ACCORDING to Jah Wobble, you can’t beat a good cup of tea.

He doesn’t tell the audience whether he’s referring to a traditional Rosy Lee or something from further east, like Japanese Sencha.

It’s more than likely that the porkpie-toting former Public Image Ltd bassmeister has the latter in mind, given that he’s now performing with the Nippon Dub Ensemble.

Incense wafts across the room rather incongruously as Jah Wobble plucks away at his bass rig amid exuberant yelps from hyperactive taiko drummer Joji Hirota.

A few metres away, Takashi Sawano arranges gladioli and orchids with a suitably serene (should that be inscrutable?) expression.

The small but intense-looking audience – a mixed age bunch - don’t seem fazed by all this.

In fact, during the first few numbers, they appear somewhat glazed and passive, in typical Oxford gig fashion.

But Jah Wobble, or John Wardle as he used to be known, remains upbeat, grinning at the band and the 02 crowd alike.

Later, when the kaito drums, hichiriki flute and koto strings give way to overtly Caribbean influences with reworkings of Dawn Penn's No, No, No and Alton Ellis's I'm Still In Love With You, the audience begins – slowly but surely – to get into the groove, eventually managing a sedate but enthusiastic bopping motion in front of the stage.

As bubbles float across the venue, it’s difficult to see why some folk expected self-styled geezer Wobble, who is here to promote his album Japanese Dub, to have paired up with his erstwhile bandmate, John ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ Lydon, who has also hit the reunion circuit again with Public Image Ltd.

Wobble not only comes across as a mellow figure; he’s dabbled with world music styles – as well as jazz rock and folk – for more than 20 years, bridging the divide between Chinese-Japanese modes and instrumentation with the deep grooves of dub and reggae. By contrast, Lydon is content to stick with post-punk.

A wobbly performance then? Yes, and a thoroughly enjoyable one too.