Beach Slang or Melvins? Chuck Ragan or El Ten Eleven? Neon Indian or Bleached … or Sage Francis?

If tough conflicts are the mark of a deep festival lineup, Neon Reverb has taken a big step forward in its return to Downtown. Next weekend’s fest—scheduled to run Thursday, March 10 through Sunday, March 13 at venues along East Fremont Street—will offer up so many quality showcases, serious music fans will need to stay in motion to keep up with the action.

As you put together your personal Reverb plan, it might also be helpful to stop by this year’s Neon Reverb Listening Party, tomorrow night (Saturday, March 5) from 8-11 p.m. at Oddfellows Downtown. DJ Harvey Graham will be spinning tunes from the participating acts, which might save you the trouble of—and surely, be a lot more fun than—sifting through Spotify and YouTube at home on your own.

A few of next weekend’s most promising gigs, as we begin digging into the schedule:

• Thursday night’s opening Bunkhouse party, featuring female-fronted SoCal indie-rock outfits La Sera, Babes and The Aquadolls, along with locals Rusty Maples, Moonboots and Jackson Wilcox. Professor Rex Dart kicks it off on the decks at 7 p.m.

• Friday’s Bunkhouse parade of veteran Vegas acts—Hungry Cloud, The Big Friendly Corporation, Black Camaro, The Dirty Hooks and The Mapes—sprinkled with fuzzy LA flavor from Bleached and Colleen Green.

• Friday’s Neon Indian-headlined 18-and-over show at Fremont Country Club, which will also bring touring acts Gems and Chaos Chaos, Vegas’ visual wizard Kitze + The CPUs and the DJs of Totescity to the stage. Wear your dancing shoes.

• Also on Friday, a hip-hop-focused bill topped by the consistently interesting Sage Francis, with support from Vegas scene anchors Phil A & Hassan, Ekoh and Late for Dinner, among others.

• Las Vegas Weekly’s Saturday night Bunkhouse showcase, headlined by punky Philly foursome Beach Slang. Leading up to that finale: Vegas punks Good Grief, The Pluralses, Fredward and Mercy Music, plus Reverb alum Leopold and His Fiction. Beach Slang might be the hottest name on this year’s poster, so consider snatching up tickets soon for this one.

• A night of heavy rock at Fremont Country Club: touring behemoth’s Melvins and Big Business, plus local mayhem from Illicitor, God’s America, China and Narrowed. Earplugs are recommended. Oh, and this one’s 18-and-over, too.

• The Bunkhouse’s Sunday-night blowout bash, headlined by Ty Segall & The Muggers, touring behind January’s excellent Segall LP Emotional Mugger. Vegas bands The American Weather, Special K, Headwinds, Dark Black and Same Sex Mary will build the mood for the finale, in what looks like a perfectly planned progression.

For a complete schedule of festival shows and times, visit neonreverb.com, click on “lineup/schedule” and scroll below the big stack of band names.

Tickets are on sale now—$15 apiece for individual shows, or $50 for the entire, four-day lineup—at ticketfly.com.

Note: Las Vegas Weekly is Neon Reverb’s exclusive media sponsor.