Friday, Dec. 10, 2010 | 4:50 p.m.
Ricky and the Redstreaks, an NFR institution.
Catching a Ricky and the Redstreaks show is to rejoice in the infectious antics of self-indulgent, costumed, full-throated exhibitionists.
And those are just the fans.
The National Finals Rodeo’s favorite party band is back, performing at Mandalay Bay’s Mizuya Lounge tonight and Saturday from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. The Redstreaks’ story is part of rodeo lore. The band that formed in 1968 in the great Northern California township of Placerville was discovered by cowboys at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo in Wyoming in the mid-1970s.
When the NFR moved to Las Vegas in 1985, the Redstreaks began a hugely popular run that included stints at the Frontier, Stardust and Golden Nugget.
Memorably, I caught the band in 1999 at the Stardust, where more than 5,000 fans filled the hotel’s 25,000-square-foot convention center ballroom as the band charged through a set that sampled Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and ZZ Top.
At the time, fans danced on the tables -- though there was ample room on the floor -- and men hoisted their dates on their shoulders so the women could expose their chests. The band members claim to frown upon such behavior, but it does reinforce the concept that not all the buckin’ at the NFR is confined to the Thomas & Mack Center.
We can’t wait to catch the band again and, barring an arrest or any other sort of detainment, tonight is the night.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.
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