April 1980 they were back at the Opera House. Ticket prices jumped way up to $7.50 for the expensive seats. They all autographed the album “Tall Ships and Salty Dogs.”
(There is a link at the bottom of the page to a page with the clippings large enough to read, so don't strain your eyes right now!)In 1981 they had dropped “Irish” from their name and were just calling themselves the Rovers. This is when “Wasn’t That A Party” came out. I have two charts from then showing that for the week of March 16 – 28 this song started out at #61 on the “major top 60” list, and by May 15 on the “DJs top tunes” list they were at #6.
April 1982 back at the Opera House again at a price of $8.50. This was when I finally admitted to myself that I couldn’t remember all the songs they did at any one show by the end of the week, so during intermission and at the end of the concert I wrote down what they sang. I’m sure I still missed some. My list for this concert says they sang: Wasn’t That A Party, Me & Millie, Willie McBride, Pain in my Past, No More Bread & Butter, the Unicorn, Grandma’s Rocking Chair, the Wild Rover, One for the Morning Glory, Matchstick Men, Whiskey in the Jar, Bridget Flynn, What Would You Do With a Drunken Sailor, Tara, the Orange and the Green, Molly Malone, Maid of Fife, Here’s to the Horses, and of course Wilcil had a couple of accordion solos. The neatest thing was, when I went backstage after the show and got their autographs, Will said “Oh yes, I remember you.” ~Swoon.~
At the end of 1982 I had found an address for the Irish Rovers in Vancouver, B.C., and I wrote a letter asking if they were coming to Spokane in 1983 and asking if there was a list of what albums were available and if there was a Christmas album. I received a list back with the Christmas album marked (“It Was A Night Like This”) and someone, I think it was Will, wrote across the top “No plans for Spokane so far for 1983 – Sorry.” I ordered the Christmas album. When it arrived I went to play it expecting all mellow Christmas songs like Silent Night – first song on side one is “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.” I still like the Rover’s version better than the one that gets played every Christmas on the radio, which I believe is by Elmo and Patsy.
By the time the Rovers came through Spokane in February 1987 I was engaged to Cal, so he came along with me and my parents to the concert. We were in Row B at a ticket price of $10.75.
February 1988 was an afternoon show at the Opera House. $12.75 for the good seats. I bought their VCR tape “Party With the Rovers” which I still haul out and watch from time to time. Nothing really captures the feeling like being there but the video comes close. The song I walked away humming from this show went “Louie the king if you’re up in the sky, tell Marie Antoinette I said goodbye . . .” I don’t remember the rest. 
In February 1989 the price was up to $13.50. What I wrote in my notes at the time was “Great show – Too SHORT!” That always applies. A concert by either the Irish Rovers or Will Millar is the fastest two hours on earth. This was the year I bought the Silver Anniversary LP and was the last LP I bought – from here on out my collection is on CDs. 
Sometime in this time frame I got a nice unicorn pin, and I can’t believe I didn’t write down the details when it happened. It was after one concert, I was getting autographs, and Will glanced up and saw that I was wearing a little unicorn clutch pin. He said, “Oh, you need one of ours” and had one of his support staff get me a nice pin that is a unicorn rearing up on its hind legs. I kept that pinned on my fall jacket for the longest time, until I forgot the pin was there and washed and dried the coat before I noticed it. The paint chipped off the unicorn’s body, which really upset me. Luckily I had some of that enamel paint sold to fix chips in your stove, and that matched well enough to touch up the paint on the pin. So now unless someone takes a really close look the chipped paint is not noticeable. But now I don’t keep it pinned on my jacket, so it’s not going to be washed and dried again!
In July 1989 Cal and I drove to Edmonton, Alberta, and stopped in Calgary on the way. There was a branch of The Unicorn pub there and we stopped in for lunch. I saved matchbooks from there, and a menu, and a brochure. I’m not much of a drinker, since beer usually puts me to sleep and whiskey gives me a headache, but they had a drink called One-Horn Ale that tasted pretty darn good!
