YOUNG DUBLINERS, Harry O's in Park City, Aug. 23, one performance.
PARK CITY — Bagpipes. Kilts. Fiddles emitting Irish-tinged notes.
The small but loyal crowd that slowly filed into Harry O's in Park City Friday night for the Young Dubliners must have thought Ireland had invaded the United States, if only for four hours.
Low ticket sales moved the Dubs' Uprooted tour stop from Deer Valley to the downtown digs.
The few, the lucky were treated to an energetic show that featured new Dubs music from their "Absolutely" CD, laced with Celtic rhythms and the Irish accent of lead singer Keith Roberts.
Maybe it was the nearly six months of touring since their downtown Salt Lake City performance during the Olympics, or maybe it was the altitude of Park City, but this go-around left an indelible impression.
This is a band that needs to be heard live, like Midnight Oil, a band that has gained popularity through ripping stage performances that bring to life songs with powerful licks and potent lyrics.
An animated Roberts, punctuated by hyperactive fiddle player Chas Waltz, tore through 12 songs, mostly from "Absolutely." "Salvation," "Come On," "Low" and "Brown Dog" had fans trying hopelessly to jig to rock 'n' roll, while "Scream" and "These Days" slowed the crowd to an introspective pace.
Two female stagehounds, who insisted on pulling each other's hair and were quickly escorted to the sidewalk, missed more than an hour of the blond, as goateed Roberts, dressed in black leather pants and a black T-shirt, mugged, joked and sang as if his life depended on it.
Looking a bit like a lamppost, guitarist Bob Boulding channeled all his energy into his picking hand for a demanding set that often infused the quirky stylings of an Irish-folk sound, plugged-in and well-amplified, of course.
In the end, it was raw energy that pulled the Dubs into its three-men-to-a-mike midnight-hour encore/lovefest, along with openers Great Big Sea and Seven Nations, each band giving fans a taste of their own Irish flavors.
The intelligent, immensely talented Alan Doyle led Great Big Sea's superb four-part harmony with his own distinctive voice, sounding a bit like Hootie and the Blowfish lead singer Darius Rucker. Worth the price of admission alone. More! More!
Returning to Salt Lake City after its own Olympic performance, a drum-heavy Seven Nations offered concertgoers a handsome tap-dancing fiddle-player and a punkish-looking bagpiper. Their performance suffered from a lack of exposure to lead singer Kirk McLeod's able falsetto.
E-MAIL: sspeckman@desnews.com