Review: Legendary Bay Area band returns to action with sold-out concert

Do you remember The Tubes?

The Bay Area band was an art/glam-rock sensation in the ’70s, initially building a fan base with its cheeky teen anthem “White Punks on Dope.” Then, in the ’80s, the band adopted a mainstream pop-rock sound and found success on MTV and the charts with “Talk to Ya Later” and “She’s a Beauty.”

Well, The Tubes are still around — some 40 years after their commercial heyday — and performed their first show of 2024 before a capacity crowd on Thursday (March 7) at the lovely Guild Theatre in Menlo Park.

The result was quite fun, despite being occasionally sloppy, and certainly well worth fans’ time, as the band rolled through nearly two dozen songs during a two-set show that stretched over two-plus hours.

The sloppiness in question came entirely from lead singer Fee Waybill, who fell to the floor while making his initial entrance to the stage.

“That was an entrance, wasn’t it?” Waybill remarked after being helped up off the floor. “I don’t think I will do that again.”

Whether rattled by the fall or not, the 73-year-old Nebraska native seemed off his game for most of the show — missing some vocal parts, fidgeting with his wardrobe, drawing out his occasional time offstage and deciding, probably with good reason, to not fully participate in what is usually the band’s big theatrical main-set closing segment.

The rest of the troupe was on point all night long, led by the outstanding work of founding members Roger Steen on guitar and Prairie Prince on drums. The quintet is solidly filled out by Atom Ellis on bass and Dave Medd on keyboards.

The first highlight of the night was “What Do You Want from Life?” — a standout track from The Tubes’ landmark eponymous 1975 debut and the inspiration for the title of the equally great concert outing, 1978’s “What Do You Want from Live.” Waybill stood amid a swirling gale of groovy hard rock created by the other four men onstage and uttered the quizzical, comical lines with a kind of perplexed deadpan delivery.

The wardrobe was a big part of the show, with Steen — who is a dead ringer for Bill Clinton — wearing a black tuxedo and Prince donning equally impressive formal wear. Ellis appeared in a friar robe and Medd looking the part of a circus ringmaster.

Of course, Waybill led the way on this, starting off with a magician’s top hat and cape and then moving through several different outfits as the night progressed. Notably, he’d return from an offstage break — while Prince pounded out a nice drum solo — wearing a straightjacket to sing “Mondo Bondage.” He’d wiggle himself free — Houdini style — by song’s end, standing shirtless before the crowd.

Steen was the absolute No. 1 reason for being in attendance on this night, as he delivered one phenomenal guitar solo after another. His offerings on “What Do You Want from Life” and a cover of the old Frank Sinatra classic ” were particularly powerful. And his guitar playing was certainly in the eye of the hurricane known as “Telecide,” a mammoth rocker from 1979’s “Remote Control” that didn’t really connect with the fans who may have turned out primarily for the MTV material.

“Maybe that was too ’70s for this crowd,” Steen remarked at the song’s conclusion.

So, he’d then give them what they wanted, delivering a sharp version of “Talk to Ya Later” before the band left the stage for an intermission.

Waybill’s energy level really seemed to drop in the second set, which, thankfully, was the shorter of the two. The band opened with one of its worst numbers — 1981’s “Sushi Girl” (which was the point where this old-school Tubes fan originally checked out as the band left the world of adventurous art-rock and seemed to care mostly about producing bland MTV-friendly material).

Things didn’t get much better as the band stuck around the ’80s and limped through “Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman” and “Tip of My Tongue,” but things would improve once Waybill left the stage again and Steen strummed and sang his solo cut “I Hope Someday.” He’d stick around the microphone for what appeared to a necessary filler tune — a great cover of the Velvet Underground’s “I’m Waiting for the Man” (which wasn’t originally listed on the setlist) — as he indeed waited for the man (aka, Waybill) to return to the stage.

Waybill eventually returned, but not in the way longtime fans would hope, as he decided to downsize his flamboyant rocker alter-ego “Quay Lewd” for the crowd favorite “White Punks on Dope.” Usually, he towers over the fans on comically huge platform boots and sings into a microphone stand that might be too tall even for Shaq. The microphone and boots were brought out onstage, yet Waybill decided against using them — which might have been a really smart idea given the way the night had been going for him.

The Tubes did manage to go out on a high note, closing the show with a fun encore that included the band’s biggest hit — “She’s a Beauty” — as well as the old-school “Tubes World Tour” and an appreciated reprise of “Talk to Ya Later.”

Tubes setlist

Set 1:
1. “Overture”
2. “Got Yourself a Deal”
3. “What Do You Want From Life”
4. “Smoke (La Vie en Fumer)”
5. “This Town”
6. “Crime Medley”
7. “Drums”
8. “Mondo Bondage”
9. “Trouble”
10. “It’s Too Late”
11. “Man of the World”
12. “Telecide”
13. “Talk to Ya Later”
Set 2:
14. “Sushi Girl”
15. “Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman”
16. “Tip of My Tongue”
17. “Love’s a Mystery (I Don’t Understand)”
18. “I Hope Someday”
19. “I’m Waiting for the Man”
20. “White Punks on Dope”
Encore:
21. “She’s a Beauty”
22. “Tubes World Tour”
23. “Talk to Ya Later” (reprise)