For 25 years, this John Farnham footage was never supposed to make it to TV - until now

For 25 years, there's been one John Farnham performance that was never supposed to make it to television – but now it finally has.

As one of Australia's most beloved musicians, Farnham's six-decade career was celebrated in a special John Farnham – Celebrating 60 Years, which you can watch for free on 9Now.

Stream John Farnham – Celebrating 60 years for free on 9Now.

The documentary revealed many unknown surprises about the musical legend including footage of the one performance that was never televised, until now.

In 1999, Farnham headed over to East Timor to entertain the troops for the Tour of Duty Christmas benefit concert performing alongside the likes of Kylie Minogue and The Angel's Doc Neeson.

As entertainment reporter Richard Wilkins relayed the story, Neeson wanted to sing his most popular song 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again' but the producer rejected the idea because of the swearing in the infamous crowd response.

Because the concert was being televised the song was deemed "not appropriate for primetime television".

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about John Farnham – Celebrating 60 Years

Neeson decided to give the troops what they wanted and despite instruction went ahead with the song anyway and he had Farnham's full support.

Wilkins called it "possibly the greatest unseen John Farnham vision ever recorded".

You can watch their very enthusiastic performance in the video.

Former Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, who was the Commander of the international peace-keeping force for East Timor, hilariously retold his reaction to the troops singing along.

"The troops would love it, being tremendously ordinary Australians who would know those lyrics but I wasn't so sure I wanted it going into the lounge rooms all around Australia," Cosgrove said.

Thankfully, the performance was played out over the ending credits of the television and it was cut short on air.

Cosgrove was at the concert, seated next to Bishop Belo who asked him what exactly the troops were singing back at the ensemble on stage.

"I went a bit purple in the face and said, 'I can't quite hear by Lord Bishop."

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Kylie Minogue also performed alongside Farnham and Neeson and recalled the gusto they sang.

"We were doing it with a lot of heart and I got to share the stage with him," she said.

You can watch the entire unseen performance on John Farnham – Celebrating 60 Years on 9Now.

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