Last time, I talked about this year's big format changes to US Air Guitar competitions and what that might mean for next year. This time, I'd like to talk about... everything else. What to look for in competition, trends I saw emerging, and of course, the future.
Competition next year
Well, it's going to be stiff (that's what she said). The format might favor the new competitor or the perpetual bridesmaid in the Qualifiers, but as we've found, it only makes the Semi-Finals that much tougher, since it's basically Nationals in microcosm. You get city winners from this year and past years, which essentially was Nationals, before the change. The only thing that keeps Semis from being just mini-Nationals with extra people is that some of the competitors got a pass to that level and haven't competed yet this year. Practice is one thing; actually doing your routine onstage in front of a crowd and judges is something else entirely. Because of this, I expect that in places where several Qualifier cities are close together, we'll see even more of the "I'll just go first" phenomenon.
What this is was various air guitarists planning to hedge their bets by signing up for more than one qualifier. Of course, once you win one, you aren't eligible to win another. So if they won or came second in one qualifier, but were still signed up to compete in another one, they would take the detested first spot and then either just perform as a "demo round" for practice and not have their scores counted into the standings, or do something to deliberately disqualify themselves, like "Lightning Nutz" aka Thunderball when he started air guitaring with a mic stand. I don't know how the people who made it to the semi-finals on the grounds of having won in a previous year, having hosted a qualifier, or just having been invited felt, but I suspect there were at least a few who would have appreciated another competition round to take the edge off. So I suspect we'll see some more of that.
That said about the returning competitors, we saw that this year air guitar got itself in front of some new audiences (St. Petersburg and the Mall-ifier in Tucson). We saw a lot of new competitors take the stage. And in a lot of cases, we saw great success from these new air guitarists. We definitely saw people get hooked and I know they'll be back! What I'm hoping is that more new people will flood in next year as well. Unless it's someone who has been considering giving it a try for years, the prospective new air guitarists don't know that it's easier than it's ever been for a talented newbie to triumph - unless they're reading this blog right now!
This year's trends
Didn't you know? Air guitar has trends too! Just like fashion and beer styles and interior decor, some things get popular for a while and then go away. Some things are universals - the pendulum might swing more towards the "technical merit is where it's at" one year or the "it doesn't matter as long as you put on a good show" another year, but you'll always find people in one camp or the other. I feel like we're currently in a period of time where being good at air guitar carries weight - where being super showy and dramatic but not having los chops is not enough - but not everyone agrees with me. I'm basing my opinion here on what I've heard about the judging at the competitions around the country. I know that there was certain emphasis placed on fingering, and I don't think that was 100% just for hilarious double entendre value. I haven't seen that level of precision required much before, so I think we're in a swing towards skills being held to a higher standard.
Or maybe that's just because everyone's pretty much nailed the theatricality side of things and need to be differentiated some other way now. What do you think?
Also, check this out: if you watch Van Dammage's Dark Horse videos, you'll see something like 4 people in a row with a double-neck portion of their performance! And I'm pretty sure Mean Melin had a double-neck section as well, and you can't argue with success.
You could argue that with the relatively small number of women in air guitar, if two of them are pregnant at the same time, that's a large proportion of the total and so that's a trend. I hope not. Don't get pregnant because of trends, ladies! And also, I don't want to have to keep up with the Joneses and get knocked up next year!
We're seeing more people branching out from typical guitar-heavy songs. Rockupine got weird and it paid off in a big way. It does mean you have to be committed more to moves and stage persona if you haven't got that much guitar technicality to work with in the first place, but if that's you, now you can take that and run with it rather than feel like you have to squeeze yourself into the type of song that really isn't you.
What are some trends you feel are hot right now in competitive air guitar? Shirtlessness and tight pants don't count... those are forever.
What's to come...
Let me throw it out there: I HAVE CONCERNS. My concerns can be summed up by what you can see in this picture:
No... not Bjorn and Hot Lixx. The shark.
They entered the stage by jumping over it. As if the whole decentralization format wasn't enough to get the wheels turning, now they're literally jumping the shark? What are they saying? As a matter of fact, who is saying it? Because it really sounds like someone is sick of it, and I'd like to know who.
Before the show started, when we could see the inflatable shark sitting alone on the stage under the curtain, there were rumours circulating like crazy. Were they going to open with a Big Announcement? Or close with one? I was so keyed up I was shaking. No announcements were made and everything went on as normal, and no further indications that USAG is washing its hands of these events came. So maybe it was a joke that just scared the pants off me?
Of course, if this were to happen, the grassroots-ification of US Air Guitar is now in place at the qualifier level, so I'm sure dedicated people would still keep it going - but we'd have a tougher time getting larger venues for semi-finals and nationals. So if that's the goal - to put it all in the participants' hands - I think we're ready at one level but not yet at the higher levels. So I hope they don't leave us just yet.
That's my main concern. USAG threw us all for a loop this year with the format change, and then the shark-jumping gag... I don't know. I don't even know whether to be worried.