The Angels (18+)
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The Angels are hitting the road to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their iconic debut single, Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again.Is there a more Aussie experience than seeing the band performing the song, with the crowd chanting in unison?
Even the Prime Minister loves it. “There’s no better singalong than Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again by The Angels,” Anthony Albanese declared during the 2025 election campaign.
Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again, 50 Years On – A Celebration …
No way, get f*cked, f*ck off!
The Angels first encountered the infamous chant at a gig in Mount Isa in 1983. “We had actually dropped the song from our set,” John reveals. “But at the Isa gig, the crowd was going off and kept demanding encores. Backstage, we looked at each other and said, ‘What are we going to play?’”
When they hit the chorus of Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again, the band was greeted by the chant. After the gig, Doc Neeson grabbed a guy in the crowd and asked what was going on. He explained that he and his mates had attended a police Blue Light Disco in Fairfield in Sydney, where the DJ would stop the song and the crowd would yell the response. “So, in a way,” Doc reflected, “we have the police to thank. It’s amazing that it spread from just one disco.”
Over the years, many people have claimed to be the instigators of the chant, so its exact origins remain a mystery.
“What we do know is the band had nothing to do with the chant,” Rick Brewster adds. “And we love that – it’s something that the audience has given us.”
In the UK, ex-pats will play the song at a pub so they can find other Australians. “It’s like an Aussie mating call,” the late-great Doc Neeson observed.
Despite becoming an Aussie anthem, the song actually has a tragic backstory. It was written after the girlfriend of the band’s first manager John Woodruff was killed in a motorbike accident. Her death had the band pondering the hereafter.
“Can’t stop the memory that goes climbing through my brain/ I get no answer, so the question still remains: Am I ever gonna see your face again?”
“Fifty years on, the song still has so much meaning for us,” John Brewster says. “When we play the song, we’re thinking about all the people we’ve lost, like Doc and Chris Bailey. And all the people that we’ve played with over the years. And all the roadies, the tour managers, the record company people, our friends and, of course, all the fans.
“I’m reminded of Don Lane’s famous signoff: ‘I love your faces.’
“Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again is a song about – and for – everyone.”
Special notice:
DISGRACELAND APPEARING AT ALL SHOWS AS SPECIAL GUESTS
Date
Saturday 29 August 2026 8:30 PM - 11:15 PM (UTC+11)Location
Pittwater RSL
82 Mona Vale Rd, Mona Vale NSW 2103
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The Angels (18+)
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