'I still get such a buzz': Bill Whelan remembers Riverdance glory days two decades on 

'In Limerick for weeks after, every time the Angelus came on in my local pub, the bodhrán player stuck on the Riverdance tape and played it to cheers again'

Right to left, Bill Whelan, Zoe Conway and guitarist husband John McIntyre

When Riverdance was first performed live in Dublin’s The Point Theatre as the interval act of Eurovision 1994, Bill Whelan, the not-yet Grammy award-winning composer, was terrified.

“When you’re the composer, it’s petrifying. Because you’re looking at every single aspect of it, everything thing that happened during rehearsal and it’s live in front of you and millions of others around the world. There was no margin for error.