Air Supply Bring 50 Years of Hits to Newcastle
- intouch Magazine
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
Air Supply are bringing 50 years of hits to Newcastle, as part of a run of Australian dates marking their golden anniversary.
The soft rock legends behind Lost In Love and All Out Of Love will play the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on Saturday 12 December, as Air Supply celebrate 50 years since Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock first crossed paths in the chorus of a 1975 touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
The pair hit it off instantly, discovering they shared similar names, birthdays in the same week, and memories of watching The Beatles live in 1964, and were soon performing together with nothing but a guitar and two voices.
The Newcastle show follows five sold-out Australian concerts last year, with the duo keen to reach fans who missed out the first time around. “We love coming back to Australia to where it all started,” said Hitchcock.
Their demo, featuring Love and Other Bruises, was rejected by every label except CBS, but the song still cracked the Australian Top 10 and won them a support slot on Rod Stewart's Australian, US and Canadian tour. Lost In Love then caught the ear of Arista Records executive Clive Davis, becoming the world's fastest-selling single and helping the band match The Beatles' run of seven consecutive Top 5 hits. Their catalogue has since sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, and in 2010 Russell received a BMI Million-Air Certificate for three million radio performances of All Out Of Love.
The touring milestones have piled up too: Air Supply were the first Western act to tour China, in 1995, and drew a record 175,000 people to a single concert in Cuba in 2005. Still playing roughly 130 shows a year, they marked their 5,500th live performance in late 2024.
“It means the world to us to celebrate our 50th Anniversary by performing in our homeland of Australia,” said Hitchcock.
“Nothing will make us prouder than coming back to the place where it all began,” added Russell.
Source: intouch Magazine, Issue #122, Spring 2026, p. 28.
