March 30, 2019
I know what you're thinking: Air Supply is that wimpy 80s band from Down Under who play love songs and ballads and haven't put out any new material in years. Sounds like a real snooze-fest.
I was thinking the same thing when we bought the tickets and, boy, was I WRONG!
Backstory: My wife and I wanted to get away for a few days to celebrate our 30th anniversary (officially on March 17th), so back in January she saw that Air Supply was going to be in the area (4 hours away) and asked if that would be a good gift to each other. Of course I said yes. Air Supply is one of her favorites from way back. To me, they've always been just another light rock band that grew popular in the 80s while I was listening to Steely Dan and Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones. Five years ago we saw another favorite of hers, Tony Orlando, and I was pleasantly surprised. So, sure, honey, let's do this.
The Paramount Theater is a tiny venue in a small Vermont ski town. Like a lot of old theaters, it fell into disrepair many decades ago before getting reclaimed and restored a few years back. It's no bigger than your average high school auditorium only with a loge and balcony. We got seats near the front of the loge section (aren't we adorable?):
You can already see the rowdy crowd a-gathering!
Not surprisingly, the audience was mostly female, with the average age likely around 55-ish. Fortunately, the three seats directly in front of us remained empty, so we got an unencumbered view the entire night. The supporting band is four young dudes (maybe 30 at the most), on guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. They played the spooky intro to the night's first song, Sweet Dreams, while the major two, guitarist/singer Graham Russell and lead singer Russell Hitchcock, lurked just off stage. The came on just as the main part of the song started.
Then they rocked it!
This was not the Air Supply I had learned to ignore for nearly forty years. They had a new take on their old classics. They repurposed each song to include several guitar solos and a pounding rhythm section. The ballads were now power ballads. They continued on with hit after hit, allowing the audience to sing along. Much like the Tony Orlando concert, I knew most of the words to some of the songs from radio exposure, so we sang along, too! Graham's voice was shaky at times, but Russell can still hit the high notes. The guitarist was amazing.
I remember hearing:
Making Love Out of Nothing at All
Lost in Love
Two Less Lonely People in the World
The One That You Love
Here I Am
plus a few songs I'd never heard before
The set list wasn't huge because they smartly dragged many of songs out with the aforementioned solos and audience help. The encore included "Without You" (big hit for Nilsson many years ago). The lead singer invited audience members to stand right next to the stage for much of the encore, so that crowd was about four deep. They ended with All Out of Love, which, oddly enough, was a thunderous sing along that brought the house down (as crazy as that sounds).
I didn't post this on April 1 because I didn't want anyone to think I was pranking them. I'm not. This old rock n roller (and his wife) loved Air Supply. See them if you get a chance.
