Sunday, November 06, 2011

Air Supply Part II

The thing I did after coming out of the bathroom that I'd not done in a number of years, but had done a great deal in college, was sitting my ass on the metal railing of a flight of stairs and sailing down it. There was a moment when I thought I might fall off to the left, but thankfully, I came down in one piece. Dori's response was, "I can't believe you did that" and Shanon's was, "Was that fun? It looked fun".

We headed back to our seats a few minutes later where the taller Russell came out on his own and began talking about his favorite things (being in a warm house, looking out over the mountains, drinking a glass of wine).



A man in the audience took this relative quiet as a time to voice responses; when Russell mentioned the glass of wine, the man suggested smoking a doobie. People around us were getting annoyed and I was hoping he'd be sent to detox. My mom turned around at one point and said, "Shut up"; neither of us can tolerate talkers at the movie theatre.

A moment later, Graham asked if anyone was interested in coming up to the space between the stage and the front row. A couple dozen women followed suit. It was there that he serenaded them with a tune accompanied only by his guitar.

Graham headed right out into the audience as he started in on one of my favorites, "The One That You Love".



Hitchcock surprised the shit out of the people sitting the furthest back by appearing amidst them. I didn't even know where he was until I turned around and looked carefully. He touched the hands of a number of attendees who were in wheelchairs and there were a lot of smiles from people who hadn't expected to be able to see the sexy Australians up so close. Hitchcock went up on stage to close the song and an energy that wasn't present in the first half abided throughout the second.



I told myself from time to time to really pay attention, to enjoy the show and smile as this might be the only chance I'd get to see them and especially so close. To top it off, I was here with my best friend, my wife, and my mother. There was a surge of noise in the crowd whenever the first few notes of a familiar song played.



Shanon really got into it in the latter stages, miming the drummer on some of the fast songs and yelling at the top of his lungs at the end of songs and sometimes right in the middle of them. A man directly in front of him had a hearing aid in one ear, but Shanon was so loud that on a number of occasions, he stuck his finger into the other ear. I noticed my mom was also getting more into it. One of my favorite moments was looking two seats over at Dori mouthing along to one of the songs, lost in love. Near the end, Graham did a little trick where he played the guitar over his head. They ended with one of their all-time best, "All Out Of Love".



As they left the stage, it was announced they would be signing autographs for those who were interested. Just then, I told my mom that they hadn't sung my favorite Supply song, "Sweet Dreams". She said they have so many, it's hard to get to all of them; something she echoed last night when we saw Vince Gill play.

Shanon wanted to get the Russells' autographs in the worst way, not least because no concert he'd been to before had offered them so readily. Though we'd be there at least an extra half hour, I let him wait and sat with Dori as my mom said she wanted to head home. When the full band came out for the meet-and-greet, I joined Shanon in line and since I saw pics being taken, asked if he wanted me to take one of him and the guys. He said he did.

As we got closer, I saw women kissing the guys and told Dori that she could get the same if she got in line with us. She was either too nervous, too shy, or afraid that she'd get aroused to go for it. I told my mom later that she would've had the same opportunity had she stuck around. Graham is her favorite of the two.

When it came to be Shanon's turn, he shook both the singers' hands and said, "It was an honor!" I took the following pic of him with the lead guitarist and Hitchcock.



A few hours later, I drifted off to sleep where to no one's surprise, I had sweet dreams.

3 comments:

Phats said...

what a great story, I should have put on Air Supply while I read this :) I like that you slid that's awesome! haha

I heard Air Supply is going to do a concert at EPCOT center at Disney World haha

ExtraO said...

very cool. :-)

Unknown said...

wonderful post tom.....so vivid....almost felt like I woz there in person....thanx buddy....