Roni Size put simple is a British music legend, not dance music, but British music full stop. So the promise of him trawling through hip-hop to drum n bass was enough to secure the soup’s attendance for this Chibuku. A decent backing cast of Krafty Kuts and the usual plethora of multi genre djs guarantee an even more palatable proposition for us. Which makes it all the more surprising that when the Soup cavorts into Chibuku tonight, there’s a slightly anti-climatic feeling permeating, probably due to the slight quietness edging around the venue.

The three-roomed madness of Chibuku has always been a brilliant attraction, genre bending tomfoolery promised and a venue cavernous enough to make every new room seem more like an adventure than merely moving from place to place. Unfortunately tonight it’s this pivotal charm that’s lacking in their repertoire, the main room and loft eventually swell to be busy enough to ensure that the atmosphere in each represents the firing music being delivered, but the bar fails to ignite. This is despite the sterling efforts of the Sweeney DJ pairing, whose grooving nu-soul and deep house is a much warmer attraction than the lack of numbers suggest. Unfortunately despite the wicked music the Soup end’s up finding solace in the old adage of safety in numbers, and careers between the two busier rooms.

Krafty Kuts is the form guy; putting on a shuffling set of funky good time breaks that touches on all genres of dance music, swathes of electro and hip-hop punctuating his usual trademarks. Whilst the more intense pairing of Size and Dynamite has the ravers glued and equally emphatic downstairs, tonight we’re more entranced by the slower forms of breakbeat, particularly in the absence of the hip-hop that had pricked the ears initially. This isn’t to say Size is bad, not by any stretch; he tears through drum n bass rollers from the past, present and future, ably assisted by the Hip-Hop sensibility of Dynamite. It’s just the Soup isn’t quite able to match the pace, and eventually scurries back upstairs. Its there we find the Beat Monkeys ending the night off, in their own indomitable way of booty shaking breaks and every other shade of music that feels good, colouring the dance floor as they go. Spontaneous pogoing, as ever, remains the action of most on the floor, and we’re not excluded.

As ever the music remains enigmatic, but there’s not quite the same swagger and bolshy good time fun that normally resonates so firmly. The allure of Derrick May and Theo Parrish promises to restore this; It'll certainly be welcomed back warmly.