Air Supply breathes life into GPAC

By Mark Schulman
Campus Life Editor

Soft rock band Air Supply graced the GPAC stage Oct. 8 to over 1600 fans. The Australian band, led by Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell, gained notoriety in the early 1980s with seven straight Top Ten singles.

Photo by Lee Whitworth Lead singer Russell Hitchcock whispers to Samantha Garrison after the show during the autograph session.

Air Supply immediately broke into soft rock ballads like the 1982 Top Ten hit “Even the Nights are Better.” The charismatic front man Hitchcock drew the crowd into his music recognizing his fanfare with waves and smiles to individuals in the audience.

From there, the crowd got an extra dose of love with the performance of “Even the Nights are Better.” Unfortunately this melody was inevitably one of Air Supply’s last hits during their reign as pop’s most notorious soft rock band.

The band continued to bellow out stirring love songs that would soothe even the worst of the savage hearts in attendance. Hitchcock relaxed the crowd by introducing them to the next piece.

“Out of all the love songs that have been written, this is one of them,” Hitchcock said.

Ballads from the early 80s like “Lost in Love,” “All Out of Love,” and “Every Woman in the World” poured from the stage. The duo sang these tunes with enormous passion inviting the audience to share their enthusiasm. The crowd roared when Air Supply played familiar songs like “Two Less Lonely People in the World” and “Sweet Dreams.”

Photo by Lee Whitworth Guitarist Graham Russell bellows out love tunes at the GPAC concert to a near sold out show Oct. 8.

Pop rock ballads

Many pop rock ballads pumped from the GPAC stage until the pace slowed down for Russell’s acoustic set. He was the only presence, along with his 12-string guitar, left on the stage entertaining the crowd with insight to the band’s performance.

He explained how close Hitchcock and he are and ensured the listeners that when the twosome sings love songs, “we don’t sing to each other, we sing with each other.”

Acoustic piece

Graham then performed a rare solo acoustic piece about Filipino children in poverty. He asked for the audiences to help sing the passionate chorus of the song: We are all children, we are all somebody’s child.

The tempo picked up when Hitchcock, wearing leather pants and a psychedelic shirt, rejoined his band mate on stage. From out of the speakers came their number one hit— the love anthem of its time—“The One That You Love.” The crowd exploded with excitement as Hitchcock leaped off the stage, serenading his fans who were ecstatic for the opportunity to get “up close and personal” with the legendary musician.

The show wound down but the love was not yet over. The entire band came out to the lobby to meet their fans and sign autographs.