Many Whitehorse residents went to bed Saturday night with their ears ringing after the late-night rock show that brought Juno-award winning talent to the stage.

The Sam Roberts Band headlined the musical evening, put on by the 10th annual Bringing Youth Towards Equality (BYTE) conference.

The evening also saw local talent Nicole Edwards, who was credited as the founder of BYTE, and battle of the band winners Blai hit the stage.

'It strikes me that I'm playing at a youth conference and half my songs are about getting old,' Roberts told the near-capacity crowd.

The quintet from Montreal was invited to play the show by BYTE members, who said they wanted to have a 'big time' band play their 10th anniversary concert. The band agreed on a whim, after BYTE staff coaxed them not with money, but with the chance to experience a Yukon adventure.

Adam Pope, BYTE's conference co-ordinator, told the Star they planned to take the band on a helicopter tour on Sunday, and a trip to Lake Laberge to dog sled and play hockey.

'We jumped at the opportunity to come up,' Roberts said in an interview.

He said while he walked around Whitehorse on Saturday afternoon, people thanked him for coming up to play a show.

'I'm surprised at how many people are thanking us, when it's our treat to come up,' he said.

The show was nearly sold out, said BYTE staffers, who had only a handful of the total 800 tickets left as Roberts took to the stage.

Eager audience members blew up balloons and floated them around the crowd that gathered in front of the stage as they waited for Roberts to walk out onto the Yukon Convention Centre stage at around 10:15 p.m.

There were continuous cheers, hands raised clapping in the air, faces mouthing the words to such popular songs as Brother Down, Where have all the good people gone? and Hard Road.

Roberts said after the show that playing for an audience comprised largely of youth conference participants between 13 and 18 years of age was a bit intimidating.

'For some of these kids, it's their first concert ... that's a big thing, for me. There's lots of responsibility that comes with that,' he laughed.

It's been a while since the band last played a live show, as they've been busy recording their fourth album, which is slated to be released in the spring.

'We just had an itch to get back on the stage,' he said.

The performance was about two hours long, including a five-song encore.

The crowd included a smorgasbord of Yukoners, from babies a couple of months old, slung across their mothers' shoulders, to first nation elders, who were seen smiling and keeping time with the popular Canadian tunes.

In fact, one first nation elder Roberts had met earlier in the day joined him backstage to talk about their families and life in the Yukon. As he signed the backs of photographs of the woman's grandchildren, he asked, 'How do you spell masi cho?'

Roberts told the Star he was thoroughly enjoying meeting Yukoners, and was looking forward to the next day's activities.

He said it was sure to be a busy day, 'but a fun busy day,' he made sure to specify.

Roberts said he did not like to make a habit of comparing shows in different cities 'since each city gets their own show,' but that he would remember the night as having 'a level of enthusiasm that really gets you going.'