If you've been a loyal reader of SFist, you already know about the air guitar competitions that annually roll through the city and give shirtless dudes in tights a reason to get out of bed. Sadly, it's too late to compete, but it's not too late to cheer on the Bay Area's best air guitarists at this Saturday's US Air Guitar Semifinals on Saturday, July 12 at the Independent.

It takes more than a glam rock outfit to win — as you can see below in the video of last year's San Francisco regional Air Guitar Champion Cold Steel Renegade, who chugs a beer and shreds an imaginary guitar to Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction."

He'll compete with San Francisco's Tiger Claw, Seth Liebowitz, Pop Roxwell, and Ore Gas Sam, plus Dirty Airy, The Silver Hammer, and Party Time, all of Santa Cruz. Air guitarists from Portland and Seattle round of the 15 total competitors.

Three will move on the National Finals in Kansas City, Missouri on August 9, where they’ll face the reigning World Air Guitar Champion, Eric “Mean” Melin. The National Finals' winner will compete in the Air Guitar World Championships on August 29 in Oulu, Finland — basically the Olympics of air guitar.

Previously: SFist Reviews: The Air Guitar Championship
Dorks, "Freebird" Masters Gather at Air Guitar Championship