Air Supply appeared at the Cheyenne Civic Center in Wyoming on Friday night for the first time in its 35-plus year history, not only singing many of their biggest hits from 25 to 30 years ago, but the duo also crooned out some tunes from its latest album, “Mumbo Jumbo.” A jammed-packed, sold-out crowd of just under 1,500 people came out on a breezy winter evening to hear the group that’s really associated with romantic love just three days before Valentine’s Day.
Air Supply music began to be a dominating presence for Top 40 and soft listening music stations in America back in the early 1980s, and has been a mainstay for the classic Adult Contemporary playlist since. For low key yet emotionally charged romantic music, its fan base was really enthusiastic at the Cheyenne performance. Many fans in the upper balcony areas remained standing throughout the performance, while many more had their hands often outstretched. The show, at times, had the feel of a Pentecostal tent revival meeting when the hymns of praise are sung. When Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock came out into the audience to sing “The One That You Love,” they were greeted enthusiastically as the crowd sang back the refrain.
While the majority of the make up of the crowd were people in their late 30s to mid-50s (the teens and young adults of the 1970s and 1980s), it should be noted many teenage girls were on hand and seemed to be the most captivated by the performing of the duo (and seemed to know the lyrics as well as the adults). Hitchcock and Russell were supported by a four piece backup band. When the duo performed the ninth of their 15 total songs (including two encore numbers), “Lost in Love,” they invited the teenage girls to the front of the stage, and from that time onward during the approximate one-hour, 45-minute set (without any intermission), numerous fans besides teen girls “camped” in front of the stage to await being able to touch the outstretched hands of the performers. Despite the graying hairs of the stars plus the lighted cell phones being waved about in the audience, it felt like 1982 again.
One young lady was serenaded by Graham Russell as he crooned out “Dance With Me” from the 2010 album “Mumbo Jumbo.” It was one of the tunes sung from that album as well as “Me Like You,” one of the energetic encore numbers which added to the decibel level of the performing arts center. The classic hits were plentiful, too, as Air Supply crooned out tunes like “Even The Nights Are Better,” “Just As I Am,” “The One That You Love,” “The Power of Love (You Are My Lady)”, “Sweet Dreams,” etc.
The band closed out its performance with one of their biggest hits “All Out of Love,” which included a long and riveting drum solo. Graham Russell remarked before this song, “It’s a Valentine’s concert. …You came to the right show.” He then told the couples in the audience to kiss each other. The concert received a standing ovation, and the duo signed autographs after the show.
