The Commitments 20th Anniversary Reunion … See? Told You They’d Make It.

“The clothes they wear are all dismally coloured”.

“There’s an almost constant use of a word pronounced “fook” or “fewk,” which I take to be some kind of Dublin slang, possibly relating to fish and chips”.

“The friendship was bad cos they treated each other like crap.”

” … it portrays the Irish as extremely profane people who do nothing but scream at each other and tell each other to f-off … one hopes this isn’t representative of the entire country.”

The Commitments. Furriners on IMDB just don’t get it.

Ah, Glen Hansard. You’ll always be Outspan Foster to me.

But we do, which is why the original cast of Alan Parker’s brilliantly funny soul-story are coming together in March 2011 for a series of much howled-for reunion gigs. Andrew Strong, Robert Arkins, Angeline Ball, Bronagh Gallagher, Michael Aherne, Glen Hansard, Felim Gormley, Dave Finnegan, Ken McCluskey and Dick Massey will once again extol the virtues of being black and proud to an impoverished audience who badly need a motto, though hopefully this time ’round no one will be electrocuted and no strange fat children will be laughing at them from the front row. Also, hopefully they won’t have an epic falling-out just before Wilson Pickett arrives to jam with them (though it’s unlikely, as he died in 2006).

The Commitments (and Commitmentettes) are promising to make these shows to remember, with a donation made to the Irish Cancer Society for every ticket sold (the aim being to raise over €30,000 for the charity). Exciting? Jaysus yes. I own both soundtracks to the movie, though I’m still holding out for a third volume with its best insults and put-downs. “On a fucking Suzuki?” is still one of my favourite random sneers of all time, and this from a woman who collects ‘em.

The Commitments will play The Royal Theatre, Castlebar on Monday March 14th, the INEC, Killarney on Tuesday, March 15th, and the O2 in Dublin on Saturday, March 19th, with tickets at €59.80. Jaysus. They also play The Odyssey Arena in Belfast on Thursday 17th, if you’re Norn Iron bound for Paddy’s Day. Tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster on Friday, 15th of October, at 9am.