When the Battlefield Band takes to the stage at the Sunrise Theater on Thursday, March 15, at 8 p.m., the audience will be treated to music by, as one critic put it, "nothing less than the greatest Celtic band of all time."

The Washington Post says of the Battlefield Band: "It was a wondrous, perfectly paced display by musicians firmly in command of their art The band mates' chemistry at this point is uncanny."

And when they received the "Scots Trad Music Award" at Queen's Hall in Edinburgh in 2003, the Battlefield Band was honored by the people who know Celtic music best -- the Scots.

More importantly, thousands of enthusiastic audiences agree the Battlefield Band's love of Celtic music and their extensive experience -- more than three decades of touring -- place them in a unique position to interpret Scotland's musical roots.

Inspired by their rich heritage of Celtic music and fired by the strength and vibrancy of today's Scottish cultural scene, which indeed they have done much to create and fuel, the Battle Field Band has led, and been at the forefront, of a great revival in Scottish music.

Refusing to be limited musically by suffocating antiquarianism, or the music business' fashions, they have mixed the old songs and music with a new self-penned repertoire, all played on a fusion of ancient and modern instruments -- bagpipes, fiddle, synthesizer, guitar, flutes, bodhran and accordion.

Named after the Glasgow suburb of Battlefield, where the group was formed by four student friends, Battlefield Band has been on the world's roads for 30 years now, distilling their own unique form of the Scottish spirit and bottling it in concert and onto disc -- Germany, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Syria, Jordan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, U.S.A., Canada, Uzbekistan and the U.K.

They have broken down barriers and pioneered many new directions that others have followed.

Angry, joyful, raucous, contemplative, their music is, most importantly, accessible to all.

The Battlefield Band is made up of Alan Reid (keyboards/ guitar/vocals) from Glasgow, one of the founding members of the band and an invaluable factor in their success and longevity. Reid does much of the band's singing and songwriting, particularly on contemporary Scottish themes.

Mike Katz (Highland pipes/small pipes/various whistles/bass guitar), the unmistakable piper who joined the lineup in late 1997, has contributed massively to the music and accessibility of the band.

Sean O'Donnell (vocals/ guitar), an accomplished guitar player and singer from Derry, Northern Ireland, has been playing music since the age of 16, and also plays bass, bouzouki and cittern.

He moved to Scotland in 1996, quickly becoming actively involved in the live music scene, having played with the award-winning Scots-Irish band Bionic, as part of the Emily Smith Band as well as the Michael McGoldrick Band, Deaf Shepherd, and Daimh.

Alasdair White (fiddle/ whistle/banjo/bazouki/ Highland and small pipes/ bodhran/ and probably anything else he can lay his hands on!). Already a superb fiddle player and multi-instrumentalist, Alasdair hails from the island of Lewis, one of the Gaelic-speaking Outer Hebrides.

The Battlefield Band's new album, "The Road of Tears," will be available at the concert.

Tickets are $25 general admission, and $35 reserved seating. They are available at the Wine Cellar, Nature's Own, Given Memorial Library, The Country Bookshop and the Sunrise Theater.

For information, call 692-3611.