Dub Colossus tonight presents a quandary. The twelve-piece collective, some hailing from Addis-Ababa and others from London, unleash energy in bounds. And this energy is infectious. And like all good dub, Dub Colossus lead with their bassist, circumventing each other element around its dominating hum.

Four horn players are present, but rarely powerful, and a piano player nips and curls in the background adding buoyancy, but little weight. The bass doesn’t just dominate; it pummels.

Trouble is, the rest of the band, two female singers and all, can’t keep up and in trying fruitlessly, turn a good portion of the set into a disorganized, muddy mess. Some tracks shine beautifully, like ‘Sima Edy’ and ‘Entoto’, but others infuriate, including an introduction to Azmari singing, complete with a messenqo solo (it’s a one-string Ethiopian fiddle) that drags on five minutes longer than necessary. Bandleading bassist Nick ‘Dubulah’ Page salvages what he can, but too often instruments are out of sync, poking holes in the canvas.

Still, while it may be all over the place, it’s raucous fun. Lead singer Mimi Zenebe interacts with largess, inviting punters on stage to shake their hips to Ethiopian melodies, while sax wizard Feleke Hailu crafts uproarious solos to deafening applause. And herein lie the power in Dub Colossus; the songs may be ordinary, but the atmosphere is far from it.

It is otherworldly, positively globalised and bursting with all the good embedded in both Ethiopian and British culture.

Shain Shapiro