Techno in the ’burbs? Dance hard at this high-end Summerlin nightspot

DJ Lema is seeing red on a Friday night.

We all are — the glass, palm-frond-shaped lights above us shrouding everything in a scarlet glow, as if our eyeballs have been kissed by crimson lips.

The dance floor is packed tight as a clenched fist here in the Rouge Room.

Lema is a bouncing, bobbing blur as he kicks out four-on-the-floor techno, which kicks right back.

He places a thumb and forefinger in his mouth and whistles at the crowd, earning a chorus of “Ooohh! Ooohh!”s in return, steadily working his way to a massive bass drop, whaaaabooom!, which hits like a bowling ball tossed into a bathtub, ripples of sound splashing out from the DJ booth.

Now, a packed, pumped-up club greeting the weekend with a whole lot of arms in the air has become as much of a Vegas staple as yard-long cocktails and all the questionable decision-making that follows.

But a high-end nightspot soundtracked by national touring DJs that comes nestled in a Summerlin casino rather than the Strip?

Not so much. Like, ever.

As Vegas has ascended into a nightlife destination market, locals can understandably feel kept at arm’s length from the city’s megawatt club scene, having to brave the tourist corridor to get in on the action, for the most part.

There’s a vibrant indie dance community at downtown spots like Substance, Discopussy, We All Scream and more, but out in the suburbs, there’s never been anything quite like what the Rouge Room has become.

As Friday night turns into Saturday morning during a recent “Rouge Noir” house and techno session, it feels like we’re at a Boiler Room gig, the intimacy here evocative of that sweaty, in-your-face underground dance music series that helped popularize the 360-degree stage, which crumbles the boundary between artist and audience, often rendering the DJ indivisible from the crowd.

Rising Israeli-Japanese DJ Yamagucci is tonight’s headliner, but Lema — a regular at Marquee, Tao Beach and Omnia — is getting the place all lathered up beforehand, the audience engulfing him on all sides.

Country singer Tyler Hubbard played a pool concert at Red Rock earlier in the evening, and there are plenty of cowboys and cowgirls in the house, denim dresses passing through velvet ropes, scene newcomers mingling with dance music diehards.

Speaking of the former, there are plenty of curious onlookers here on this night, hanging out among the palm trees that line the outer rim of the room or feeling the rhythms of the music from a distance on the patio.

We join them outdoors around midnight.

Time for a quick breather, to cool off a bit, as this melting pot gets brought to a boil.

Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @jasonbracelin76 on Instagram.