Michael Flatley says Riverdance fallout ‘hurt like hell’ but the ‘best thing’ came from it

Riverdance captured the hearts of people around the world after it made its debut at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest hosted in Dublin.

The interval act was all anyone could talk about and it is still performed to this day.

However, the show’s star Michael Flatley parted ways with the team behind it in October 1995.

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The legendary dancer and Lord of the Dance performer explained that it “hurt like hell” but the “best thing” came out of it.

He appeared on the Nicky Byrne HQ podcast and opened up about his feelings around that time.

“It’s 30 years ago so I have no hard feelings, but it hurt like hell. It was my baby. I created that for 30 years," he said. "It’s all my work.

“But like all of these things, God was preparing me and I had to then get up off the canvas to create my own show and go out and prove that I could do it again.

“Every promotor saud, ‘No chance. Lightning doesn’t strike twice. Forget about it and do your best to go back and plead to get your job back.’ They didn’t know what I was made of. They didn’t realise that it was mine to begin with. I’m the man who built that watch. I’m the only man that can fix that watch or create a new watch.

“Even by the time we had done the London run with Riverdance, I was already on Riverdance 2 in my head. I already knew what I wanted to do next.

“I’m not going to lie, of course it hurt. But now 30 years on, I’ve moved on and we’ve sold out every big venue with Lord of the Dance.

“The best thing I got out of Riverdance was my beautiful wife Niamh.”

After he parted ways with Riverdance, his mother Eilish advised him to try and mend fences as it was a great opportunity for him.

“I couldn’t even hear those words,” Michael admitted. “I remember it all too well the night they opened in London without me.

“I was on Fulham Road, staring out the window into the rain. The phone rang and it was my father. I asked him for advice, because I really had no advice. There was nobody, it was really me on my own.

“You can imagine the fall. You’re on the top of the world, you’re on stage and the audience is screaming your name, there are headlines everywhere and then all of a sudden you’re on your own. Nobody is there and the press are so not my friend. The show has gone on without me.”

His father Michael Snr told him to “not focus on those people anymore as you’re better off away from them”.

He advised him to go out and create a new show and fight back.

Michael shared that there were some tough weeks around this time, revealing: “There were times I couldn’t leave the little house I was renting.

“It was hard to work up that courage to face the general public when you’re on the front page and painted as the bad guy, which I found was very unfair. It was tough old times.

“Looking back now, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

The legendary dancer explained that he hasn’t really spoken to anyone from Riverdance since parting ways with the show.

“I never got a phone call from anyone from that show except my wife. I actually did speak to Bill Whelan on the 20th anniversary [of Riverdance] very briefly," he said.

“I met a young lady the other night at my wife’s birthday party that was at the original Riverdance and she’s a lovely girl.

“And Colm O’Shea, he was one of the men in the show that was dancing back in the day. He is a proper gentleman and sent me a text, but other than that no.

“I wished them all the best and ask God to pray for them.”

He said that he would “of course” pick up the phone to talk with them if anyone called from Riverdance.