Before the curtains parted to a wall of darkness and fog, the crowd had reached that decibel often associated with Beatlemania and Bieber concerts. This audience spanned a wide range of ages, genders and time spent in the performer’s fan club, but everyone — boy, girl, young, old and at least one octogenarian — was ready for the man in the silk robe to take the stage. When the curtains opened and the robe-clad Marc Rebillet emerged from the fog, the noise reached an unbearable zenith, one which the performer relished.
Up until a year and a half ago or so, one could catch Dallas native Rebillet at his Twilite residency, for free. In a short span, he's become an international YouTube star and has been known to marinate in situations that are at best uncomfortable and at worst unbearable. So it was no surprise that he took his time basking in the glow of his fans’ cacophony of deafening cheers, soaking up every clap, holler and “I love you!” with a sliver of a smile stretching across his face. Who could blame him? Five months after the rain ruined Rebillet’s planned Homegrown Fest show, his tour stopped in Dallas for one night of loop mania. And the man known as “Loop Daddy” delivered.
In the past, Rebillet has tackled topics like rape, asses, sharks biting asses and animal murder, but may be best known for YouTube videos like this summer’s viral hit “HOW TO SHAKE AN ASS IN UNDER 2 MINUTES” (his video titles typically arrive in all caps, because that is how Rebillet lives his life). His shows are like longer versions of the live streams he does on a weekly basis, which in turn resemble Reddit AMAs complemented by a loop machine. Rebillet takes questions and suggestions from the crowd, and builds entire songs from them. But while these live streams are entertaining, few performers can match the zealous intensity Rebillet reaches when he performs live.
Before that dramatic, thunderous entrance, Rebillet was welcomed back to Dallas by the city’s own Remy Reilly. With X’s marking her wrists, the teenage pop singer was not an obvious choice to open for the profane provocateur Rebillet, but like the premier act, Reilly gave the audience a performance that mixed some of her classics with new tunes.
Buttressed by reliable favorites from his YouTube channel and impromptu conversations with the crowd, Rebillet delivered a predictably passionate performance that mixed on-the-spot creations with YouTube staples. As is the case with any Rebillet show, the unpredictability is worth the price of admission, and you never know who he might invite onstage. While typically that honor is reserved for anyone willing to dance shirtless as Rebillet concocts a crazy, rapid-fire piano solo, one of his special onstage guests in Dallas had a much more wholesome reason for rising to the stage.
Halfway between an impressive vocal crescendo (another Rebillet trademark), the artist noticed a fan in the crowd with whom he shared a cigarette at his last show in Dallas in 2018. Rebillet invited the shaggy-haired fan onstage for a bear hug and an impromptu interview, much to the enjoyment of an audience accustomed to these sorts of random shenanigans from their favorite YouTube star.
“Those moments are the ones that stand out to me, and the ones I get the most enjoyment out of,” Rebillet said in an interview after the show. According to him, those moments, while organic, are the byproduct of nearly a year of large shows like his concert at Trees.“At the end of the day, it’s about them, not me.” — Marc Rebillet, of his fans
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“They happen more often because I feel more in control on the stage, and I can create things more quickly, and that means more of those special moments.”
But even though he loved seeing an old friend, Rebillet’s favorite part of the Dallas show was the “Tom Cruise moment.” Judging by their shared glee, it was a favorite for the audience, too.
Before the show, Rebillet had jotted a simple note: “Tom Cruise is probably a dick.” As he so often does, Rebillet riffed on this random note for minutes on end, addressing Cruise’s small stature, his predilection for odd behavior, and, of course, his belief in Scientology. The moment reached a crescendo with an audience-wide chant of “What the fuck, Tom Cruise?” By this point, Rebillet had nearly stripped off his fancy, fashionable robe, as is his custom.
Rarely does a Rebillet show end with him fully clothed, and he is often joined by fans eager to share his love for a lack of clothing. Yet while this show did not contain the volume of sensuous dancing he aspires to inspire (“I’m really trying to make you shake your ass,” he added in the aforementioned interview), Rebillet is hopeful the audience enjoyed the show.
“At the end of the day, it’s about them, not me,” he said. For him, the trip to Dallas was always going to be a hit. After the festivities ended, he did the one thing he does without fail every time he is back in his hometown: He hung out with his mom.
