Expanded music fest ready to rock

It was less a weekend than one giant building block, with beer.

Last September, the inaugural Neon Reverb music festival debuted in Las Vegas, and it was like a big boozy bear hug between the local music community and the downtown arts district.

With close to three dozen local and rising national acts spread out over four days at venues such as the Beauty Bar and the Brass Lounge, the event was well-curated and wide-ranging, coming across more as a labor of love than some business-first, pay-to-play industry schmooze-a-thon that so many music conventions have become.

"Things kicked off really well," says James Woodbridge, head of MetaMeta Productions, who co-founded the event along with partner Thirry Harlin. "People were coming up and thanking us for making it happen, and we're thanking them for showing up and bringing their friends. We're all like, 'Yeah, we're in this together.' "

From the onset, Neon Reverb was intended to be a twice-a-year event, with shows in the spring and then again in the late summer/early fall.

Shortly after the conclusion of the first installment, Woodbridge and Co. began preparing for the next Neon Reverb, which they recently announced will take place from March 12 through 15.

This time around, the lineup has doubled in size, with some bigger headliners such as the electro Yacht and freak folk favorites Akron/Family. It will all take place at more venues, six this time, expanding to places such as the Thunderbird Lounge at the Aruba and the Las Vegas Country Saloon.

Unlike Neon Reverb's first outing, where no two bands were scheduled to play at the same time, there will be multiple showcases going on at once this go-round, all of them broken down by genre, so there won't be the same styles of music going on simultaneously.

"I liked the idea of moving everything through downtown, but it's no longer feasible," Woodbridge explains. "With this many bands, there's going to be bands playing at the same time."

Woodbridge is still looking for a sponsor for the event, to help defray costs and to be able to afford even bigger acts. He's also hoping to get some support from the city, ideally for a free, all-ages show on the closing afternoon of the fest by a national headliner at the main stage of the Fremont Street Experience.

Neon Reverb may have started small, but already Woodbridge is thinking big.

"I really think it did, in certain ways, exceed expectations," Woodbridge says of the initial event. "We had some expectations about the whole community building aspect of it. And then the way the crowd really kind of got into it, they were just like, 'Yeah, this is a happening, we're here. We're all a part of this.' "

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.