I am moving through the city towards the Metro Theatre tonight at the same time as the ruck of people leaving Oxford Street after the Mardi Gras parade. The hairs on the back of my neck are up because this ruck smells the same that it always smells: of aggression and broken glass. This is OK though, because I’ve got audio adventures on my mind and the scent of sweet dub music in my nostrils. The Dust Tones crew promise to “induce audio adventures monthly”, and they’ve got UK dub legend Mad Professor and local superheros The Bird to help with tonight’s induction.

I make it into the Metro to find the Versionaries starting to assemble to stake out some territory in the reggae/soul space. The Versionaries assemble like this. First, Christian Burns does the record playing. Then Morganics MCs, beatboxes and do a little break dancing (I have to say, it was a very pleasant surprise to see Morganics on stage again tonight: he was right on-point at the Dust Tones gig at the Festival Bar and he was very good again tonight.) Then they’ve got a female vocalist in the shape of Vena who sure can sing, and a chap called Ben laying down some guitar over the whole thing. The interaction between Vena and Morganics is top notch and they do a great job at warming up a still fairly empty Metro.

People are still flowing in though, just as the basslines start flowing in when the Basslines crew take over. The Basslines crew is a family affair – it starts with DJ brother Bassline, joined then on stage by vocalist sister Bassline and Janny from Rastawookie, and then father Bassline joins in on that most reggae of all musical instruments, the harmonica (it’s come to my attention that the Bassline crew’s birth certificates might actually give their surnames as ‘Mitchell’ rather than ‘Bassline’. We’ve despatched someone to check that out.) We are moving through reggae and dancehall territory here and again, the quality of the vocals really gives the music altitude and warmth.

Ali Omar keeps the vibe going with the sort of enthusiasm one would expect from a man who is prepared to wear an upturned flowerpot on his head in public, and then it’s time for the Bird. What more can you write about the Bird? Well, I’m going to have to write more than “Holy. F—-ing. Crap!” which was all I could vocalise just after their set finished. So here goes.

They started in drum n’ bass and it was fast and incredibly energetic. I immediately made the rookie error of forgetting to dance to only every second beat, but after dislocating both knees I learnt the error of my ways. Then just as I was thinking, Christopher Walken-stylee, that the Bird really needed more cowbell, from the back of the stage appeared MC Ras Roni of the Resurrectors – WITH A COWBELL! And incidentally, dressed like the sole survivor of a horrific paint factory explosion. Does it get any better?

It sure does. Ras Roni’s toasting and MCing skills, rather than his cowbell skills, probably got him the gig tonight though, and he proceeded to display those skills in a way that makes one hope that he works with The Bird on a more regular basis. The Bird look assured in their four-piece configuration, and a highlight as always was Bobby Singh’s tabla playing and tabla singing. And Ben Walsh just is a living national treasure, and I’ll fight anyone who disagrees with me on that. The Bird’s musical range covered drum n’ bass to dub and a few things not actually in between. Last time I reviewed a show by The Bird I tried to coin the genre ‘dub n’ bass’ to describe the sound, but it didn’t take off so I won’t mention it again.

As The Bird finished, a tremendous pile of electronic kit was moved centre stage and Mad Professor stepped up behind it. No turntables for this lesson; instead it appeared as though half of a studio’s worth of gear had been detached and rolled on stage. And Mad Professor knows what to do with this stuff, as he showed over the next two hours. With the aid of an MC, Mad Professor delivered a set of dub like liquid: it bubbled, boiled, seethed, ebbed and flowed (and also included some trivia questions which could be answered to win free CDs. Dub trivia? Brilliant!). And the music encouraged a woman in a blue top, who may not remember much of the evening (nor even that she was wearing a blue top) to dance on stage, and to decide that the stage was probably the safest place to smoke, err, a cigarette.

Mad Professor was to finish at 2 but it was 2.30 before time was called, and the reaction of the crowd bore witness to what a wonderful performance this was. I slide down to the front to get my CD autographed and then, on the way out, grab a ‘Bag of Dubs’ CD from the Bird as well, subtly packaged in a large plastic zip-lock bag.

As I walk out into George Street, the city still smells of aggression and broken glass but, using my CDs in much the same way that posies of flowers were used during the time of the Black Death, I make it home from my audio adventures unscathed. Dust Tones once again show how much talent there is in this city and how much adventure you can have if you are willing to look for it.