When asked about his favorite song he’s written, Graham exclaims, “Nothing can replace the feeling when I first heard ‘Lost in Love’ on the radio in the United States. Russell and I were driving in California on the freeway and this guy came on the radio and said, ‘I’m gonna play a brand new song,’ and he played ‘Lost in Love.’ And that’s when I heard it for the first time in America and I went, ‘Oh, my God— it just sounded so good!”

Graham also talked about the appreciation he and his partner, Russell Hitchcock, have for Air Supply’s fans in New Jersey saying, “From the very beginning of our career, we’ve always had strong element of fans in that area. Every year, we come back there — and it’s a reciprocal agreement we have with our fans in New Jersey — they’re very devoted, and we are very devoted to them.”

And those devoted fans in the capacity crowd at New Brunswick’s State Theatre — the sister-brother duo of Christine and Paul among them — begin to stir with excitement as the clock strikes 8 pm. The lights dim and the sound of an electric guitar rumbles and tumbles throughout the auditorium signaling the start of this highly-anticipated concert event.

As audience members cheer, guitarist Graham Russell and vocalist Russell Hitchcock — both silver haired, but filled with the hearts of younger musicians having a blast performing together after four decades — take to the stage with a dynamic rendition of their 1981 Top 5 power ballad, “Sweet Dreams,” crooning, “Close your eyes I want to ride the skies in my sweet dreams/Close your eyes I want to see you tonight in my sweet dreams.”

With a powerhouse performance filled with top-notch vocals, expert instrumental accompaniment, and a light show featuring rays and beams which dance gleefully to their awesome sound, the audience cheers as the group begins to perform a dynamic version of another love song which makes the audience feel ageless, their Top 5 hit from 1982, “Even the Nights Are Better.”

Taking a moment to welcome their fans, Graham Russell asks, “Are we feeling good?” to shouts of “Yeah!” and cheers from the audience.

Moving on to their 1985 Top 20 hit, “Just As I Am,” heads bop, audience members sing, and couples can be seen holding hands to lead guitarist Aaron Mclain’s swirling electric guitar sound, the crowd clearly loving Air Supply just as they are.

As “The Russells” — guitarist Graham Russell and lead singer Russell Hitchcock — trade off on vocals, audience members sway with their arms overhead to Air Supply’s 1980 Top 5 hit, “Every Woman in the World.” The audience joyfully joins in singing, “You’re every woman in the world to me/You’re my fantasy, you’re my reality,” yet another Air Supply gem expertly crafted by Graham Russell.

Telling the audience Air Supply has now “been together for 42 years,” singer Russell Hitchcock personally welcomes the NJ crowd saying, “Thanks for coming. Bless you. We hope you like this next one.”

As the group begins to play its 1981 Top 5 hit, “Here I Am,” Hitchcock pauses to ask, “Do you promise you are going to sing with us on this one?”

And the crowd does — on every word — emphatically joining in on, “Just when I thought I was over you/And just when I thought I could stand on my own.” As heavenly rays of light beam down on the stage, Mclain’s guitar wails. And when the song ends with a flourish, the crowd cheers and Hitchcock blows a kiss to the audience.

After great applause, guitarist Graham Russell takes the microphone and asks how many people at the State Theatre have seen Air Supply before. When a large number signal they have, he says, “It’s great to see familar faces in such a beautiful venue like this.”

After performing 1980’s powerful “Chances” and a gorgeous new Graham Russell jewel entitled, “I Adore You,” Graham takes the stage solo, at which point an excited fan comments on his latest composition, “That was beautiful, Graham!”

Explaining to the crowd, “I have a few minutes to do anything I’d like,” Graham recites a short poem entitled “Invisible.” As he chants the poem in his suave British accent — even amidst this animated New Jersey crowd — one can hear a pin drop.

Then, he invites band members Aviv Cohen on drums and Aaron Mclain on guitar to join him on stage for what he calls “a mountain song” entitled “One Glass Eye.”

Declaring “I need a couple of dancers,” two women in the front row happily oblige and gleefully cut loose to the trio’s boot-stompin’ country tune.

Welcoming Russell Hitchcock back to the stage, the two old friends talk about their “early days” in Australia. Seated on a pair of stools — “a first,” Hitchcock surprisingly exclaims, as they are “padded!” — they sing their 1980 Top 40 hit, “Two Less Lonely People in the World,” their voices perfectly harmonizing, as heads in the audience gently nod to the nostalgic sound.

The house lights come up and the guys make their way out into the audience for their next tune, their monster 1981 #1 smash, “The One That You Love.” As the two men each travel up a different main aisle of the theater, audience members excitedly pour out of their seats, many of them posing for selfies with their musical heroes.

Russell Hitchcock leads the audience in an a cappella version of the song’s famous chorus, the entire audience happily joining in on, “Here I am/The one that you love/Askin’ for another day/Understand the one that you love/Loves you in so many ways.”

Back on stage, the group moves on to its 1980 #3 hit, “Lost in Love,” the entire audience singing both the lead vocal and the back-up parts, both Russells smiling approvingly before joining back in with the impromptu chorus.