October 30, 2006
Air Supply play ... and love raising their arms
On the heels of yet another show brought down by the man (add Jet Echo’s Saturday show at Live Bar to that list), a night of power ballads was just what we needed. While our friends might be few, they did have an eighth row seat to the Sydney duo’s Halloween show at the Shanghai Grand Stage.
Air Supply -- "the first western group to tour China," according tho their website -- used whatever oil they used to slip into those leather pants to grease up the Ministry of Culture and rock a scene in need of a bit of, shall we say, good ol’ fun.
What was a nostalgic reminder of heavy drums and age-defying hairstyles for those of us raised on it was a much, much more emotional experience for the locals -- who somehow knew more lyrics than we did. One of said locals was lucky enough to be brought up on stage by Graham Russell (pictured), who proceeded to introduce the first ever performance of their new single by asking to bring up someone on stage who didn’t speak English … which led to the following:
Graham: Do you speak English?
Random Chinese Gal: Only ... a ... [peace sign] ... hee hee .. [two peace signs] ... little.
G: That’s good -- I don’t want us to be able to communicate. What I want you to do is simply express the feelings you comprehend when you hear the lyrics to this song.”
RCG: ...
RCG: ...
RCG: Ting bu dong.
All joking aside, the energy that made “Lost In Love”, “All Out of Love”, and “Making Love Out of Nothing At All” (we’re seeing a trend) still seems to bring a need to finally go across the gym hall and ask that gal you sit next to in Algebra class if she wants to dance (read: both pairs of arms locked out and never, ever touching bodies). Even more amazing than that was the amount of tattoo’s Russell Hitchcock ‘s arms and chest -- these guys have a wild side?
While it wasn’t the Cuba show for 175,000 they played last July, they reinforced the notion that the 80s did and still do rule. It almost made us forget about the entire three people, out of a shitload, who actually “got” our Halloween costume.
More pictures of the show, and Russell being 19 inches away from our camera here.
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Nothing warms the Cultural Ministry's heart like sappy, harmless ballads, and of course that is the kind of music that Americans REALLY listen too.
So who is next on the list for the world's fastest developing global city? A Captain and Tenille reunion? I heard Milli Vanilli was working on actual lyrics about 5 years ago.
Yes, Shanhgai is truly on the cutting edge of global culture. Now excuse me while I load up some more Metallica and some old Diggable Planets on the iPod.
Milli Vanili has been dead (at least 1/2 of the band) for a few years - no need to bring back to mind that dark day for pop.
Why do you say "brought down by the man"? The Dirty Three show seems to have been screwed by bad production planning of the promoter & tour manager not some gov't authority. It's not the theater's fault for having a regularly scheduled acrobatic performance to put on.
yeah flakey booking and promotions continue to plague shanghai, just as much as "the man"...
Air supply claims to be the first? what about WHAM! in 1985?
http://madaboutshanghai.blogs.com/mad_about_shanghai/2006/10/the_gig_that_sh.html