Fabio & Grooverider and the Outlook Orchestra. Photo: Arnaud Mbaki

Fabio, one half of the most influential duo in the world of drum’n’bass, strolled to the front of the stage at the Royal Festival Hall, took in the sea of bobbing grey heads in the front rows and said: “It’s great not to be the oldest people here.” My son, who was standing next to me (nobody sat during this two-hour rhythmic onslaught), pointed a finger at his father and shouted: “No. He is.”

There’s gratitude for you. I bring him along to Fabio & Grooverider’s history of jungle and drum’n’bass – music he loves – and I get this skewered version of “I am Spartacus.”

To be fair, I was nudging the upper age limit in the hall, although my son, in his twenties, was towards the lower end (Fabio is in his mid-fifties). Most of the crowd were people who got into this music 20, 25 years ago in clubs and at raves. Now, easing into middle age, they are happy to come along to the Southbank and enjoy the dance rhythms of their youth in comfortable surroundings. Strange to think that jungle/drum’n’bass once relished its outsider status. Now, Fabio & Grooverider with the Outlook Orchestra, can sell out two nights at the Royal Festival Hall.

What was I doing there? I was not one of those early adopters of the genre. Well, that’s not quite true. For some reason long forgotten I bought every release by the Omni Trio (actually one guy called Rob Haigh) in 1993-94 and I can’t deny it was a joy to hear the impossibly fast percussive explosive of Renegade Snares played live (the Outlook Orchestra’s drummers work very, very hard to duplicate what is basically machine music, which they did with remarkable accuracy).

Fabio & Grooverider and the Outlook Orchestra Festival Hall concert. Photo Arnaud Mbaki

Another reason for my attendance was that I cover jazz for this newspaper and increasingly club culture is infusing traditional structures of that music. Artists like Moses Boyd, Ezra Collective and Emma-Jean Thackray draw on dub, grime, hip-hop and, yes, drum’n’bass to create a very homegrown version of jazz.

It was notable that singer Cleveland Watkiss, who has been a key figure in the jazz scene since he co-founded Tomorrow’s Warriors in the late 80s, appeared here to add vocals, as he did at Goldie’s residency at Ronnie Scott’s last year. (Goldie also appeared at the RFH, to offer a pre-recorded encomium to kick things off.) The lines separating jazz from other music are definitely blurring.

And what did this particular old man make of the concert? It did exactly what was promised, presenting highlights of three decades of blistering rhythms and deep, dirty bass. Did it need an orchestra? Well, visually, yes, a stage full of musicians is always a welcome sight, as opposed to DJs on a podium. There were times near the beginning when I thought the strings were mere adornment, but it became apparent (as on LTJ Bukem’s Horizons) they were lending a fresh richness to old tunes.

There were no complex horn arrangements on offer but the brass stabs and riffs that came from that section were dramatic and driving and helped give the music another layer of texture. Thumbs up for the orchestra.

I left exhilarated, determined to dig out those old Omni Trio albums. With perhaps a side order of Horlicks.

• Incidentally, if orchestral dance music sounds like your thing, DJ Spoony is presenting “Garage Classical” at the Royal Festival Hall on Friday February 24 (two shows – tickets https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk).