Author: James

VAN WERT — Classic pop-rock group Air Supply will bring the Lost in Love Experience to Van Wert’s Niswonger Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

The Australian duo made up of Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock first formed in 1975, bringing the world hits like “All Out of Love” and “Making Love Out of Nothing at All”, and are still going strong today in their 48th year.

“We do a lot of shows and we come into town and play all these massive hit songs and people just love it,” said Russell, who shares vocal duties with Hitchcock and plays lead on guitar. “It’s going to be a great evening and especially for people that haven’t seen us before, they will get a real treat.”

Russell said that the show will get into the Air Supply catalog and that fans who have not seen them perform might be surprised to hear some songs.

“It’ll be everything for people that haven’t seen this before,” he said. ” It’s a rock and roll show and it’s kind of in your face. There will be a lot of big hit songs that they might not know them all. And then they will probably say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that was those guys,’ because we have a barrage of hits.”

Following a 30-minute break, the group will get into the more emotional side of the show, Russell said.

“They’re going to have a great live show. It’s a rock and roll show that is just excellent that they’re going to love.”

Fans should have high expectations judging by what Russell promises they will come home from the show feeling.

“They should feel like they saw the best show they’ve ever seen,” he said, “and that’s quite likely to happen. But that’s our greatest joy, is to bring people the best show they’ve ever seen.”

For now, Air Supply is working on their first album in 14 years as well as a musical set to be in production next year.

“So there’s a lot of stuff going on,” Russell said. “There’s always things going on. But our prime objective is our shows.”

The group has done over 5,300 live shows, and that is what Russell said they truly want to be remembered for. With the group’s 50th anniversary on the horizon, this might just be a warm-up.

“We don’t do much these days, but we will for the 50th,” Russell said. “We’ll be figuring what we want to do and where we want to be. It’s a milestone for any artist, I think.”

Air Supply can be found on social media and streaming services, as well as the group’s website airsupplymusic.com.

On a cold, romantic, snowy Saturday night date night, the North Shore was nothing cold. Lynn Massachusetts got lost In LOVE with Air Supply.

In your mind, imagine this scene:

2112 SCREAMING female fans at the beautiful Lynn Auditorium. The moment Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell cracked the mic to sing the Air Supply smash, Even The Nights Are Better, the audience was transplanted BACK to their 1980’s teen youth.

Is This Possble?

When my wife told me we are seeing Air Supply, (that’s exactly how it went down) my mind took me to a 1980’s place when I remembered playing their songs on the air, when they were NEW. I said to myself, how can lead singer Russell Hitchcock hit ALL of those high notes, today. Their first big hit Lost In Love, came out in 1980, FORTY FOUR years ago. At 73, there is NO way that Russell Hitchcock could still hit every note. He MUST have backup singers to create the original sound. Was I right?

Sound Check

We arrived at the venue and got into the sound check around 5pm. That’s where the band hit’s the stage before the doors open to make sure the sound equipment and acoustics of the venue sound perfect. It’s a cool private, behind the scenes thing that these days, you can pay for, with some bands. Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell walked out and greeted the small group of fans. Right at that moment, the drummer counted, 1,2,3,4 and BOOM! The amazing band when into the lyric of Even The Nights Are Better. Relaxed, with his hand in his pocket, Hitchcock testing his mic, effortlessly, began singing. WOW! Hitchcock sounded EXACTLY like 1980’s! How is that possible? Heidi and I were stunned. 

Many of the 1980’s artists that perform today, have to adjust the LIVE versions of their songs, because they simple can’t vocally recreate them in the same way, 40 plus years later. Russell Hitchcock, DID. Graham Russell, the band’s lower pitched singer, who wrote their first big hit Lost In Love, still sounds amazing as well.

Sing Along

It was a heartfelt moment when 2112 screaming female fans, began to take over the show and SING EVERY WORD to many of the massive Air Supply hits. I’m not gonna lie. I sang too.

Graham Russell said during the sound check that Air Supply’s success, represents a style of music that never really dies. He felt his meeting Russell Hitchcock and the success of the band was maybe a meant to be, thing, powered by the universe, for a purpose.

The show didn’t have glitzy lights, or effects, or dancers, or back up singers. Just two guys, with three other band mates.

At 73, for Russell Hitchcock to sound EXACTLY the same, if not better, HAD to be powered by a higher power, probably for a reason: love?

Saturday night, Lynn Massachusetts got lost in LOVE. You will too.

If you were asked to single out a definitive Air Supply song, you could be forgiven for struggling to narrow it down.

First of all, Air Supply racked up a whopping seven consecutive top five hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — a string that tied them for a record, at the time, with none other than The Beatles. Secondly, many of those hits cited a common word in their titles; for example, “All Out of Love,” “Making Love Out of Nothing At All,” and “The One That You Love” — which soared to number one.

That remarkable record started out with a literal “Love” song, as well; namely, “Lost in Love.” After failing to enter the singles charts for their first few years, Australia’s Air Supply struck gold in 1980; which, oddly enough, is the same year that their Australian country mates AC/DC released “Back In Black.”

While the Young brothers duck-walked and shot cannons, however, Air Supply’s Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell stayed true to their personal brand of lush love songs with sumptuous, string-filled serenades – and radio could not get enough of it.

Eventually, the tides of American rock radio shifted; but Air Supply never wavered from their signature sound. Rather than being left to dry as the tides shifted from North America, however, Air Supply merely followed the tides to other continents. In the ’90s, while grunge was surging in the States, Air Supply’s career in Asia kicked into high gear.

This might surprise some, given how many Asian languages bear little resemblance to English; but it’s a testament to how Air Supply’s consistent, compelling anthems of professing love are universal in their appeal – transcending dialects and distances across the globe and validating the successes of their drives to be sincere, no matter how much long-forgotten critics might have scoffed along the way.

This year, Air Supply is celebrating the roots of their success. They have embarked on the Lost In Love Experience Tour, named after that first smash hit of theirs; and also after the live album that they recently recorded with the Prague Symphony Orchestra in the Czech Republic.

Air Supply extended their Lost In Love Experience tour into 2023, and this includes an encore presentation at the Peoples’ Bank Theatre in Marietta (222 Putnam Street) after a rapturous response to their February 26, 2022 show.

Air Supply is touring across North America, and this includes a show at the historic Peoples’ Bank Theatre in Marietta (222 Putnam Street) on Saturday, February 26.

Ahead of that concert, WOUB’s Ian Saint had the chance to speak with Air Supply’s lead singer, Russell Hitchcock. They had a fascinating chat on a wide variety of topics, including: how Air Supply was rewarded for their authenticity in the long run, despite facing cold critical receptions for years; the drivers of their sudden stratospheric success with “Lost in Love” in 1980, and sustaining their chart reign through the next several singles; manifesting his music career dream in his 30s, and how Russell kept motivated as his 20s ended in struggle. You can stream the full interview on-demand, by clicking play on the SoundCloud widget beneath the headline.

The soft rock superstar duo, Air Supply, consisting of Englishman Graham Russell and Australian Russell Hitchcock, performed before a sold-out crowd at the Chumash Casino Resort on February 17th. The beautiful Santa Ynez valley concert was a massive hit with the band’s many fans, who call themselves “Airheads.”

View the gallery at GratefulWeb.com

This Valentine’s Day, show the one that you love all the ways you care for them with an Air Supply Valentine. Create a digital e-card with a personalized message and share with your loved ones. 💕

Create + send yours at https://bit.ly/AirSupplyValentine

We are excited to be working with Soundwaves Art Foundation to bring some of our best love songs to life.. Artist Tim Wakefield has turned the sound waves of “All Out of Love,” “The One You Love,” and “Lost in Love” into these stunning artworks, and we’ll be autographing each one ordered. Orders are only open now through Valentines day! The best part is we’re donating all profits to IFAW, to share the love with our animal neighbors.

Order yours here: https://soundwavesartfoundation.com/collections/Air-Supply

Rachel Geddes talks about their Beatles influences, the lack of band arguments and a 50 yr career with Air Supply’s Graham Russell.

Graham and Russell join Voice of America’s Border Crossings.

via Philstar

MANILA, Philippines — Music, as they say, is the closest thing we have to a time machine. This quote rang true as Air Supply transported the concert-goers back in time when they held their show last week at the Newport World Resorts.

It was a night of just pure music, a moment of walking down the memory lane as the Hall of Famers from Australia performed their classic hits one after another at the Newport Performing Arts Theater.

The soft-rock duo of Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell serenaded the crowd starting with Sweet Dreams followed by Even The Nights are Better, Just As I Am and Every Woman in the World.

Russell quipped at one point, “Obviously we’ve been around for two to three years now. That was a joke.” The musicians’ career began in 1975 and they have been to the Philippines for more than 20 times already.

“We’re going to tell you our favorite song, it’s an old one. We hope you enjoy it. We sing this every night ‘cause it’s from our hearts. We take nothing for granted. We appreciate you coming to see us tonight,” Russell said before crooning the earnest Here I Am.

“It’s nice to be back here,” Graham also told the crowd. “You know, we first came here to Manila over 40 years ago… We have a lot of friends here. We really do love coming back to the Philippines. This evening, tonight, you are us. In return, we are yours. Are you ready?” The fans were, in fact, more than ready as they chorused Chances with both Russell and Graham.

Russell then went for a break while Graham had a solo moment on stage and narrated, “Sometimes, at the end of the job, before we go home, it gets very tiring. Several times, I take my guitar, this one, and go and find a nice green field. Sit down and play. And just myself. One day, I found a beautiful rhythm flowing through this beautiful field. And I brought my hand to the water, to feel the beautiful water dripping over my hand. (It brought) me some great joy.

“My other hand was on the guitar and (I) started to play,” he began strumming his guitar and uttered a few verses like he was “having a conversation with an old friend.”

The 72-year-old English-born singer then got nostalgic over how he met his “closest friend” Russell back in Australia in the ‘70s. “(We’ve been friends) for almost 50 years and we never had an argument of any kind. And that is true friendship. I met this gentleman in a musical… There were 34 people. We sang together.”

He continued, “I heard this amazing voice. And I turned to him afterwards, ‘What an amazing voice you have. My name is Graham Russell.’ And he said, ‘Thank you very much. We have the same name (Russell Hitchcock).’ We realized we were born three days apart on the same month. We have so much in common.”

They soon realized that they would be “working together for a long time.”

As Russell returned to the stage, he also harked back to their good old days.

“We’ve known each other for many, many years. We met in Australia in 1975. We were in a production, in Jesus Christ Superstar… We had major success in Australia early on in our careers,” he recalled.

They were fortunate enough to get record deals in 1977 and worked with British rock star Rod Stewart, continued Russell.

“In Australia, we had some ups and downs. Right now, we’re gonna take you back in that first part of our career…. We sincerely thank you for continuing this journey with us,” he added.

The duo then hit Two Less Lonely People in the World and Graham did what he does best with his guitar solo. They also performed the heartfelt The One that You Love, Lost In Love, Making Love Out of Nothing at All and Without You.

Their music is so timeless that you’d see a multigenerational crowd during the show — old souls, middle-aged and younger ones accompanying their parents.

With their relatable lyrics and sounds that never get old, it makes one want to wallow in nostalgia (I can hear the person sitting next to me ardently singing every lyric of each song, filled with emotions).

Towards the end of the concert, Air Supply expressed their gratitude to Steve O’ Neal Productions, their crew, the people behind the scene and the band members who performed with them before leaving the audience with the LSS-inducing All Out of Love: “I’m lying alone with my head on the phone/Thinking of you ‘til it hurts/I know you’re hurt too, but what else can we do? Tormented and torn apart…”

via Hype.my

Yes, like the song “I’ll Never Get Enough Of You”, we’ll never get enough of the epic duo, Air Supply. They rocked Malaysian fans for the third time recently – and this time, despite the long hiatus, it was freaking epic! With the arena filled to the brim with both old and new Air Heads, Air Supply’s classic songs brought back memories of simpler times.

Despite the freezing cold and pouring rain at Resorts World Genting, nothing stopped thousands of Air Heads from seeing their favourite band of all time. We at Hype got the chance to see them live and all we can say is… they are most definitely true rock stars!

On Sunday night (18th December), the Arena Of Stars was met with a thunderstorm of claps and whistles as the legendary duo – Graham and Russell – strolled onto the stage. Beginning at 6pm sharp, the duo opened with “Sweet Dreams” – despite some fans still trickling in and out – because time, and Air Supply, wait for absolutely no one!

The soft rock duo’s “Lost In Love Experience Tour Live In Genting” was its last concert of 2022. Ending the tour with a bang, the duo rocked Malaysians with classics like “Making Love Out Of Nothing At All”, “All Out Of Love”, “Here I Am”, “Every Woman In The World” and many more. They even introduced a brand new song called “Be Tough” which was just released a couple of weeks ago.

Because Air Supply is such a legendary band, everyone in the audience knew the words to each of their smash hits. The arena was filled with echoes of fans singing along to every single word. Russell, the lead singer, even gave several short pauses to let fans take over. The crowd, in turn, displayed a sea of lights to show support and love for the two rock stars.

There were times when Russell suddenly walked off stage to take a tea break – according to Graham – because he had sung all the high notes. So Graham took over and entertained the audience with guitar-smacking songs and even played one of his own tracks, “G’s Spot”. The guitarist even recited a beautiful poem on stage by memory, asking the audience to appreciate the ones they love.

Despite the fans shouting “Encore!” and “We want more!”, the rock duo ended their performance after a quick 1-hour 40-minute show. After 130 shows this year alone, Russell and Graham congratulated and thanked every team member, both backstage and on stage, showing utmost appreciation. Not forgetting the most important people of all – the fans – as the band thanked the audience for being there.

All in all, the experience was definitely one you wouldn’t forget. Hearing and seeing legendary singers who have remained active for almost 50 years is an experience that would remain in the minds and hearts of fans. We definitely will never get enough of Air Supply!