Kevin Bronson on December 12th, 2014

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Dance-punk revivalists De Lux were the headliners, but the star of the show Thursday night was Club Bahia, the venerable Echo Park hub for Latin music.

• ||| Photos by Michelle Shiers

The show was the maiden voyage of Bahia Live, the name under which entertainment giant Live Nation plans to book weeknight pop and rock artists in the 400-capacity room. So what kind of impression did the room make?

Generally favorable. In between the occasional wisecrack (“How ya doin’? you ask a friend. “Just gentrifyin’,” he replies.), conversations centered around how similar Club Bahia is in feel to other indie-rock clubs: divey but welcoming. The carpeting is worn and slightly sticky; the decor is more than a little bit gaudy (the neon green “Club Bahia” sign above the bar bathes patrons in a weird light); the food is good and the drinks overpriced (El Rey/Fonda prices for well cocktails). But, as talent buyer Brandon Lavoie reminded, Bahia Live is a work in progress.

Overall, the space doesn’t feel unlike other nightclubs that have past (or other) lives serving the longtime residents of the neighborhood.

The room is large and rectangular, with the generous, well-lit stage and the bar on opposite sides of the longer walls. A tile dance floor is flanked on each side by rows of tables four or five deep; with the modest crowd Thursday, there were plenty of attendees having sit-downs, some taking advantage of the open kitchen. The sound, except for an occasional hiccup, was good.

And Bahia Live could hardly have asked for a more appropriate opener than De Lux, who are from the neighborhood and whose frontman, Sean Guerin, was running sound in the cozy room at Lot 1 Café only a couple of years ago.

“Thanks for coming to this new venue that was already here,” he told the crowd wryly.

Two songs into De Lux’s set, Guerin asked that the bright stage lights be killed, and the quintet pounded through the rest of their rock-solid set in semi-darkness.

Thankfully, the lights were on for Gavin Turek’s support set – all the better for the fans who were trying to match her every shake and shimmer. Turek’s vintage disco-pop invites plenty of both, and she delivered it with electric charisma.

L.A. trio Lavashark kicked off the night with a set of funk-tinged electro-rock, capped by a cover of “Susie Q.”

Currently the only future act booked by Live Nation at Club Bahia is French underground hip-hop collective IAM on April 15. The venue continues to offer its regular fare on weekend.