No show for band that could've been

A music documentary that was due to receive its world premiere at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival later this month has been pulled from the programme.

Good Cake Bad Cake, directed by Shimmy Marcus, tells the story of Irish band Lir, who were poised for success in the 1990s before a US tour went awry. The film was due to be screened on February 18th, followed by a Lir gig at The Workman's Club. (The gig will still go ahead.)

The official JDiff line puts the cancellation down to "circumstances beyond our control", but band member Ronan Byrne said the film was pulled following an intervention by the band's former manager, David Reilly.

"It's disappointing to a degree, but it's also part of the story," said Byrne. "We've all seen the film, and he got his opportunity to say what he wanted in the documentary itself . . . Inadvertently, he's giving the film more credibility in the long run. If you're told you can't see something, you want to see it."

A separate legal battle involving Lir and their ex-manager has been going on for more than a decade.