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Show The Tfumderbird Monday, October 10, 1983 Page 9 Air Supply excites, deafens SUSC campus The music was great , the feeling was even better , but it left a ringing in the ears Concert review by Jay Hill SUSC enjoyed a night of high energy and excitement when Air Supply played the War Memorial Fieldhouse last Monday. If fan devotion and ticket sales are any indication of commercial success, Air Supply has it made ASSUSC sold 1800 tickets to concert-goer- s who started lining up at 2 p.m. for the 8 p.m. show. The souvenir tables were jammed with people buying Air Supply hats, jerseys and kerchiefs before and after the concert. The crowds enthusiasm heightened as acoustic guitarist Harold Payne started the show. The lights blacked out after Paynes final song and the audience went wild with anticipation only to be disappointed when the lights returned to reveal the stage crew, not Air Supply, tuning the instruments (a job which should have been done prior to the show). The audience felt let down and became very vocal. Fifteen minutes later the lights dimmed again, and this time the crowd exploded as red lights blazed and Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock unleashed an evening of strong, energetic rock that literally shook the rafters. The concerts only real flaw, aside from the false alarm, was its intensity. The volume was simply too high. The amplifier distortion garbled some of the lyrics and the sonic vibrations proved distracting. Perhaps the band expected the assembled mass of humanity to absorb more sound waves than it actually did. Noisy or not, the audience responded just as loudly with cheers, whistles and applause, and even tossed a few roses. Air Supply is a band best known for emotional, romantic songs of love and loneliness, but last weeks performance performed not one but three encore pieces, including its latest hit Making Love Out Of Nothing At All. After the final curtain the band was exhausted, but not too tired to talk. Their overall reaction to the concert was favorable. I havent had any sleep in 39 hours, said and the crowd really helps when youre not feeling up to it. The response we received was great, adds Russell. Im looking forward to the next time we can perform here. Wally Stocker, lead guitarist, said the crowd was overwhelming, and its good to perform in a small place like Cedar City. Craig Duswalt, the bands assistant, commented that the audience was. energetic. Im sure well be looking forward to coming back to southern Utah. If its any way like tonight, how could we not be looking forward to returning. The group also enjoyed some of the areas natural beauty. I had a chance to see Navajo Lake and its very beautiful here, said Russell. And, according to Duswalt, We took a little time to look around from our trip from Pheonix. It was the first time we had actually seen Esler-Smit- Air Supplys Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock super - powerful sound system. proved Russell and Hitchcock can lay down surprisingly intense, solid rock with the best of them. This was high quality musicianship from a group that knows how to borrow a crowds energy and return it with interest. Graham Russell is a master of mood; the man possesses an emotional concentration so intense that the audience couldnt help absorbing and mirroring his mood, whether rowdy and rocking or reflectively romantic. Russell Hitchcock is the true quality voice of the pair. Together they create a compelling atmosphere impossible to ignore. In fact, creating mood may be Air Supplys strongest talent. No matter how mellow or fast the songs were, the fans always responded in kind within seconds. When people werent rocking to energy, charisma, and Cant Get Excited they were swaying quietly to Sweet Dreams. During one particularly memorable moment, Russell asked the audience for silence. He said the next song was the bands favorite, even though it wasnt heard often on the radio. Under soft blue lights he began Dont Be Afraid, written by keyboardist Frank Not a sound disturbed the quiet; tears rolled down the faces of young girls and even the men were not unaffected. The groups lighting crew also deserves a special mention. The colors, shadows, intensities, spotlighting and special effects were handled with a professional smoothness that greatly magnified the groups power and emotional impact. At the shows end the audience responded so strongly that the band Esler-Smit- i the Grand Canyon. The other band members were filming a video and unavailable for comment. The band had to leave immediately that night to play in Las Vegas, then to Los Angeles to shoot a spot for Solid Gold. Air Supply obviously left its Cedar City audience feeling good, but is the pleasure of that knowledge really worth the exhaustion, pressure and strain of traveling concert performance? Life on the road isnt easy, admitted Russell as he looked out to the auditorium. But it does have its rewards. And he smiled. almost-deserte- d Antigone will appear at SUSC this Friday The University of Utah will present its traveling production Antigone, a classic tragedy of clashing wills, Friday, Oct. 14 in the SUSC Auditorium at 8 p.m. Ticket prices are $4 for adults, $3 for senior citizens, $2 for season ticket holders and children ages 5 to 12, and $1 for students with activity cards. Two workshops will also be offered the 14th. Professor James Svendsen, tour coordinator, will give his views on Sophocles Antigone and the Strategies of Greek Drama at 2 p.m. in Old Administration 204. Production Director Kenneth Washington will present The Tyranny of Space and Time: A Director Looks at Sophocles Antigone in Auditorium 108 at 3 p.m. The workshops are free to the public. Sponsored by the SUSC rheatre, dance and English departments, the play is part of The Us annual Classic Theatre Festival. The tragedy appears at SUSC through a grant from the Utah Arts Consortium. It is the first play of this type to appeal at the college since the theatre departments production of Medea in 1969. Were excited about it, mentions R. Scott Phillips, theatre public relations director. Its not often that we do classical Creek diama. We hope itll be a good opportunity for our students to see real Greek drama. Phillips stresses that this is a production and reservations are necestary. The theatre box office is open from 1 to 5 p.m. weekdays and 1 to 8 p.m. on can also phone in performance days. Theatre-goer-s one-nig- their reservations at 586-787- This show is not included in theatre season tickets because the departments have to pay sponsorship costs, says Phillips. Antigone, daughter of the King Oedipus, returns to Thebes after her fathers death. Her Uncle Creon controls the throne after the death of her two brothers. Creon orders the older brother buried with honors while the younger, who opposed Creons rule, is left to rot without proper ritual. Antigone defies her uncle and royal decree by burying her beloved brother, thereby exposing herself to certain ruin. d |