“We’re just kicking around some ideas for the future,” he continued. “We’re still going to be doing a CD every year and we’ll do special concerts like the folk festivals in the summer but we won’t be touring anymore.”
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Celtic music wasn’t very well known outside of Ireland when the Irish Rovers formed in the 1960s. Today, it has a global audience.
“When we started there was the Clancy Brothers on the East Coast and there was us,” Millar said. “We were about the only two bands doing Irish music. What really helped a lot was Riverdance. When that came on the scene in the mid-’90s, young people realized the music wasn’t too square after all. There are young people dancing and they look great and the drums are blathering away.
“If you go to Germany, you’ll find an all-German band playing great Irish music,” Millar continued. “We know a band in Sweden and they’re everywhere. I often liken it to a polka: you don’t have to like it but if you’re close, your toe will start tapping anyway.”
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Despite continued international interest in Celtic music, the members of the Irish Rovers have their eyes on the final exit ramp. Of course, officially ending the tour could be more difficult than Millar and his mates anticipated.
“There have been an awful lot of young people coming out to see us on this tour,” he said. “I’m saying, ‘My God, we’re never going to retire. It’s like full circle.’ All these 5- and 6-year-olds that used to come see us 20 years are all grown up and they’re starting to bring their kids.
“It’s a wonderful blessing that we can still keep going after 52 years,” Millard said. “The people aren’t quite sick of us yet so we’ll hang around a wee while yet.”
WANT TO GO?
Who: The Irish Rovers
Where: Victoria Theatre, 138 N. Main St., Dayton
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 16
Cost: $31.30 to $68.30
More info: 937-228-3630 or www.ticketcenterstage.com
Artist info: www.theirishroversmusic.com
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