
On November 3, one of Australia’s most iconic rock bands The Angels are bringing their anthemic rock ‘n’ roll to Norths Leagues & Services Club as part of their Face II Face tour.
After kicking off 2018 with a series of sell-out shows on the coveted Red Hot Summer Tour, The Angels set off on a national tour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their ground-breaking album Face To Face. Now, by popular demand, The Angels are performing a second run of dates with the Face II Face tour.
Lead guitarist and founding member Rick Brewster says, “The Face To Face tour exceeded all expectations which is why we’re doing this second round. We sold out just about every venue and any that weren’t sold out were still packed to the rafters. It’s a bit like the old days.”
Released in 1978, the Face To Face album spawned a string of hits for The Angels including Take A Long Line which peaked in the national charts at #26, remaining there for 29 weeks, with the album itself staying in the charts for a year and a half.
“Face To Face was such a successful album,” says Rick. “There’s probably not too many people out there who don’t know at least one of the songs if not all of them. With the fortieth anniversary coming up, we thought it was a really good reason to tour it.”
Broken up into two sets, the first half of the Face II Face show features the album in its entirety, with the second set covering other classic Angels hits.
“If all we did in the Face II Face show is play the whole Face To Face album we’d probably be crucified, because we haven’t played No Secrets, Face The Day or a whole lot of other songs. [Having the two sets] gives us an opportunity to really cover the best of what we’ve written over the years.”
To mark the 40th anniversary tours, the band completely re-recorded a 2018 limited edition double CD version of the album, featuring both studio and live recordings. Available only at the gigs, the album is certain to become a collector’s item.
“Re-recording the album took us two days. It was incredibly fast,’ says Rick. “The thing about re-recording an album is all the arguments were done forty years ago, so there’s no question of how the song should go, or how the arrangements or melody should go. That was all thrashed out in Albert Studios forty years ago.

“Having said that, there’s always some evolution in songs. If you play them for a long time things develop on stage and that’s true of probably just about every song - there’s some small change from the original.”
Named one of the five greatest guitar players in Australian history by Australian Guitar Magazine in 2012, Rick struggles to pick his favourite Angels track to play live.
“It’s difficult,” he says. “I probably enjoy playing Outcast. That’s just my bent. I like the left-of-centre stuff. But I love playing Take A Long Line and Marseilles as well.”
The longest standing member of the band, Rick has had front row seats to the evolution of the group, which first featured Doc Neeson (lead vocals), Rick and his brother John (guitar), Graham 'Buzz' Bidstrup (drums), and Chris Bailey (bass).
Of the current line-up which features Dave Gleeson (lead vocals), Rick (lead guitar), John (rhythm guitar and vocals), Nick Norton (drums), and John's son Sam (bass), Rick says, “The current line-up has been going now for seven and a half years and it’s so good. Dave Gleeson up front is amazing, and with Nick on drums and John’s son Sam (who took over the bass after Chris Bailey passed away), it’s an amazing band. We’re really looking forward to this second leg and getting up your way.”
WHERE: Norths Leagues & Services Club WHEN: Saturday, November 3 TIME: 7:30pm TICKETS: $40.00 BOOKINGS: Call 3285 2733