THE hardest-working soul band in history is bringing to Durham the same commitment and two of the original group members that wowed the world two decades ago.
The Commitments was the Alan Parker film based on the Roddy Doyle novel featuring a group of unknowns from Dublin in 1991.
Parker famously sifted Dublin’s raw talent, foreshadowing scenes from the movie where Jimmy Rabbitte put a number of desperate wannabees through their paces in the family kitchen.
Two of those unknowns formed The Stars From The Commitments shortly afterwards, and have toured ever since. Kenneth McCluskey (moon-faced bass player Derek Scully) has since moved on to guitar, whereas Dick Massey (irritable drummer Billy Mooney) has stuck with percussion.
Ex-opera singer Joe Walsh joins Karen Coleman and Claire Malone on vocals. Abraham Hampton plays keyboards; Eric Okafo, bass; Alex Mathias, tenor saxophone; and Stefano Muscovi, trumpet.
In the past 18 years, The Stars From the Commitments have played 1,500 shows to more than six million people worldwide, in some of the world’s most revered venues and with some of the greatest names in the business, including the Black-Eyed Peas, Ben E King and – with satisfying irony – the man they narrowly failed to jam with in the film, Wilson Pickett.
Ken McCluskey said: “We were on tour in the States and we received a call asking us to perform at a St Patrick’s Day luncheon at Capital Buildings, right beside the White House. Bertie Ahern was there, so was George W Bush and many other selected guests, and we did an acoustic session, which gave our music a different slant from how we usually perform, but we enjoyed it a lot.”
The live show features all the classic hits from the movie and more, including Try A Little Tenderness, Take Me To The River, In The Midnight Hour, Chain Of Fools, Mustang Sally, Treat Her Right, Hard To Handle, Nowhere To Run and Destination Anywhere.
■ The Stars From the Commitments, Saturday, July 11, 7.30pm, Gala Theatre, Millennium Place, Durham.
Price: £18. Box Office: 0191-332-4041.
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