Angels guitarist Rick Brewster said the idea to invite Mi-Sex to join the tour came from a short series of gigs The Angels played with Mi-Sex.

The bands go way back to the 1970s together.

Both have dealt with the deaths of their original frontmen in Doc Neeson (The Angels) and Steve Gilpin (M-Sex).

Both are writing new chapters to their enduring stories.

Both have new lead singers in Dave Gleeson (The Angels) and Steve Balbi (Mi-Sex) who are building on each band’s considerable musical legacy.

“Steve Balbi out front is doing for Mi-Sex what Dave Gleeson does for us,” Brewster told the Lakes Mail.

“He’s just a great match for that band.”

Brewster said the links between the bands don’t end there.

“We saw Mi-Sex a lot when they played in the 1970s and ‘80s when they came over from New Zealand and they were always a theatrical kind of band,” Brewster said.

“And we related to that because that’s what we focused on, in the early days particularly. Doc was very theatrical and we did a lot with our light show that really emphasised that theatrical approach to rock and roll.

“At the time, no-one was doing that except Mi-Sex and, funnily enough, another New Zeland band in Split Enz.”

The Lakes Mail saw Mi-Sex in concert in Sydney last year and was stunned to learn that in Steve Balbi, the former bass player for Noiseworks, there had been a charismatic lead singer busting to step out front.

Eccentric, erratic but utterly compelling, Balbi delivered the Mi-Sex favourites, including Computer Games, Falling In and Out, But You Don’t Care and Blue Day his way. And it was great.

The Angels, meanwhile, have added new songs to their setlist, without forgetting hits such as Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again, No Secrets, Dogs Are Talking, Take A Long Line, Marseilles and Shadowboxer, to name a few.