So many great shows posted so far, I am truly digging this site!  Growing up in the Bay Area in the 70's, one of the best bands to go see was The Tubes.  I know they did a couple of KSAN shows prior to signing their deal with A&M, so I'm hoping these might be in the archives, and posted here soon.  Or, any other of their great shows!

Thanks for the dedication & time to making this site so cool!

Thanks for the kind words! All the hard work is worth it when we get such a warm reception from the community.

I don't know where The Tubes are in the queue, but you can bet that if we have them they will be up soon. In the mean time I created a Tubes performer forum for you.

Yes, The Tubes are truely a great band to see live..I've seen about 6 shows here on the east coast, and Fee + Co. are true musical performers...

I saw one of the Winterland shows the Tubes put on, and weeks later saw it on tape in betweens sets of another concert there. I also saw them at the Concord Pavillion, when, I think, Jeff Beck and/or Jimmy Page came out for White Punks on Dope. That was a long time, and millions of brain cells ago.

I saw the Tubes at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium in I believe 1977. It was one of the best shows I have even seen, way ahead of their time in many respects in terms of the stage show.  Fee Waybill was on his game and they did all the "hits" with all the props.  I saw them again in Santa Cruz in about 1980 and they kind of sucked.  They had been broken apart a bit and the back up singers were not involved (like Re Styles) and Fee relied way too much upon a punk character and had scaled all the other roles way back.  Big disappointment.  They still play around a bit today, but I have not checked them out.  Last year, I did see Prairie Prince drum for Paul Kantner's Starship or whatever he's calling it today, and Prince was dynamic.

Uh, like '74 or '75, at Bimbo's 365 Club on Columbus with Iggy Pop and the Stooges. Un real stage show!! The tubes were way ahead of their time. These guys could play too. A shame that coke played such a heavy role in what was hip and happpin' at the time. Too many bands and musicians never made it past that.

Hey Tenorcat: Speaking of that period, I saw Journey (the pre-Steve Perry version) at Santa Cruz Civic in about 1977 and they were way late coming out, then did a pretty short set (like 45 minutes). We couldn't believe it was over.  They disappeared for about 8 minutes while the crowd shouted for more.  They came out looking quite happy and excited and played two songs with more gusto. They went away, came back in another 8 minutes or so, again looking very happy to be back on stage.  This went on for 3 encores.  We were SURE they were sucking up huge lines of blow backstage and they NEEDED it to get pumped up. 

BTW, when they were playing and not ruining their sinuses, they were very good, with Neil Schon being his outstanding self and Ansley Dunbar a dynamo on the skins.

It's funny that you mention Neil Schon. I took clarinet lessons form his dad Matt for a couple or years for like $3.50 a half hour at the Sherman Clay Store in the Hillsdale Mall. Matt was a master musician. He could play all the woodwinds and was the music contractor/musical director for the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos if my memory serves me right. He was a prolific writer and arranger for big bands. There were always stacks and stacks on hand written charts all over his studio.

Matt had a rehearsal band on Wednesday nights at the little music store where I took sax lessons on 25th Ave. That is where I first met Neil. He would sit in and try to play out of the guitar book. He sucked so bad. I mean the band was full of the baddest horn players and rhythym section guys on the Peninsula. They all encouraged Neil to play. He would try to play his lame refried BB King licks over II/V changes. It was so horrible.

I went to summer school with him at San Mateo High the summer that he hid in his room and ripped off all the solos from Hendrix and Clapton records. I remember Matt telling me that Neil wanted to quit school and be a guitar player. Matt said that he couldn't tell Neal not to be a musician, but he tried to discourage him because it was a hard way to make a buck.

Neal hung out at a house on Baldwin Ave. in San Mateo where he somehow got hooked up with people that were involved with Pacific Recording on El Camino. Neil went over there when Santana was recording Abraxisis and bugged them until they let him lay some tracks down. The whole story is in Santana's bio that came out a couple of years ago. The rest as they say is history.

I was never a friend of Neils or anything. After I got out of the Army, I took some Harmony and Composition classes at CSM with Dr. Charles "Gus" Gustavson. Matt Schon somehow signed up for the class because he was in the Korean War and could get the same VA benifits that I was getting to pay for it. Matt was a crack up in class. Old enough to be our fathers, he wrote mind blowing stuff.

Anyway, I'm at this Tubes gig at Bimbo's 365. Coming out of the bathroom, I see Neil double park a Maserati or some supercar in front and blow right in waving a guest pass or ticket. I was sitting with some friends that had a new wave/punk band called Kid Courage. We all went to school together, they were an up & coming local group that even opened some shows for Bill Graham Productions.

Neil saw a girl that he knew with us and came over. I looked right at him and said hello and my buddies said, hey whats up Neil? He just looked right through us and hit on this girl. We realized that Neal was toasted, he looked like a ghost.

Of the couple hundred fine schooled musicians and self taught guitar whackers that I came up with, many are still gigging, touring full or part time musicians. None of them ever "made it" in the biz except Neal. I talked to Matt Schon right before he passed away. He told me that Neil had bought him a nice big house, and that Journey had a business office with eight employees. He said that Neal had so much money, that he didn't even know what went on with the business end of Journey.

It's kind of ironic that Matt would have died another broke musician If not for Neal.

For an update on downloads, please check out

"What Performers Are Paid" in the Ladies and Gentlemen forum.

Check out thetubesproject.com for info on Michael Cotten's documentary about The Tubes.

Thanks for getting the ball rolling, the Tubes soundstage gig in Sausalito was a huge surprise.  Have not visited Wolfgang's site for a year... i forgot how much stuff is on here.  All Tubes fans do yourself a favor and check this out...The Real Deal... i saw them in S.F, Fresno, and Chicago.  Such a shame that they were about to connect with their past and get Vince Welnick back in the band when he passed away.  We still have the music to cherish.  Rest In Peace Vinnie.

It was the early 1980's when the Tubes played in the parking lot of what was the Sahara hotel in South Lake Tahoe.  I lived and skied up there and I remember driving through a snowstorm to see them in Reno once with am amazing hot chick (another story)...but when they played the Tahoe gig, I got a room with a balcony and a lake view.  We sat up on the balcony and watched the sunset with the concert.  Almost surreal.  Fee was a great showman...not as good as he could have been.  He was too out there to get popular.  New Wave was just coming into play but Fee was ahead of his time.

did you know Tubes were originally called the Beans? i lived in brkly and my room mate hung out with them, he was a stagehand. this was when they were just getting started playing out in the city. they were closely associated with the Cockettes, played on a lot of the same bills, actually mostly just big parties. thnx. 

The Tubes were formed from most of the members of two different bands, the Beans, and the Red White and Blues band. This band is one of the best bunch of musicians you will ever hear. Nice guys too. The thinned down version of The Tubes you can still see play today is a very big treat, and Roger Steen is my guitar hero.

I am looking for Mike Evans (SF Bay area?) who co-wrote White Punks and What Do You Want From Life, and others I think. I have some hard to find Tubes recordings he is looking for and my friend lost his contact information. He worked at Commtron in Hayward, CA years ago.

Contact me here:

cantstopfishing@gmail.com

From Wikipedia

History of the band

The Tubes is a collection of high school friends from Phoenix, Arizona. The Beans and The Red, White and Blues Band eventually merged after relocating to San Francisco in 1969. The core band membership remained largely intact for more than a decade: Fee Waybill (real name John Waldo Waybill) (vocals), Bill "Sputnik" Spooner (guitar, vocals), Roger Steen (guitar), Prairie Prince (real name Charles L. Prince) (drums), Michael Cotten (synthesizer), Vince Welnick (piano), and Rick Anderson (bass). Singer Re Styles (born Shirley Marie MacLeod) (vocals) and ex-Santana percussionist Mingo Lewis were also fixtures for much of the band's early history.^[1]

 

^{From Anna Spooners MySpace page:}

About The Tubes

There were two bands from Phoenix, AZ. the Beans and the Red, White, and Blues Band. They both came to San Francisco... some to go to art school and the rest just to get out of the heat. When the RWBB lost their bass player they offered a the gig they had at the Art Institute to the Beans. Sputnik said, hey why not play it together. Bob thought he and Prairie playing together would blow the roof off the place. He was right. They united as the Beans and eventually became the Tubes.

From the Tubes Project:

I just came into possesion of a Tubes KSAN live radio recording and many others.

I am looking for Mike Evans who co-wrote White Punks and What Do You Want From Life and others. I have some hard to get old Tubes recordings he is looking for, but his contact information was lost. He was the Sales Manager at Commtron in Hayward, CA in the late '80's.

Contact me at:

cantstopfishing@gmail.com