Duke Box Set Review
Last August Vox O’Malley and myself were lucky enough to attend the last of the five night Duke Special extravaganza hosted at Belfast’s Empire Club. The series of events featured a different theme each night and the finale was entitled “Vaudeville Extravaganza”. It was great, not only did we bump into a rather famous film director, but we were fortunate to experience a real musical highlight of the year. There is possibly no better venue for a Vaudeville night than the Empire and it felt like we really were stepping back in time.
Certainly Extravaganza is the only word that could describe the night, this was no gig or concert by any means but a full Vaudeville entertainment experience from jugglers to circus performers, it was a night not to miss.
Well as we previously posted the five nights have been turned into a DVD box set. Ours cigar box just arrived this morning and it looks amazing (we have a few photos on flickr). The box set contain badges, a lyric book, a CD featuring 18 songs and of course the DVD of the highlights of the 5 night run.
To call the DVD the highlights really isn’t fair, so much of what is on the disk is amazing yet there must be so much footage (from the last night alone) that didn’t make it. It must have been an impossible task deciding what to put in and what to leave out.
The film is fantastic,with a range of behind the scenes footage including the Duke Special band performing on Belfast’s public transport as they made their way from the Empire, and subsequently back to the venue confusing the audience (and poor bus driver) no end.
The DVD captures the atmosphere of events, it includes the now famous Ben Castle and Duke stage dive and performances by Emily Loizeau and Belfast’s own Brian Houston.
Tim Millan’s art work is featured during the freewheel performance if you have not seen the freewheel video you need to get on to YouTube asap as it is simply beautiful.
To be honest we have only needed to mention the DVD aspect of the box to be able to assure Duke fans that this is a must have. The whole box package package is stunning. If you were at any of the nights then you really need to own this set, so much of the audience participation is featured and you might even be on there. If you were not at any of the nights then you can gain over an hours worth of the experience through this DVD. In fact it really should be televised…. Who do we know 
Visit : Duke Special Website.
I went to buy this DVD but it costs £30. I can only assume you got yours free to review as £30 for a DVD is something I am not prepared to pay Duke Special or not.
Liam, I didn’t get my DVD free I actually paid full price for it. I think it is worth £30, it is not just a DVD, I focused on the DVD for the review but it comes with badges, custom wooden box, song book and a music cd. I definitely am happy to recommend it at £30. It is a collectors piece. Have me met ?
I second that – The DVD is nearly worth it alone but the CD also has a lot of great songs on it not available anywhere else – like the version of tainted love with Neil Hannon at the Ulster Hall and quite a few others. Well worth it ad beautifully packaged.