Tubes
What Do You Want From Live

THE REVIEW

The Tubes' concert was among the best rock shows of all time. Naturally, this live album that celebrates them back in 1978 is among the best live albums ever made, certainly ranking in the top ten of all time. Equally obvious is the statement that listening to this music, as thrilling and invigorating as it is (even the sound capture is excellent, extremely vivid and analytical), only offers a small fraction of the supreme enjoyment provided by physically attending a concert of this exceptional group from Arizona. You can't fully appreciate the powerful theatrical, sarcastic, satirical, and even pornographic components of the show that the seven musicians in the band were able to put together, aided by lavish choreography and dancers and actors sharing the stage with them.

Deus ex machina of the colorful, virulent, and captivating representation of the Tubes were guitarist Bill Spooner concerning the music and drummer Praire Prince for the choreography. The former was a brilliant composer, the latter a creative graphic artist as well as a magnificent percussionist. Another highlight was the singer Fee Waybill, a sort of more athletic and extroverted Roger Daltrey who could perform with makeup, costumes, and poses between glam and Adamic throughout the show, wonderfully maintaining his breath and not missing a beat despite the countless "numbers" on stage with the dancers and partner Re Styles, a beautiful girl engaged in being his singing alter ego in the frequent sketches crafted together on stage.

There really is no better advice regarding this production than to enjoy it whole, drinking in one greedy gulp the succession of the seventeen songs tied together in a single, compact sequence of over seventy minutes filled with verve, creativity, and clarity. The best of the first three studio albums (released between '75 and '77, each better than the last) is rolled out and poured onto the live audience and immortalized for the ears of all future connoisseurs, along with excerpts of famous soundtracks, a Beatles cover ("I Saw Her Standing There"), a torrent of a drum solo, jokes and jests, and interludes that unfortunately can only be visualized, possibly aided by the fortunate experience of having attended any other of their concerts.

Fortunately, I have this privilege: Palasport of Bologna June 2, 1981... a blast, an epiphany, total fun, a beautiful memory.