Heavy Metal Festival
Air guitar solo at 327 meters above Wacken
The Hamburg musician Johannes “Johnny” Ritter plays an air guitar solo in the basket of a hot air balloon 327 meters above the Wacken Open Air festival grounds. photo
© Haribo GmbH & Co KG/dpa
The musician Johannes “Johnny” Ritter played an air guitar solo more than 300 meters above the Wacken Open Air festival grounds – according to the organizers a world record.
The Hamburg musician Johannes “Johnny” Ritter played an air guitar solo in the basket of a hot air balloon 327 meters above the grounds of the heavy metal festival in Wacken – according to the organizers the highest in the world so far.
The successful record attempt took place shortly before 7 a.m. on Saturday morning. A record judge from the Record Institute for Germany (RID) officially confirmed this. The RID markets itself as the German-language counterpart to the Guinness Book of Records. Around half a dozen judges are out and about nationwide to take top marks.
The predetermined minimum height for the record was said to be 300 meters. The attempt at the highest air guitar solo in the world took place for the first time. So the performance of someone else didn’t have to be outbid.
When the 300 meters were reached, the first notes of music sounded and Johnny started, as a spokeswoman reported. “The aim was to incorporate as many spectacular riffs and moves as possible into his live performance in a 60-second solo.” The challenge was that a hot air balloon reacts to rapid movements at such a height.