Chapter Twenty-Four: Across the Concrete Sky (2003-2004)


‘Across The Concrete Sky’ - Woodland Magic

　　Air Supply played just a few concerts during the first quarter of 2003. They spent most their time inside Graham’s home studio, Woodland Magic, where they completed their latest studio album titled ‘Across The Concrete Sky.’ Graham and Jonni Lightfoot mixed the CD in April, and it was mastered by Eddy Schreyer at Oasis Mastering in Studio City, California. Jodi Russell designed the CD artwork and packaging. Graham wrote a companion book to accompany the album, which he described as a book of reasoning, thoughts and poems. It was divided into two parts; a story of how to make the journey across the concrete sky while listening to the CD, and a selection of 50 poems written by Graham. It also included a ‘spoken word’ CD narrated by Russell and Graham. The companion book was to be released in conjunction with the new album.

　　“Whenever I have an idea that I think is unique, I always look for confirmation of that thought to appear within a few minutes. Such a confirmation could be anything to do with the idea that is suddenly forced into my field of vision. Walking though an airport at 7 A.M. my vision is usually limited, but this time the Universe made sure I saw what I needed to see. The idea for the concrete sky companion struck me rather suddenly, and then I realized that perhaps it’s time to write something about this idea that I knew would unfold itself once I started to put it on paper. In this companion, I try to explain what it means to me, and in turn hopefully explain what it could mean to others. I wondered too at the time of thinking, that after 21 or so albums, why write something now to explain feelings and thoughts? The answer is simply that before now I didn’t think I had anything important to say on the subject, I always let the songs do that, but now I feel that songs only give a clue to a deeper, hidden meaning.” - Across The Concrete Sky Companion, Graham Russell


Across The Concrete Sky Companion

　　Air Supply believed that with the help of their new label, 2KSounds, they would have a very successful record. The upstart 2KSounds was in a good position to promote the album after having entered into a joint-venture agreement with Virgin Records (2K/Virgin Records). 2KSounds were one of the the first labels to heavily promote music on the internet, and already had success getting artists played on radio.

　　Graham described ‘Across The Concrete Sky’ as a concept album, their first since ‘Life Support’ in 1979. “It is a much deeper album than anything we have done in the past,” said Graham. “The album gives an insight into the lives of everyone listening to it. It is a self-help journey that takes a look at the past, the present and what the future could be. It tells you who you are. From a personal point of view, I am happy this project is now going out into the world. It has been a long journey, but every step was filled with excitement. Michael Blakey, the president of 2KSounds and his family flew in to hear some of the new tracks. It’s always a very emotional experience playing brand new songs to anyone, it’s like sharing your children for the first time. Michael loved everything he heard and is now getting involved deeply with the project. It’s a great feeling knowing the record company is in tune with the vision, and want to do everything they can to build the bridge towards it. After spending the past four days discussing the album and of course having fun, I know it will be our finest record ever.”


St. Petersburg, Florida - March 15, 2003

　　“We have just completed all the recording on our new CD ‘Across The Concrete Sky,’” said Russell. “We are thrilled with the results. The string arrangements are fantastic and add such an incredible dimension to the already beautiful songs. I don’t think I’ve heard Graham in finer voice. One of my favourites is ‘I Feel Like Screaming,’ although it really is hard to choose one song from another, they all have something very special to say. The Companion to ‘Across The Concrete Sky’ is another first for Air Supply. It explores the songs to great depth and will really make you look deep inside when read in conjunction with listening to the CD. As an added bonus, Jodi has done an amazing job with the artwork and packaging. The layout, photographs and images are superb!”

　　Fans got a taste of the new album when Air Supply took the stage for concerts in Merrillville, Indiana, in February, and St. Petersburg, Florida, in March. A new stage show to help promote ‘Across The Concrete Sky’ was planned for the busy summer months, but a few new songs had already been added to the set list; ‘Across The Concrete Sky,’ ‘I’ll Find You,’ ‘Shadow Of The Sun’ and ‘Goodnight.’ ‘I’ll Find You’ was performed mid-concert as a solo by Graham, and was considered one of the stronger tracks on the album. “When I started to sing this song live,” said Graham, “I had the lyrics in front of me on a sheet of paper for about a month because I wanted to deliver them perfectly. Initially they were quite difficult to remember, and the one day, I never saw the sheet again. I think Sparky, my guitar tech, decided it was time for me to fly with the song, and he was right. The freedom to remember was so much better than the fear of forgetting.” Graham and Russell looked rejuvinated on stage, each sporting a new look; Graham with a tidy haircut and short facial hair, and Russell with long charcoal coloured hair.

　　On March 27, 2KSounds was sold to Big Interactive Group after having gone public a year earlier. Michael Blakey, who was Air Supply’s biggest supporter in 2KSounds, resigned as president and director of the company. It was an unfortunate turn of events for Air Supply who were counting on 2KSounds to vigorously support ‘Across The Concrete Sky.’ But the new owners planned to re-establish 2KSounds as a multi-platform vehicle for new stars, not established acts such as Air Supply. They also wanted to expand into other musical genres such as Latin, Urban and Spanish language markets. They hoped to jump on the Latin Explosion bandwagon that started with Ricky Martin in 1999, and was still popular in 2003 with artists such as Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Gloria Estefan and Enrique Iglesias.

　　Although there was no official announcement from the band, Shari Short’s tenure with Air Supply was done, ending speculation from some that she might someday replace Russell as Air Supply’s lead singer. She was not involved in the recording of ‘Across The Concrete Sky.’ Instead, Graham had Utah-based vocalist Stina Peterson sing backup on several tracks. Short focused on her own career. Her second album neared completion, but it was not clear on which label it would be released. She sang backup vocals on Mark Williams solo album titled ‘Break The Normal,’ which was released in January 2003.



Mike Zerbe

　　Also leaving Air Supply, and likewise with no official announcement, was drummer Mark Williams. Las Vegas native Mike Zerbe, who did an admirable job as a temporary replacement for Williams in 2002, was the band’s drummer going forward. Born in Texas, Zerbe began playing drums at age 12, and later honed his craft in various nightclubs around Phoenix. After spending five years in the U.S. Navy he moved to Vegas and made a decent living playing in hotels and lounges on the Vegas strip. It was here in Vegas that he was introduced to Air Supply. “From my perspective it’s a strange experience, because when you play in a band you become friends with the people you play with,” said Mike Zerbe. “So here I am, friends with the guys I play with, but I used to listen to their records when I was in high school. I’m shocked to be working with them. But musically it’s very gratifying as you get to express yourself onstage every night and your not being dictated to, and you get to create music.”




　　Two compilation albums were released within one month of each other; ‘Forever Love’ in April and ‘Ultimate Air Supply’ in May. Both albums had a priority marketing push from BMG Heritage/Arista. ‘Forever Love,’ a 36-track double-CD, retailed for the price of a single CD, and included a 22-page booklet with song facts written by Russell and Graham. It was an international release, leaving fans in North America scrambling to find it online, and was the most comprehensive overview of Air Supply’s career since 1999’s ‘Ultimate Collection’ double-CD. Behind the strength of BMG’s mighty international marketing team, ‘Forever Love’ exceeded expectations and was an enormous success all over Asia and South America. It was the second-best selling album in Singapore during the week of May 3, 2003, with only Linkin Park’s ‘Meteora’ selling more copies. “After almost a quarter century, Air Supply is still widely acknowledged by Asian fans as love ballad masters,” said Jeamie Lee, BMG Malaysia’s senior executive of promotions. “They must be doing something right because their albums are consistent sellers, and we expect ‘Forever Love’ - which is really the ultimate Air Supply collection - to ignite a resurgence of interest in the band. The following here is enormous too. When they last performed in Genting Highlands [in Malaysia], tickets sold so briskly that there was a demand for additional shows.”

　　‘Ultimate Air Supply’ was initially just a North American release, but was later released overseas. This single-CD hits compilation included an 18-page booklet similar to ‘Forever Love,’ and had 18 songs that were better suited for casual fans of the band. ‘Ultimate Air Supply’ was not much different from 1999’s ‘The Definitive Collection’ or 2001’s ‘Sweet Dreams: The Encore Collection,’ but with the help of an extensive television advertising campaign it reached #186 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart on June 21, 2003, and was a top seller for BMG Heritage/Arista.



　　‘Across The Concrete Sky’ CD and Across The Concrete Sky Companion was released on May 22, available only on Air Supply’s official website. The independently released 11-track CD was a ‘Limited Special Edition,’ with an initial pre-launch production run of 50,000 copies. It was not until June 25 that ‘Across The Concrete Sky’ was released commercially in Japan, and several weeks later in Thailand and the Philippines. The Japanese release, distributed by Avex Trax, included different cover art. The content was identical to the ‘Limited Special Edition.’ There was no single released in North America, and radio showed no interest in supporting the CD in any capacity. It was not the sort of music that was getting played on Top 40 radio, and Air Supply no longer had the promotional support of a major label, or the clout of a Clive Davis or Irving Azoff.

　　“Our profile in the U.S. on radio now, and for the last 14 years, has been nonexistent,” said Russell. “We’ve taken recording projects, every one of them, to radio and they refuse to play anything new. You have to deal with it. You have to either compromise yourself and write something that’s compatible to what’s being played, which would sound stupid coming from us, or you just do your thing and continue on, which is what we do. We sailed our own course. We never said, ‘Let’s try to make our music sound more like what’s on the radio.’ Maintaining our integrity has always been the most important thing to us.”  



　　Reaction to ‘Across The Concrete Sky’ was mixed. Some of the music, such as the jazz-inspired ‘Big Cat’ and the contemporary ‘Shadow Of The Sun,’ was a departure from the bands earlier recordings. ‘I’ll Find You,’ an inspiring and motivational song, was a surprise favourite for many, and was the lead single in Asia. It was sung entirely by Graham, Air Supply’s first and only single to exclude Russell, and it got significant airplay in Malaysia and the Philippines. About half of ‘Across The Concrete Sky’ featured Graham in the lead vocal role, a trend which always generated debate within the Air Supply fan base. Some believed that Graham took the lead out of necessity because of Russell’s changing voice. Others felt that Graham wanted a greater vocal presence after being somewhat silenced by Arista in the mid-80s. Overall, there was enough variety on the album to satisfy the majority of long-time fans, and most agreed that Russell’s vocals, though thicker and deeper, were much improved from the previous album, ‘Yours Truly.’

　　Perhaps the strongest track on ‘Across The Concrete Sky,’ and certainly one of the most radio-friendly, was ‘A Place Where We Belong.’ It had all the Air Supply trademarks; strong vocals, dramatic strings and piano. “This song had quite a strange evolution,” said Graham. “The music was written in Buenos Aires, Argentina several years ago with one of my dear friends, Alejandro Lerner. We were playing in Buenos Aires and during a night off Alex and I had dinner and then went to his house to play for a while. After just an hour or so, the song was created, but it remained in limbo for a few years, until I happened to play it at home completely by chance and realized that it had found the place where it belonged, finally. Something quite magical happened to do with the song’s lyrics, we agreed that Alex would write the Spanish lyrics and I the English, but funnily enough we both said the title should be something like a place where we belong, and it always stayed that way.”


Mexico - June, 2003

　　Air Supply flew to Mexico in June to begin a 14-city tour, called the ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ by Mexican promoters. The three-week tour took the band to parts of Mexico they had never played before, and the reception from fans was overwhelming. The concert at the National Auditorium in Mexico City drew over 8,000, many of whom stayed long after the show to meet the band and get autographs, provided they bought a copy of ‘Across The Concrete Sky.’ Air Supply had not yet finalized a distribution deal in Mexico, instead they brought thousands of copies of their album to sell at concerts.


Official 2003 Tour Shirt

　　On October 26, Air Supply performed at the Hong Kong Harbour Fest. The three-week festival, held from October 17 to November 9, was part of a HK$1 billion program to revive the local economy after the deadly SARS epidemic. The government wanted to relaunch Hong Kong as a tourist destination, so they invited the best of Asian all-stars to perform both solo and in collaboration with Western performers, including Air Supply, Prince, Santana, Westlife, Neil Young, Michelle Branch and the Rolling Stones. All of the Western artists were paid a handsome amount to perform, including the Rolling Stones who reportedly made $5 million for the final two shows of the festival. The promoters came under harsh criticism following the event when an inquiry found that almost every act was overpaid, and the event went HK$13 million over budget. Only about half of the 13,000-seat outdoor stadium was filled for most of the concerts, with only Prince and the Rolling Stones selling out.


Talking to Mexican Migration Officials - Dec 4, 2003

　　During Air Supply’s eight-city tour of Mexico in early December the band was detained by Mexican migration officials in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. They had just finished a Thursday night concert as part of the cities annual carnival when eight agents from the National Migration Institute requested to see their work visas. Unable to provide the proper documentation due to an administrative oversight, the 13 members of Air Supply’s entourage, including tour manager Colin Mutton, was escorted to the Migration Institution offices. The band was allowed to return to their hotel later that night, leaving their passports as guarantee that they would not flee the country. They returned to the Migration office the following day to legalize their stay, then drove to Reynosa, Mexico, for a concert that night. The incident was just a minor inconvenience for the band, but news of the detainment concerned many fans, some of whom envisioned their favourite band locked up in a notoriously rough Mexican jail.  

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　　Air Supply在2003年第一季度仅仅举行了不多的演出。他们大多时间都待在Graham的个人录音室Woodland Magic中，在这里他们完成了最新的录音室大碟 ‘Across The Concrete Sky’。Graham和Jonni Lightfoot在4月份对这张CD进行了混音，这项工作由Eddy Schreyer在加利福尼亚Oasis Mastering in Studio完成。Jodi Russell设计了CD的包装和内饰图片。为了配合这张专辑，Graham写了一本书，书中内容大多都是一些思考，小诗。这本配套书分为两部分，一部分是在听CD的同时介绍了如何穿越天空之旅，另外包括了50首Graham写得诗歌。这份配套书还附赠了一张名为 ‘spoken word’ 的CD，由Russell和Graham进行讲解。这本配套书结合新专辑一同发行。

　　“无论何时我的点子都是很独特的，我总是在寻找那种想法。这样的想法可能是任何突然进到我脑中的。在早上7点走在机场中，我的想象力通常都是有限的，但这次天地万物确保了我看到我所需要的。这个有关花样天空指南的主意突然来到我脑海里，我意识到这次该写点什么了。在这份指南里，我尝试解释这对我的意义，相应的也希望解释对于别人的意义。我也想要知道在21张专辑之后，为什么现在写一些关于感受和思考的东西? 答案很简单，在这之前我没有什么重要的东西要说，我总是让歌曲自己去解释，但是现在我觉得歌曲仅仅是给了一些暗示，更深层次的东西被隐藏了。” - Across The Concrete Sky Companion, Graham Russell

　　Air Supply相信在新厂牌2KSounds的帮助下，他们可以得到一张成功的专辑。在和Virgin Records (2K/Virgin Records)合作后，这个突然崛起的2KSounds很好的宣传了这张专辑。2KSounds是众多首先在互联网上宣传专辑的厂牌之一，并且也会在电台中宣传旗下艺人。

　　Graham形容 ‘Across The Concrete Sky’ 为一张概念专辑，而他们第一张概念专辑是1979年发行的 ‘Life Support’ 。“这是一张比我们过去做的更深层次的专辑。” Graham说。“这张专辑提供给每个人对于生命的洞察力。这是这个对于过去回顾的自助旅行，现在，未来将会如何去做。告诉你自己是谁。从个人观点上来说，我很高兴这张专辑出现在世界上。这是一段很长的旅程，每一步都充满了惊喜。2KSounds的总裁Michael Blakey和他的家人在飞行途中欣赏了这张专辑中的几首歌。给大家播放新歌总是令人兴奋的，这就像是第一次给大家介绍自己的孩子。Michael喜爱他听到的任何东西，而且现在他又深深的爱上了这张专辑。在花去了过去4天时间讨论这张专辑之后，我明白这将是我们史上最好的一张专辑。”

　　“我们已经完成了新CD ‘Across The Concrete Sky’”Russell说。“我们被结果震惊了。弦乐的安排简直梦幻，给歌曲增添了好多不可思议感觉。我不认为Graham的声音很出色。我最喜欢的一首歌是 ‘I Feel Like Screaming’，尽管这非常难选，每首歌都恨特别。这本 ‘Across The Concrete Sky’ 配套书是Air Supply另一个第一次。当你在听这张CD的同时能够挖掘更深层次的含义。作为特别附赠，Jodi对专辑的包装和艺术图案的工作完成得非常的棒。布局照片简直号称华丽！”

　　歌迷在Air Supply在2月份印第安纳梅里尔维尔举行的演唱会上嗅出了一丝新专辑的味道，同样还有在3月份佛罗里达彼得斯堡。新场地演出为了宣传 ‘Across The Concrete Sky’ 在夏季摆上计划，一些新歌已经被安排进了歌曲单中了，‘Across The Concrete Sky’ ，‘I’ll Find You’ ，‘Shadow Of The Sun’ 和 ‘Goodnight’。 ‘I’ll Find You’ 已经在演唱会中段由Graham单曲演出，这被认为是专辑中最强的歌曲。 “当我开始在演唱会中演唱这首歌的时候，” Graham说，“我拿了歌词准备了将近一个月，我希望能够完美演绎这首歌。一开始很难记住，突然有一天，我就可以不用看歌词了。记住歌词可以自由发挥了，这比忘词感觉要棒多了。” Graham和Russell在舞台上重振辉煌，以崭新的面貌登场，Graham剪了一个短发，Russell留了一头木炭色长发。

　　在3月27日，2KSounds被出售给Big Interactive Group。Michael Blakey这位曾今是Air Supply在2KSounds的最大支持者，从公司总裁位置上辞职。对于Air Supply来说是不幸的。新的领导人计划重新建立2KSounds，把它打造成新星的平台，而不是为Air Supply这样的艺人准备的。他们也同样想扩大厂牌的音乐领域到拉丁，西班牙语市场等。他们希望进入1999年由Ricky Martin引爆的拉丁风潮，而在2003年依旧有许多拉丁艺人走红，如Marc Anthony，Jennifer Lopez，Shakira，Gloria Estefan和Enrique Iglesias。

　　尽管没有乐队的官方声明，Shari Short与Air Supply的合作结束了，原本认为她可以有一天取代Russell成为Air Supply的主唱。她没有参与 ‘Across The Concrete Sky’的录音，取而代之的是，Graham使用了犹他当地的歌手Stina Peterson在一些歌曲中演唱和声。Short专心于她自己的音乐生涯。她得第二张专辑接近完成，但是不清楚将会由哪家厂牌发行。她在Mark Williams的个人专辑 ‘Break The Normal’中演唱，专辑发行于2003年2月。

　　同样离开Air Supply，也同样没有官方声明的是鼓手Mark Williams。拉斯维加斯当地人Mike Zerbe在2002年作为临时鼓手很好的完成了工作，他的加入使得乐队继续前进。出生在德州的Zerbe在12岁时候开始打鼓，接着在凤凰城的许多酒吧中演出。在美国海军服役5年后，他搬到了维加斯，并且在维加斯酒店作许多演出。就是在维加斯的时候，他被介绍给了Air Supply。“从我的角度来看，这是个奇妙的经历，因为当你在乐队中演出时，你会和乐队成员成为朋友。” Mike Zerbe说，“所以我来了，我经常在高中时候听这些歌。当得知我将和他们一起合作时我很震惊。但从音乐角度上来看，这又是令人惊喜的。”

　　在一个月内两张合辑发行，4月的 ‘Forever Love’ 和5月发行的 ‘Ultimate Air Supply’。两张专辑对于BMG Heritage/Arista来说都有同样高的市场宣传优先级。‘Forever Love’是一张拥有36首歌的双CD专辑，并且用一张CD的价格来出售，包含了一份22页的歌本，还有Russell和Graham写的创作花絮包含其中。专辑在国际范围内发行，北美乐迷只能在网上在线购买，这是具有自从1999年发行的双CD专辑 ‘Ultimate Collection’以来最综合的专辑评价。在BMG之后强大的国际市场运作小组的支持下，‘Forever Love’ 超出预期，在亚洲和南美获得巨大的成功。2003年5月3日在新加坡它是排名第二销量好的专辑，仅仅Linkin Park的‘Meteora’有更好的成绩。“在几乎是1/4个世纪之后，Air Supply在亚洲乐迷心中依然是情歌最佳代言人。” 马来西亚BMG高级宣传主管Jeamie Lee说。“他们做的一定是正确的，因为他们的专辑有着稳定的销量，而我们也希望 ‘Forever Love’ 会这样 - 这的确是Air Supply的终极收藏 - 为了重燃歌迷对乐队的激情。而当他们之前在马来西亚云顶高原演出时，被要求额外加场。”

　　‘Ultimate Air Supply’ 一开始仅仅在北美发行，但是之后在大洋对面也开始发行。这张单CD合辑包含了一份类似‘Forever Love’的18页的歌本， 对于乐队初级歌迷来说，18首歌更加适合。‘Ultimate Air Supply’ 与1999的 ‘The Definitive Collection’ 或者2001年的 ‘Sweet Dreams: The Encore Collection’ 没有太多区别，但是在额外的电视广告帮助下，专辑在2003年6月21日的公告牌热门200专辑榜上排名第186位，对于BMG Heritage/Arista来说销量靠前。

　　‘Across The Concrete Sky’ CD和Across The Concrete Sky Companion在5月22日发行，但是只有在Air Supply的官方网站上才提供。“特别限量版”作为预热独立发行了了5万份拷贝。直到6月25日，‘Across The Concrete Sky’ 才在日本正式发行，几个星期之后在泰国和菲律宾发行。日本版本由Avex Trax负责发行，使用了不同的封面图画。而内容和“特别限量版”相同。在北美没有单曲发行，电台也表示对专辑没有任何兴趣。这不是那种会在电台前40排名播放的歌曲。Air Supply不再被主流媒体支持。

　　“我们在过去14年的美国电台几乎是不存在的。” Russell，“我们制作了许多专辑，电台拒绝播放他们之中的每一个。你不得不妥协，去写一些能被大众接受的歌曲，这样会很愚蠢，听起来会不像是我们的风格，要么你继续保持现有，做我们自己的音乐。我们从来不会去说， ‘让我们做些电台会播的歌曲吧。’ 对我们来说，维持我们的完整性是最重要的。”  

　　歌迷对于 ‘Across The Concrete Sky’ 的评价是多种多样的。诸如有爵士风格的歌曲 ‘Big Cat’ 和现代风格的‘Shadow Of The Sun’，和乐队早期录音风格截然不同。 ‘I’ll Find You’ 是许多人的最爱，是亚洲的首支单曲。整首歌都由Graham来演唱，这是Air Supply第一支而且是唯一一支没有Russell的单曲，在马来西亚和菲律宾有很高的电台播放率。关于专辑 ‘Across The Concrete Sky’ 中有一半歌曲由Graham来主唱的这个趋势，这在Air Supply歌迷群体中引起很大的争论。一些人认为Graham取代主唱地位是因为Russell声音的变化。而另一些人则认为Graham想要更多的主唱地位，而他在整个80年代中段，Arista唱片公司时期的歌曲中几乎隐身。总体来说，这张专辑有足够的内容来满足乐队的死忠歌迷，大多数人认可Russell的嗓音，尽管变得更低沉和浑厚，但是已经比起上一张专辑 ‘Yours Truly’ 有了明显的进步。

　　 ‘A Place Where We Belong’可能是专辑 ‘Across The Concrete Sky’中最好的歌曲，当然也是最具电台喜欢的风格的歌曲。具有所有Air Supply标志性的风格，增强的人声，弦乐和钢琴。“这首歌的演化相当奇特。” Graham说。“ 音乐部分由我亲爱的朋友Alejandro Lerner多年前在阿根廷布宜诺斯艾利斯完成。我们那时在布宜诺斯艾利斯演出，然后我们一起吃了晚餐之后到他家去一起去玩了会儿。一个小时左右后，这首歌就被创作出来了，但这首歌在之后几年一直处于混沌状态，直到有次我碰巧在家里完整的演奏了这首歌，我意识到这首歌最终找到了归属。创作歌词的情形也很奇妙，我们赞同Alex写西班牙语歌词我写英语，但是碰巧是我们写的歌曲标题都是诸如A place where we belong(我们的归属。)。”

　　Air Supply在6月飞往墨西哥进行14个城市的巡演，墨西哥宣传者把演出称作 ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ (注：与Beatles的一张专辑名相同)。这次长达3周的巡演把乐队带去了一些他们之前从来没有演出过的墨西哥城市，乐迷给予这次巡演的反应也是出乎意料的好。在墨西哥城国家大礼堂的演出观众人数超过了8千人,许许多多乐迷在演出结束后久久不离去，为了能够得以和乐队签名合影，并且在会场还提供新专辑的购买。Air Supply在墨西哥还没有正式谈拢发行合约，所以他们带了几千份专辑拷贝在演唱会现场进行贩卖。

　　10月26日，Air Supply被邀请在维港巨星汇演出。这个为期三周的音乐节从10月17日到11月9日举行，这是一个在致命的SARS疫情后，香港耗资10亿港元以振兴地方经济计划的一部分。政府想要重新让香港成为旅游业中心，所以他们邀请了亚洲最好的明星艺人和西方艺人乐队组合来演出，包括了Air Supply，Prince，Santana，Westlife，Neil Young，Michelle Branch和 Rolling Stones。所有前来演出的乐队都有不菲的报酬，包括据说滚石乐队在音乐节最后两场压轴演出的出场费为5百万美元。演出发起人后来遭受到了严厉的批评，几乎每场演出都超支，整个艺术节最终花费了1千3百万港元，严重超支。1万3千个室外座位的体育场在大多演出都只有坐到一半，只有Prince和The Rolling Stones的演出全部售完。

　　在11月上旬，Air Supply墨西哥8城市演出时，乐队在新拉雷多边境被墨西哥移民局拘留。他们刚刚在周四晚演出完毕，这次演出是一年一度的狂欢节的一部分，他们被国家移民署要求查看工作签证。由于行政人员的疏忽，他们无法提供有效的文件，Air Supply 13人的团队包括巡演经理Colin Mutton，被护送至移民署办公室。那天晚上乐队被允许返回至他们下榻的酒店，并且留下他们的护照以确保他们不会逃出这个国家。第二天他们返回至移民局办公室，办理合法化的手续，然后驱车前往墨西哥雷诺萨继续当晚的演出。这次事故仅仅是乐队一次普通的麻烦，但是关于拘留的新闻让许多歌迷非常担心，一些歌迷甚至想象他们最爱的乐队被关在那臭名昭著的墨西哥监狱中。

调整了图片位置！所有故事均以更新完毕！

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