Air Supply Celebrates 50 Years of Love Songs at YouTube Theater

Fifty years is a long time to do anything, let alone do it with the same person.

Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock met in 1975 while performing in the Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar. They started out playing coffee shops and pizza parlors with little more than one guitar and two voices, eventually turning that partnership into Air Supply. Earlier in 2025, the pair marked the milestone with their first-ever, sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall.

On Nov. 28, that anniversary celebration reached YouTube Theater in Inglewood.

For a group whose name is practically synonymous with soft rock, the show was much louder and bigger than that label suggests. Hitchcock himself has never been particularly fond of it, telling the New York Post that Air Supply has always considered itself a rock and roll band. At YouTube Theater, that argument was easy to understand. The ballads were still there, but so were guitar solos, bright lights and a full band that gave songs written decades ago considerably more weight live.

It also helped that Air Supply has an almost unfair number of songs people already know. Their early-’80s run produced five consecutive Top Five singles, including “Lost in Love,” “All Out of Love,” “Every Woman in the World,” “The One That You Love” and “Here I Am.”

Hitchcock spent the night at the center of many of those songs, still reaching for the huge choruses that made Air Supply instantly recognizable. The Inglewood performance included “Here I Am,” “Chances,” “The One That You Love” and a cover of “Without You,” before eventually arriving at the song everyone knew was coming: “All Out of Love.” Recordings from the night confirm each remained part of the Los Angeles set.

The crowd participation made sense. Even at other stops on the anniversary tour, songs like “The One That You Love” regularly turned into full-room singalongs. Air Supply has spent decades playing these songs, but for the people hearing them live, they still belong to first dances, old car radios, family playlists and whatever memory happened to attach itself to them along the way.

That history never seemed to weigh the show down. Russell and Hitchcock joked between songs and left plenty of room for the musicians around them, especially guitarist Aaron McLain and a touring band that has become a major part of Air Supply’s current live sound. Their 2025 lineup also included keyboards, bass, drums and two cellists, giving the familiar ballads a much larger arrangement than their “soft rock” reputation might suggest.

There was something fitting about seeing Russell and Hitchcock standing beside each other after all that time. Their partnership has always worked because their roles are different: Russell writes much of the material and plays guitar, while Hitchcock takes on the soaring lead vocals. Hitchcock has credited that separation as one reason their relationship has lasted for so long.

And the anniversary was not entirely about looking backward. Air Supply was also preparing A Matter of Time, their first new studio project in years, while continuing a touring schedule that has historically reached around 130 shows annually.

But the classics were still what held the room together.

The night eventually ended with “All Out of Love,” the song Hitchcock has called Air Supply’s anthem and the one they continue to use to close their shows.

After 50 years, it is difficult to imagine a more appropriate ending.