Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs is one of the coldest shows the band performs all year. But Keith Roberts, frontman for the The Young Dubliners, offers a potential solution.

The band hopes to inspire one of its notorious "whirling jig pits" of dancers. "You can stand there and freeze, or dance and feel better," Roberts said.

The band's combination of Celtic-inspired rhythms and rock melodies make it a favorite of Colorado audiences --hom, Roberts has noticed, like to dance at the drop of a hat.

Saturday's Steamboat stop is the second show in the band's two-week tour, during which The Young Dubliners hope to spread St. Patrick's Day cheer throughout the West. Steamboat has become a staple stop for the band.

"Steamboat Springs is the first place we ever heard our own music on the radio," Roberts said. "We all sat there in silence for four minutes. Then we were hootin' and hollering and jumping up and down."

The band's popularity largely has stemmed from its live shows, and the band members are known to have one hell of a good time on stage. The band's designated "party animal" is a part that is shared among the members like a winter cold. Roberts said. "Certain nights, I'll be accused of that title," he said.

With "Real World" -- the band's most recent album (released in February 2005), The Young Dubliners finally feel as if they created the album they always wanted to make. The album, a perfect blend of Irish-flavored anthemic rock, has gotten more acclaim than the band's previous five albums combined.

The next album will be a building block on the last one, and Roberts imagines that to be the band's biggest challenge thus far. The Dubliners plan to hit the studio when they return to Los Angeles in March. Roberts wants people to say the band's "live show is amazing, but the record is brilliant, too. That is what most bands aim for."

The Young Dubliners will play at the base of Steamboat Ski Area, but don't expect to see any of its members on the slopes.

Roberts said he prefers that none of the band members or crew members go skiing or snowboarding for fear of injury. Besides, "I didn't see an Irish flag being carried through the parade at the Winter Olympics," Roberts said.