Peter Brennan remembers returning from a visit to Ireland "full of Dublin and Guinness and all kinds of wonderful things," he said. "It occurred to me that there are so many shows where Irish eyes are smiling, but wouldn't it be great to update it, go the rock route?"

No sooner said than done.

Brennan's company, Jeans 'n Classics, will join the Everett Symphony for a concert of Irish pop-rock music at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Everett Civic Auditorium.

Irish rock goes back to such Celtic artists as The Chieftains and was modernized by Bob Geldof, U2 and newer Irish musicians.

Brennan, who is from Canada, has done the arrangements for the show and will be among the eight performers appearing with the symphony.

They'll do songs from "Riverdance" and old Irish tunes as well as "Angel of Harlem" and "Stuck in a Moment" by U2, a little Van Morrison, Kate Bush, Sinead O'Connor, The Corrs and Enya, and a Paul McCartney song featuring Bothell piper Jim McKnight.

"Irish bands listened to Elvis and The Beatles when they were kids, but what the Irish have done, they have these amazing, ancient melodic roots and instruments, and they work that into their pop music," Brennan said.

When those melodies with a pop flavor meet the energy of a fiddle base, it makes Irish rockers stand out from their British counterparts, he said.

Jeans 'n Classics started 12 years ago in London, Ontario, with this idea: Wouldn't it be neat to do rock music with orchestras?

"Since we've started, I never want to do anything with less than a 50-piece band," Brennan said.

The company has more than two dozen formats, including tributes to Elton John, The Beatles and the Beach Boys, and disco shows. "It's a moneymaker for orchestras," Brennan said.

"There is some amazing rock music that lends itself to being performed with an orchestra. And you draw a crowd that sometimes hasn't heard a live orchestra.

"When we've done The Beatles, we'll get 70-year-olds telling you wonderful stories of what it was like to be a parent watching Ed Sullivan [when the group made its U.S. debut]."

If longhair meets buzz cuts and punk, sometimes the orchestras loosen their all-black dress codes.

For the disco show, "we tell the orchestra 'disco attire,' " Brennan said. "It's incredible how many people have embarrassing clothes still in their closets."

Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com