“In a way, this is a show that we can really dedicate to him,” said Young Dubs co-founder and frontman Keith Roberts. “It’s the only show we ever did with him, and he always looked forward to it. This will be the first one we’ve done without him.”
The annual gigs began through the wiles of Muldoon’s Special Events Director Richard Kaplan, Roberts said.
“Strange things happen out of the blue that become almost part of the whole memory of the band,” Roberts said. “During the time that we were steadfastly refusing to play in any pub anywhere, we were sort of tricked into this by Richard,” Roberts laughed.
He said the band was told they were to receive an award by Muldoon’s, so they decided to go and check it out. The non-playing engagement turned into an agreement to do a few songs, which turned into a full gig.
“It just went really well,” Roberts said. “We haven’t been so close to the fans in a long time. We call it our best-kept-secret situation.”
Since that first show, the band has played at Muldoon’s roughly once a year. Roberts, an Irish native, said he’s impressed that the pub, which the band charges a lower fee than its standard venues, doesn’t pass on the costs to its patrons. The show is kept free, and the patrons in turn benefit the pub by buying food and Guinness.
“Muldoon’s is a unique experience,” Roberts said. “We don’t do this anywhere else. A free concert is not very common for us. This is a great opportunity to give a little back, and it’s commendable that they do it. We’ve gotten a lot of e-mails from people who will be coming down through the Grapevine for the show. They see it as a gift.”
TICKET TO RIDE
Some of the band’s fans have been following them for a generation, since the band’s early days in the late 1980s.
