It’s Sunday, February 26, 2017, and it’s rapidly approaching 8pm.
As fans in the packed house at New Brunswick, NJ’s State Theatre wait for the world-famous Australian pop duo, Air Supply, to take the stage, we chat with two friends whom we’ve just met in the audience — Christine from Westfield and her brother, Paul, from Franklin Township. Both are excited to be a part of the crowd here tonight for this special musical performance.
“I take Paul to concerts, so he can have some time away from his group home,” explains Christine.
With a smile on his face, Paul reveals that his all-time favorite Air Supply song is “All Out of Love.”
We wonder aloud if that’s a song the duo will play tonight on this latest stop on their world tour. Over the course of the next few days, the group is scheduled to perform in Indonesia, Singapore, and The Philippines, before returning for more concerts back in the United States.
These world travelers — gifted guitarist/songwriter Graham Russell from England and his bandmate, vocalist extraordinaire Russell Hitchcock from Australia — met in 1975 on their first day of rehearsals as actors in the Sydney version of Jesus Christ Superstar.
After evening performances of Superstar, Hitchcock and Russell would moonlight as a duo, playing pizza parlors, coffee bars, and night clubs with only a guitar and their own two voices. They quickly gained a reputation for musical quality thanks to Hitchcock’s soaring tenor voice, their excellent vocal harmonies, and the original songs Graham Russell created especially for the budding duo.
One afternoon, the young men recorded a single, which ended up catapulting to the top of the Australian music charts and Air Supply was born! The same year, the group was given the opportunity to open for Rod Stewart in Australia, and they also went on tour with him in both the United States and Canada.
After the tour was over, Hitchcock and Russell found themselves back in Australia. Feeling a need to start from square one again, they recorded Life Support, an album featuring “Lost in Love,” which went on to climb the charts in Australia and ultimately found its way to music executive Clive Davis in New York. Davis signed Air Supply to Arista Records and in 1980, “Lost in Love” became the fastest selling hit single in the world, leaping straight up the U.S. charts.
Seven top-five singles later, Air Supply managed to equal The Beatles’ run of consecutive top-five singles. Their albums sold millions of copies as well, and since then, several of the group’s songs have gone on to achieve over a million plays on the radio. Air Supply guitarist/songwriter Graham Russell was even awarded a BMI Million-Air Certificate for over three million radio performances of his song, “All Out of Love.”
Earlier in the week, we had an opportunity to chat by phone with Graham Russell who revealed to us that he got the name for Air Supply in a dream saying, “I dreamt of a big billboard. The billboard was white and it had all different colored flashing lights on the perimeter of it. And on the billboard, in black, were two words which said: ‘Air Supply.’”
He also talked about the inspiration for writing the group’s first big hit, “Lost in Love,” saying, “We’d been touring with Rod Stewart for six months in the U.S., and we came back to Australia and nothing was happening — we had no prospects as a band. So, I was living on my own in Adelaide, and I just wrote the song. And it really is about being shut out and being kind of despondent, but at the same time, realizing you can come through that if you are in love with someone or if you love something.”
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.
Given all that’s gone on in the world recently, Russell Hitchcock tells the audience, “we hope we’ve taken you to a better place,” reminding them to “love somebody — it’s a very important force in the universe.” At this juncture, the crowd stands and cheers at the opening piano chords of the group’s 1983 #2 smash, “Making Love Out of Nothing At All.”
Giving this power ballad all they’ve got, the audience goes wild.
After bows and excited applause, the members of Air Supply make their way off the stage as at least one audience member down front laments, “It can’t be! They didn’t do ‘All Out of Love!’”
Waiting with anticipation for the dynamic duo to reappear, the house lights remain off.
Then, with a strum of a guitar and an “Are you ready for some more rock ‘n roll?,” the group returns to the stage and surges forward with a rockin’ version of “Shake It,” the audience on its feet dancing as everyone — including bassist Derek Frank — sings, “We’re gonna rock/We’re gonna roll/We’re gonna shake it before we get old!”
Taking a moment to thank the members of the band, the staff at The State Theatre, and their hard-working crew, Graham stops to say, “We hope you had a good time. You are our people and we are yours,” and then adds, “but before we go, I have one small thing to say…”
At this point, he launches into the well-known introduction to their 1980 #2 hit, “All Out of Love,” singing, “I’m lying alone with my head on the phone/ Thinking of you till it hurts.”
Soon, the spectacular voice of Russell Hitchcock picks up the song’s famous melody, his words ringing out through the theater, “I’m all out of love/I’m so lost without you/I know you were right believing for so long…”
The audience sways together, singing and experiencing this classic number as a community. And they are still on their feet for the riveting conclusion when the music swells, the entire crowd cheering for their musical idols who’ve clearly given them all they have to give this Sunday evening in the Garden State.
As we make our way out of the theater, we take a moment to chat with several members of the audience.
Maxine from Piscataway calls the show “fantastic” saying, “I’ve always loved Air Supply’s songs — and they still have it. Their voices are great! I especially liked ‘Making Love Out of Nothing at All.’”
Rose from Rockaway, who’s already seen the group six times says, “I liked it a lot.” Her friends Eva, from New Jersey, and Jessica, visiting from Brazil, also weigh in telling us how much they both “loved it,” too.
Lastly, we’re delighted to be able to catch up with sister and brother Christina and Paul following the show.
Grinning from ear to ear, Paul tells us the concert was “awesome!”
“He knew more songs than I did!” exclaims Christina.
And even Air Supply’s sound engineer, who spent the entire evening at his mixing console just steps away from Paul, confirms this when he says with a smile, “He was singing every song!”
Paul cheerfully takes a moment to show us some gifts he received from Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell after meeting them backstage following the performance. These treasures include an autographed set list, an official Air Supply guitar pick, and a priceless set of selfies taken on sister Christina’s phone.
When asked how he’s feeling tonight, Paul echoes the thoughts of many in attendance at Air Supply’s performance this evening when he contentedly replies, “I’m happy.”
And after experiencing this amazing evening of music, not to mention seeing the expression of pure joy on both Paul’s and Christina’s faces, we are reminded that — as Russell Hitchcock so eloquently stated — “to love somebody” is a “very important force in the universe.”
Moreover, at this moment, we’re quite certain that — as Hitchcock had hoped — thanks to the music of Air Supply, we’ve all been taken to “a better place.”
For Air Supply news, tour dates, lyrics, photos, and more, please go to airsupplymusic.com. For further information on upcoming programs at The State Theatre — including Dennis DeYoung and the music of Styx on March 10, The Beach Boys on March 31, and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes on April 1 — please see statetheatrenj.org
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