Once upon a time, Strange Fruit was one of the hippest rock bands around. When lead singer Keith Lovell died of a drug overdose, his brother, guitarist Brian Lovell (Bruce Robinson), and the rest of the band -- Tony Costello (Stephen Rea), bassist Les Wickes (Jimmy Nail) and drummer Beano Baggot (Timothy Spall) -- plod on and replace Keith with Ray Simms (Bill Nighy).
Bad blood runs hot among the band members and after a major lightening strike onstage during their open air performance at the Wisbech Rock Festival, the band takes it as a sign to disband and each goes off their own way to assume lives outside of music.
Twenty years later, Tony, who services condom machines at a resort, is approached by the Wisbech organizers who want to have a reunion concert. Tony recruits the assistance of the band's former manager Karen (Juliet Aubrey) to track down the other band members: Les, now a roofer, Beano, who lives in a trailer on his mother's farm, and Ray, a struggling solo singer who lives in grandious style he can't afford with his wife, Astrid (Helena Bergström).
They tentatively agree to reassemble the band and see if they can get a second chance, but Tony and Karen have some evidence leading to the conclusion that Brian, who had always been the love of Karen's heart, is dead. With their old road dog Hughie (Billy Connolly) and a big tour bus, the crew sets out built a fan base across Europe and see if they can do it before the big reunion show at Wisbech.
Directed by Brian Gibson.
Rated R for language, sexuality and drug content.
My personal rating: C+
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