competitors will have 1 minute, and 1 minute only,
to blow your minds.
When their track is done, they will be judged
by our panel of five judges up there.
So, fuck it. Who's ready to go?
[ Cheering ]
-Typical air-guitar competition works in two rounds,
and you're judged on a scale of 4.0 to 6.0 --
which, by the way, is also the scale for figure skating.
[ Cheering ]
-You're scored on three different judging criteria.
First is technical merit.
Does it look like you're playing the notes
that we're hearing in the song?
-And you played guitar in, like, 10 million different ways.
[ Cheering ]
-Next is stage presence.
-How much do you look like you belong on the stage?
And there's the third quality called "airness."
-His airness is simple, but it rocks.
[ Cheering ]
-There's just the "it" factor.
You just know it when you see it.
-The je ne sais quoi of an air-guitar performance.
[ Cheering ]
-That was incredible, and I want to see you
in the second round. 5.9.
[ Cheering ]
-Give it up for Mom Jeans Jeanie!
[ Cheering ]
♪♪
[ Cheering ]
-5.7. -5.7.
[ Booing ]
-Man, the crowd didn't like that one.
-A 5.7 is a good score!
-5.7. -5.7.
And Bryan gives you a 5.8.
-Who is ready for our Brooklyn champion, Airistotle?
[ Cheering ]
♪♪
[ Cheering ]
-It was clear you were gonna change the game, and you did.
-Airistotle rules?
-5.9. -5.9!
[ Cheering ]
-Last year, Georgia Lunch
was an underdog going into nationals.
This year, she is one of the heavy favorites to take it home.
So, is she ready to take the step?
There's a big difference between going for the title
and defending it.
-Tough act to follow, but if there is one person
to follow said act it is our current
U.S. National Air Guitar Champion, Georgia Lunch!
[ Cheering ]
♪♪
[ Crowd chanting "Lunch!" ]
-Keep rocking. You're a wonderful represent
for our country.
-5.7, 5.7, 5.7, 5.7.
[ Booing ]
[ Speaks indistinctly ]
-So, I got 5.7s straight across the board.
In this particular setting, it's not that great,
'cause there's people getting 6.0s and 5.9s, 5.8s.
There's no way I'm going to round two.
So, it's really hard for me to figure out,
like, what did I do wrong?
-Different panels of judges look for different things,
and Georgia just wasn't what they were looking for this year.
-Our second-round advancers...
Here is how this is gonna work.
We are going to play a compulsory song.
-In the second round, you don't know
what song you're gonna get.
It's a lot of musical comprehension.
-5.7, 5.8, and 5.7
-You really need to know, like,
when the guitar starts switching,
when the solo is gonna start.
-5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.9, 5.8.
[ Cheering ]
-I've scored higher in my round twos
that I have in my round ones for the last couple years.
It can get pretty intense.
-Judges, what do you think?
-There's just a new level of air guitar
because of Airistotle.
5.9.
[ Cheering ]
-5.9, 5.9, 5.9, and 5.9.
-Round two just happened,
and we're calculating the scores right now.
I'm not sure, 'cause I've been drinking since, like, noon,
and math is hard, but it might be,
like, a three-way tie for first, right now --
which might mean a triple-sudden-death air-off.
[ Crowd chanting "Air-off!"
-Tied for first -- Kit Kat, Airistotle, and Marquis!
[ Cheering ]
-They will all play the same track.
They will all get to hear it once.
This is where the airness will really come out, everyone.
♪♪
[ Cheering ]
-Judges, what do you think about Kit Kat?
[ Cheering ]
-Judges, what do you think?
-You just really nailed the song,
so a 5.9 I gave to Airistotle.
-5.9 from [indistinct]
-It's a 5.9.
-5.9.
and two 5.8s.
Ooh.
Goodness. What do you give Marquis?
-I love air guitar so much.
-6.0, 6.0...
5.9.
-What is wrong with you?
-6.0!
And...
6.0!
[ Cheering ]
-Let's give it up for your 2019
U.S. National Air Guitar Champion, Marquis!
[ Cheering ]
-Another season in the books.
And it was, like, fractions of a point,
but Marquis came out on top. I had a great run.
This is the first time in 5 years that
I am not the highest-ranking American on planet Earth.
And it's rightfully so, though.
The Marquis deserves it.
-The belt feels great.
I'm elated and honored to be going to Finland
to represent the United States.
It's been a dream of mine since I started 7 years ago.
-In the day-to-day world, you don't have the ability
to do what you have at an air-guitar contest.
If you act too weird on a bus, you're gonna get hit.
It's great that we could just still come together
for something so silly,
and just forget about it all for a little bit.
-Sometimes, in life, you can try 80 times harder
than everybody else in the room, and still lose.
The air guitar has been a huge learning experience for me,
in just my own self-confidence, my self-image.
The only thing I'm losing, really, is the belt.
But I could come back next year, and take the belt back.
Anything can happen in air guitar.
-The new World Air Guitar Champion...
-Marquis!
-And let's rock!
Keep on rocking in the free world!
♪♪
-Sometimes, in life, you can try 80 times harder
than everybody else in the room, and still lose.
Air guitar has been a huge learning experience for me,
in just my own self-confidence, my self-image.
The only thing I'm losing, really, is the belt.
But I could come back next year, and take the belt back.
Anything can happen in air guitar.
-The new World Air Guitar Champion...
-Marquis!