Houston, Texas Local News
Air Supply Proves Romantic Love is Never Out of Style
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Smart Financial Centre
July 7, 2024
A scan of the audience at Sunday’s Air Supply show proved something most of us already know, which is that romantic love never goes out of style. The crowd had its share of gray hairs but was remarkably diverse and decidedly young. Many of these “Air Heads,” as devotees of Air Supply have been dubbed, were either kids or the kids who came from their folks embracing the romantic tunes Air Supply gave the world during its chart-topping heyday.
No matter the era, the audience at Smart Financial Centre knew and sang the songs at a show which started promptly at 7 p.m. and ended at a quarter ‘til nine, while the turmoil of Hurricane Beryl was still fairly at bay. Gotta love an early show. (Also, hope you all fared well from the storm, which kept this review from reaching you sooner, friends).
A few songs into the set, vocalist Russell Hitchcock thanked everyone for braving the storm, stating “It ain’t sunshine out there,” as did his bandmate of nearly 50 years, guitarist and co-vocalist Graham Russell, who said his sister lives in Jamaica and just endured Beryl’s Category 5 winds.
“But she’s okay,” he added to applause. The weather report out of the way, Russell got to the good stuff.
“TIME magazine said we are the most romantic band in the world, so tonight it’s up to us to prove it, I think,” he said.
That task proved simple since he and Hitchcock penned and performed some of the most enduring love songs of the 20th century. Eight top five US Billboard hits and 100 million records sold globally. They were so prolific at creating warm fuzzies that one of their biggest hits of this ilk – “Even the Nights are Better” – was the second song of the set list, high in the order of classics about being “Lost in Love.”
Midway through the set, following smash hits like “Just as I Am” and “Every Woman in the World,” Hitchcock and Air Supply’s crackerjack – and young – band took a breather. Russell asked who in the audience was seeing its first Air Supply show and lots of hands shot into the air.
“For the people that haven’t, where have you been for 49 years? I know, the rain brought you out,” Russell joked. We’d reached a moment in the show he called (lowering his voice a notch) “G Spot,” which sent an “Oooh!” through the crowd before Russell explained, “My first name begins with ‘G’ so this is G Spot. Are you enjoying it so far, folks? Yes, I’m rather partial to it, too, as a matter of fact.”
He then read “The Ferris Wheel,” an original poem “from my fourth book of poetry, which I know none of you have,” he said to laughs. The piece was about allowing the cyclic nature of life to give yourself chances to enjoy life’s highs and accept its lows. That led to a new Air Supply song, with Russell on lead vocals, titled “Can We Say I Do?”
“People always ask us about songs and how they come about and it’s a beautiful process,” he said. “It usually starts with an idea, a vision you might have. This one in particular is about two people who go back to where they fell in love and when they used to say all those beautiful words to each other.
“The moral of the story is this – if you all remember the things you used to say to your partner, all those beautiful words – keep saying them. Don’t stop because you’re getting older or you think they’re not as important, because they’re more important now than they ever were. And if you keep saying those words, you will always be in love.”
When the song was done, Russell introduced his musical partner back to the stage and he and Hitchcock sat on stools and recounted the band’s origin story.
“I’ve known this gentleman almost 50 years and, in our unique friendship, we have never had an argument of any kind at any time and people find that hard to believe, but it is true,” Russell said before telling the story of how he and Hitchcock met in 1975 during rehearsals for an Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Russell said there were 34 people at the choir rehearsal and “we all started to sing together and it sounded incredible, but there was one voice that just cut through everything like a knife. My brain just exploded,” and Russell introduced himself to Hitchcock, vowing right then to work with him.
For the record, Hitchcock’s singing voice is impeccable, unfettered in the least by time. He picked up the story, including that Air Supply still believes Jesus Christ Superstar is the best rock opera ever written. Their first hit was in Australia and “on the basis of that success, we got to open for Rod Stewart, three shows in Australia, yes that’s a big deal. And after the second show in Australia, he came back to our dressing room and personally asked us to open for him all across North America in 1977. That was fantastic. We played every big place that you dream of as a musician.
“After three months being on the road with Rod, you start to think that you’re pretty good. We thought we were pretty good,” Hitchcock said, “and we went back to Australia and we found out that we weren’t pretty good at all. Literally, we couldn’t get arrested when we went back home. I tried, believe me. As we’ve done a few times in our career, we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off and went back to hard work.”
That hard work became the soundtrack for romantics everywhere, songs that had depth and meaning. They still do, as a glance at the young people in the audience indicated. Romantic love, it’s enduring.
“We’ve always believed in two very important things,” said Hitchcock near the end of the show. “The first thing we believe is that kindness goes a long way, would you agree with that? Excellent. Don’t forget though that love is more important, so tomorrow do something nice for somebody that you love. It’ll make them feel better, it’ll make yourself feel better.”
The Band: Near the end of the set, Graham Russell thanked Smart’s crew (they are pretty amazing) and introduced Air Supply’s own “very small little family, traveling around the world playing songs, not every night but very close to it.” We’ve been to tons of shows over the years, going nearly back to Air Supply’s radio dominant days, but we can’t ever recall a band shouting out its lighting director, live sound engineer, stage manager, tour manager and business manager all like they were superstar players on stage. But Air Supply showed them all love because that’s what Air Supply does.
The band members were young and skilled, led by musical director and lead guitarist, Aaron McLain, who moved these beloved hits down the dial from KODA to KLOL (Google it, kids) with some nice rock guitar solos. The group was rounded out by bassist Doug Gild, Mirko Tessandori on keys and Pavel Valdman on drums.
Personal Bias: Ten years ago (oof), I wrote a silly thing titled “The ’70s Seven Sexiest Soft-Rock Songs” and, while it included some bangers (“Kiss You All Over,” “Do That to Me One More Time,” “Could This Be the Magic?”) it errantly omitted any single song by Air Supply, whose catalog is one of the great foreplaylists of all times. Adding an eighth track to this list (which, to my horror has been cited in some Wikipedia footnotes as if these ridiculous ideas were considered expert) I’d include “Even the Nights Are Better.” This expression of devoted love surely led to some bow-chicka-bow-wow moments back in the day and maybe even now. Give it a spin with a couple of glasses of merlot and some candlelight to find out, y’all.
Random Notebook Dump: When Graham Russell asked who was seeing Air Supply for the first time, I raised my hand, along with Mrs. Sendejas who loves these songs and (unfortunately for her) has had me sing them to her for years. In 2021, I interviewed Russell ahead of Air Supply’s show at Arena Theater. I had an invite but passed on the concert. The band was one of the first big name acts to play a live set in Houston following/during the pandemic lockdown era and back then going to a live show felt risky.
The article is worth a look for Russell’s Air Supply recollections and also as a reminder that live music once was taken from us. It’s great to be back at shows making up for lost time and finally seeing Air Supply as it sets to celebrate 50 years as a band.
Air Supply Set List
Sweet Dreams
Even the Nights Are Better
Just As I Am
Every Woman in the World
Here I Am (Just When I Thought I Was Over You)
Chances
Goodbye
I Can Wait Forever
Can We Say I Do
Two Less Lonely People in the World
The One that You Love
Lost in Love
Making Love Out of Nothing at All
Without You
All Out of Love
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Jesse Sendejas Jr.
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