THE STARS OF Alan Parker’s 1991 film, The Commitments, are to reunite the band for a series of one-off concerts next March to mark the twentieth anniversary of their landmark movie.

Andrew Strong (Deco Cuffe), Robert Arkins (Jimmy Rabbitte), Angeline Ball (Imelda Quirke), Bronagh Gallagher (Bernie McLoughlin), Michael Aherne (Steven Clifford), Glen Hansard (Outspan Foster), Felim Gormley (Dean Fay), Dave Finnegan (Mickah Wallace), Ken McCluskey (‘Meatman’ Scully) and Dick Massey (Billy Mooney) will get the band back together for four gigs around the country.

Only Johnny Murphy (Joey ‘The Lips’ Fagan) and Maria Doyle Kennedy (backing singer Natalie Murphy) are missing from the original cast.

The film, dealing with a band of unemployed musicians from the northside of Dublin seeking to spread soul music to Dublin, was voted the greatest Irish film ever in a survey in 2005.

Hansard – who has gone on to greater things with the Frames, and has won an Oscar – told reporters at this morning’s press conference that he would not have consented to play in the concerts before now, having hated being known as ‘Outspan’ for so long after the film.

The gigs – which double as fundraising efforts for the Irish Cancer Society – will see the band play Castlebar, Killarney, Belfast and Dublin.

Tickets will go on sale on Friday October 15 from Ticketmaster. Sadly for fans of the band, there’s no plan to release an album afterward.