Review: The Tubes, Fleece

The Tubes opened their UK tour at the Fleece, playing to a sold out crowd and celebrating 40 years since the release of their first LP. And what did that crowd learn from the experience? Well, the current line-up (Fee Waybill – vocals, Roger Steen – guitar, Prairie Prince – drums, Rick Anderson – bass and David Medd – keyboards) are supremely talented musicians capable of playing a variety of styles often within the same song. Those songs show no regard for genre demarcation lines with tunes often genre hopping – but only in service of the song, no grand-standing, just supremely well crafted songs stuffed with hooks.

We also learnt that Fee still likes to dress up, seven different costume changes to enhance the material and provide a delightful reminder of the theatricality of the band at their arena-filling peak. Oh, and we were reminded that Fee is a talented raconteur and hilarious fella, and that he really dislikes Game of Thrones but reserves his most vitriolic barbs for the Toyota Prius. Man, he really, really hates that vehicle. Furthermore we learnt that the Tubes are writing new material easily the match of the stuff recorded in their halcyon days – Life is Pain suggesting that a new LP would be a very welcome addition to their extensive catalogue. The set list also reminded us that the Tubes aren’t just about technique & ability, they’ve written a large number of ear-worms and those tunes work extremely well live – She’s a Beauty and Talk to Ya Later sounded effortless and there’s no antidote for their choruses: once you’re infected they’re with you for life. Alas we didn’t get to hear two of their finest ear-worms as the two hour set didn’t include Prime Time or Don’t Touch Me There, but then maybe the lack of a lady-Tube (which sounds like the summary of a Five documentary) means those tunes wouldn’t have worked well live. Next time please gents.

Another thing we learnt was no one would want to borrow Fee’s torch after he used it to illuminate (literally & figuratively) his performance of Mondo Bondage, at least not without having access to a large bottle of Dettol. And B24/7 personally learnt that you can be stood too close to the front when said song is being performed by a singer wearing crotch-less/bottomless leather chaps and concealing his, ahem, modesty, with a somewhat skimpy PVC jockstrap.

Furthermore we learnt that Quay Lude, long thought to be another rock n roll casualty, is alive and well: he tottered onstage for a coupla numbers including his piece de resistance White Punks on Dope – still looking every inch the consummate rock front man…and still capable of driving a crowd bonkers.

Oh, and finally we also learnt that what Tubes fans want most from life is… a baby’s arm holding an apple.

Pic credit: Gary Marlowe