The Tubes
Live at Shepherds Bush Empire, London
July 1999

Written by Mike Freeman, never published anywhere!

The Tubes early successes in London are well documented, so their return after an absence of 18 years was something of a surprise, and a great relief to a loyal fan based who had all but given up hope of ever seeing the band on this side of the pond ever again.

Talk amongst the crowd waiting to get in was all about "we're they up to it?", which was answered unequivocally later on, and about the lack of promotion of the gig. When the band turned up they were hardly overrun with eager hacks waiting to get the inside story on why it had taken so long for the Tubes to return. This being the case it was hardly surprising that Fee Waybill expressed his disappointment in no uncertain terms at the lack of publicity and lack of reporters, given that he had made it known to they were happy to do radio interviews etc.

Back in the queue, the fans were showing signs of ageing from the last time the Tubes had played London: grey thinning hair, beer guts, twenty year old tee shirts and indoctrinated children coming to see the band Dad had been going on about for years. When Fee and the rest of the group came on stage it was quite apparent that they had survived much better than some of the crowd!

Once inside the theatre, cold beer, a complete anathema the majority of the audience who are more used to drinking warm "real ale" was served up in plastic mugs. Hardly an auspicious start for what would turn out to be a evening of frenetic costume changes in between classic tunes played with such energy and musicianship that would put a lot of younger, so called "trendy" bands to shame.

The set started with What Do You Want for Life. For a few moments, Fee actually looked nervous, his alter ego looking like an modern day East End Spiv surveying the audience trying to see what sort of reaction the band was getting after such a long wait. He needn't have worried; the crowd went ape with zimmer frames and wheel chairs being tossed aside as the band transported the crowd back to 1981 and beyond.

The music continued and included material from The Completion Backward Principle, Remote Control, and for the first time in London Love Bomb and Outside Inside. The Tubes never achieved great commercial success in the UK after CBP, which could go some way to explain why its taken so long for them to revisit these shores, but for those that bought the later albums, She's A Beauty and Monkey Time came across as great crowd pleasers with the audience singing along with the choruses.

Highlight of the evening for most, was the triumphant return of Quay Lewd to his home country. Staggering around the stage in a chemically induced frenzy showed that although the years may have advanced since he was last seen, he can still produce a performance worthy of his exalted status in music history.

The evening ended with Talk to Ya Later that saw Fee, clearly enjoying himself, smiling from ear to ear to seemingly singing for fun, giving those at the front "low fives" and after the music had stopped promising to come back in the fall.

Although the radio scene in the UK is geared up to the record companies teen market, the live scene traverse's all age groups. There will always be a place for classic bands like The Tubes as Lynyrd Skynyrd and Springsteen have proven in the last couple of years - lets hope Fee can keep his promise, and this time get a promoter who is worthy of handling The Tubes and can get them some media exposure. After all if Andy Williams can do it, why not The Tubes!

Thanks Mike!! It is fans like you that make this webpage great. - J.D.