As UNLV tips off against BYU in the Mountain West Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinals Friday night at the Thomas & Mack, another band of Rebels springs into action just up the road. The Rebel Set, a spiffy surf/garage trio from the Phoenix area, help ring in Neon Reverb Night 2 at Yayo Taco, off Maryland Parkway near the UNLV campus.
The time conflict with the postseason basketball game might explain the sparse showing at the college-y hangout, but it hasn’t kept away one young fan—a 3-year-old boy who bounces endlessly to the Arizonans’ smartly updated takes on the sort of fun-yet-ominous music Duane Eddy and The Ventures played in the late ’50s and early ’60s. “He’s my favorite fan,” frontman Joe Zimmerman quips mid-set. “I’m glad we were able to win him over.”
The Rebel Set, which recently released second album Poison Arrow, has played the Double Down on several occasions, but had never ventured east of Paradise Road for a Vegas show before. Next time, the band might wanna keep an eye on those other Rebels’ schedule.
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