Added: 5 years ago
From: sylvanro
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  • Thanks for this. My first rock concert (at age 13) was The Tubes 1976 at Concord Pavillion. This reminds me 35 years later what blew my young mind. At our show Spooner sang the first couple songs then Fee drove around in the audience on a golf cart like a mock arriving superstar before his first number. Fun stuff. Saw them again on the Completion Backward Tour in Redding, CA 1982 also a fine show.

  • thanks for getting me in to this band!

    love your channel!

  • The Tubes at The River Theater New Years Eve 2011 Guerneville California on the Russian River.... This video always brings a smile to my face... One of the rare ones with all the TV sets , original band,  dancers, choreography and theatricals... Kenny Ortega was their choreographer.

  • @akashalovelight Can't wait for it! This will be epic. The Theater is a great venue. I saw The Mighty Diamonds there last night.

  • The tubes ! Awesome band - for all times !

  • I saw the Tubes at Bimbo's in 1976 and the cover band was Journey who nobody had really heard of at that time. My brother Skip did the lights for the show which ran a couple of nightrs. Best night at a concert that I ever had!!!! The Tubes and Journey rocked the house. Both bands still rock even after 35 years. Wow, I can't/they can't be that old. Good times!!

  • Was at the show with a hot girlfriend. She was standing on her chair dancing and these cowboy types started pinching her ass. I promptly turned their table over on top of them and there was almost a huge fight. Security came rushing over, the band was staring, but it was over really quick.

  • Whoa!

  • My landlords, when I lived in SF had their wedding reception at Bimbo's in the 1940's.

  • Bimbo's still exists. Named after its owner.

    This is great. Thank goodness for SFAI film classes for so many reasons!

  • OH Thats nothing everyone apparently --

    I saw THE TUBES at Agoura Hills or some whereeklse in west LA circa 1995 God knows where and I can't recall a effing thing and I had as an Aussie come all the way From Hawaii to seek it all out --chek that out and I am nearly 60 what amess what a what?

    I first heard the TUBES White Puncks on Dope in 1975 on a FM radio station out of Melbourne Australia Chris Winters room to move ABC radio nationally etc

  • I was at that show, and remember the costumes and even remember when a house in the Sunset where Fee lived had the Beans on the garage and one day The Tubes. Must have been 73. Bimbos was in North Beach up the street from Tower Records, a real old school night club that went back to the 30s. Since I was born in 57 I was just out of Lowell and going to SFSU this concert series. I also was not 21 so had to get loaded before and with pot during.

  • I was at that show, and remember the costumes and even remember when a house in the Sunset where Fee lived had the Beans on the garage and one day The Tubes. Must have been 73. Bimbos was in North Beach up the street from Tower Records, a real old school night club that went back to the 30s. Since I was born in 57 I was just out of Lowell and going to SFSU this concert series. I also was not 21 so had to get loaded before and with pot during.

  • 3/4/2011-Just got back from The Tubes concert at the new Firehouse Theater in downtown Pleasanton, ca (seats 250 fans) . Great show...the band still sounds good. Fee's vocals were awesome considering I hadn't hear him sing live since I saw the band at the Paramount Theater in Oakland on 12/31/1976! (My first concert!). God, my ears are ringing....can anyone else hear that......?

    They were so far ahead of their time!

  • 3/4/2011-Just got back from The Tubes concert at the new Firehouse Theater in downtown Pleasanton, ca (seats 250 fans) . Great show...the band still sounds good. Fee's vocals were awesome considering I hadn't hear him sing live since I saw the band at the Paramount Theater in Oakland on 12/31/1976! (My first concert!). God, my ears are ringing....can anyone else hear that......?

  • I thought the venue was called The Boarding House, which changed it's name to Bimbo's later. The show i saw there circa '76 was one of the best shows of my life. They entered, walking the aisles menacingly, in camouflage disguises [what we now call terrorists] and freaked everybody out, then it turned out to be the band. The theatrics and production values were unbelievable, The music was equally good.

  • @michaelhintongtr - The Boarding House is an entirely different venue. I remember it well as I was in a production of "The Tempest" that played in the lower floor while Merry Clayton was performing upstairs. I can't remember what street it was on back then or if it still exists. I guess I will have to google it, but definitely two different places. Googled it: Bimbos still exists at 1025 Columbus Avenue, The Boarding House was at 960 Bush Street but was torn down in 1980 and replaced by condos.

  • @sylvanro thanks for the info, memory needs help lol

  • I had no idea the tubes where from SF. The Guitar Center on Van ness has an entire display with the Gold Records and other priceless memorabilia. Pretty cool.

  • " Ladies and Gentlemen... Tied for the #1 rock and roll band in the world... The Tubes" I'll always remember that intro. Their show in '78 at Public Hall in Cleveland is still the best "show" I ever saw, and I, like SMITHFRANK above saw almost everybody ( except I never saw the Beatles).

  • Me and three friends saw them in '77, I think it was. We were four white punks on dope that night. Concord Pavillion was the place the night before Halloween. That was near the end of that tour and about a month later, they toured Europe and recorded "What Do You Want From Live". It pretty much mirrored the concert we'd just saw in Concord. That live album is one of the best that I've ever heard, bar none. Still my favorite concert and I've seen a lot of concerts.

  • Questo è veramente un documento eccezionale, grazie.

    Io sono riuscito a vederli appena nel '81 e nel '93 in Italia, ma era già un'altra cosa.

    From Italy with love!

    This is really an exceptional document, thanks.

    I managed to see them only in '81 and '93 in Italy, but it was something else.

    From Italy with love!

  • bimbo's ius stll around.

  • Bimbo's nightclub is still alive, and well.

  • I remember watching Re Styles working and thinking on my hottest nite I'll neer be that hot she was out of this world. The Tubes worked so hard to bring a good show every single time. Thanks for posting this it is great to have the memory & see a video that proves it was not a dream :-)

  • I saw that show at Bimbo's also (it was September, I think) though I don't believe it was the same night. And Bimbo's is still there. You should do the whole version of "White Punks on Dope" finale, it was amazing.

  • Thanks for posting this video! I saw The Tubes at Bimbo's during this run in '76 too; not sure if it was this night, I think they played for five. It was one of the best rock shows I've ever seen; great musicianship coupled with a fantastic theatrical sense and great humor.

  • I just saw the tubes tonight in LA. They rocked ! I had not seen them since being at this Bimbo show in 76. Fee looks exactly the same. Unbelieveable !!

  • Thanks. Nice, hey rolled Scottdale late 70's early 80's ran in to one of those guys here and there...

    Ride free.

  • And that, ladies and gentlemen, is theatrical rock and roll by some of the masters. Pretty cool footage you've got there, thanks for sharing.

  • I got a kiss from Re Styles in Stockholm at Göta Lejon, Sweden, in the 70's. It was a long time ago...

  • space baby you got no planet...

  • good thing he let you

  • "Tied for the number one group in the world."

    More talent on that stage than in the current top 100 Billboard groups combined.

  • I think I was at this show, god what a revelation. 16 yrs old and mind blown!

  • How cool is this? I was at this amazing show...Damn they were superb...Thanks for the memories !

  • That was a great piece of history in the making and at Bimbos!Isaw them in Amsterdam doing it that or a year later and recently in N.Y.,including some original costumes.They were still great or better musicians and the new work was tasty.I do wonder what happened to ReStyles aka The Nurse at the end.Thanks for sharing the flavor.

  • I saw their New Year's Eve show at the Berkeley Community Theater in 76 or 77 (can't remember which year) and it was fantastic. That was my first Tubes show and then I saw them in the early 80's when they had some of the hits but nothing touches the earlier Tubes shows.

  • @CLNVideos that was my dad

  • I saw their New Year's Eve show at the Berkeley Community Theater in 76 or 77 (can't remember which year) and it was fantastic. That was my first Tubes show and then I saw them in the early 80's when they had some of the hits but nothing touches the earlier Tubes shows.

  • He should thank you too, there's not too much footage around from their classic years74-77.

  • Tubes shows on acid were some of the greatest times of my life.

  • remember when they opened for zepplin???

  • space walking amazing

  • Bimbo's 365 Club

    Ha! Had my high school senior ball there... That was a lot of years ago. lol

  • YouTube is unbelievable: I was at this show at Bimbo's and remember Fee telling the guy to stop filming - thank god you didn't sylvanro! The Tubes were THE SF band we would see every time we could. (See the little video monitors? there's your future!)

    They're still around, some of them, and Fee is with them sometimes, too. But I don't go see them anymore. Don't Look Back - except this time...

    Thanks!

  • I remember first hearing these guys on the radio in 1975 while I was in Naval boot camp in Orlando Fla, then later that year I saw em perform in LA, drove up from San Diego where I was stationed at the time. They put on a hell of a show.

  • first The Tubes then the Plasmatics with Wendy

  • I'm glad to see someone mention that connection, I love them.

  • If you own the rights to this you will be rich someday. These guys were way ahead of their time.

  • When can we get the whole film??? Amazing work!!!!

  • The Tubes were quite the group. Not many people talk about how musically sophisticated they were. I jokingly refer to them as a "musically sophisticated pack of perverts".

  • i saw them

  • The pride of my hometown.

  • I saw them in 1976 in Bristol (England). They were wonderful, naked girls in perspex suits, Harley Davidsons in the aisles and huge monitor screens above the stage. I've seen a few shows in my time but the Tubes takes the buscuit. I'm amazed and delighted to hear they're still doing it.

  • I am going to see them tonite at the Galaxy in orange county

  • how was the show?

  • it was rockin for a small venue. maybe 125 peopple there. played all the hits and he had his groove on. I would go again for sure

  • ralph waldo

  • If he's so amazing you might want to get his name right. It's "Waybill", not "Waywill".

  • i was lucky to live in sf at this time and snuck in as 12 yrs old with my brothers. I loved the Tubes so much. Fee Waywill was/is amazing!

  • thanx 4 posting: 1 of my fav bands of the '70's !

  • I saw this tour at the celebrity theater in phoenix, az. I had no idea what I was in for that night. To this day, after seeing lots and lots of great bands through the years, that was the best all around performance I've ever seen. Pure entertainment.

  • Damn! Is this from the August 18, 1976 show at Bimbos?? If so.. wow. I was there at that show. Caught tickets at the door with some friends that were will calls and they did not show up. sat right next to the stage! AWESOME video.. nice posting!

  • awesome !

    thank you for posting !

    "..are you making a movie of me ?" haha

  • Man I can't believe I found this on here. That show was awesome. The TUBES LIVE album is still one of the best. Man I was much younger than but WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM LIFE?..And my girl was so BOY CRAZY..

  • God, that's horrible. No, I can't... nor would I put you through that...

  • That would be the WWE, and you may want to move away from that evil suicide family. They bring curses to those ALL around them.

    And I am not bitter in any way. I would feel so horrible for some of these ladies that would come up to him and just try to talk to him like a human and he would ask them about their breasts, and if he could feel them... And the girls would walk away after 30+ years listening SO disappointed... It was very sad. He may have changed in the last 3 years.

  • No, I am a man, and yes he rejected me, time and time again... *cries* it was horrible. I wanted his cheap ass so bad. HE TURNED ME DOWN!!!! *BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH*

  • is it true that he is bi sexual?

  • And he's so desperate he would FOR SURE do you, even if you were a man, I have seen him sleep with some BRUTAL women... I quit, I couldn't take it. I sold merch for a bit for them.

  • oh, but tell us more!!

  • Bimbo's 365 Club. When in high school, I went to a senior ball there.  LOL

  • or....

    a baby's arm, holding an apple!

  • Bimbos sucks...now get lost.

    T.O. is the rock cap, and anyone who is anybody knows it...By the way,Shannon and Gene are here this week,as well!

    Da Girlz

  • I saw this tour about this time at UC Davis and even earlier that year in the old gym at Cal State Fullerton. We strained to get hip to this, I must admit. Great shows both!

  • Yes, the best concert in Toronto,Canada in the Spring of 1977,was there and we loved Fee and the entire entourage of people he brought with hime the fucking ugly ,genius that he is...the rock cap of all major bands ,starting with Mick and the boys ,who can be seen here,in T.O. any day of any given week, downtown,

  • Bimbos still exists

  • 1976-78 were the years the Tubes did the best shows of their career. That's when they did the full theatrical production with a cast of thousands's ! (So it seemed..)Personally I rank it in the top 10 rock concerts I've ever been to and I've seen some of the best..Beatles in 1966, Hendrix 1968 ,Who 1971, Alice 1972, and Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in 1970 !Life is Good ....

  • The set looks like '79 not '76.

  • No, this is definitely not the '79 Remote Control set. By that time they had eliminated the majority of the frills and extras from their show. Also, if you notice all of the songs here are from the first three albums. Not to mention the fact that by the time 1979 rolled around they were playing much larger venues and concert halls, not clubs like Bimbos

  • Cool. Thanks for you thought process.

  • Space baby, you got no planet.

  • Wow what a flash, thanks sylvanro for posting this. I was actually a Tube for a night at this show! The Tubes had a talent hunt for extra people to be in this show a Bimbo's. I was one of the winners. I was in "Space Baby's". I look like a strange alien with a strange light sculpter in my hand. Cool!

  • I saw the Tubes three times in the late 70's and they were great. Not just music but the entire show. I saw them last year at the Coach house in San Juan and many of the originals are gone, but the show was high energy and long. They outlasted many in the who are now old like the band members.

    I really enjoyed the show last year but was sad to see them playing to a few hundred as compared to full houses in the 70's.

  • I saw the Tubes in 1994 at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach (San Diego). There were as many people in the band as there were in the audience. Still a great show and Fee called us a "small but mighty crowd". Wish I'd seen them in their 70's heyday.

  • I was at that show. I lived on Cedros one block up from the Belly Up. It was a thrill for me. Wonder what happened to Common Sense?

  • Believe it or not, Common Sense are still playing the usual haunts, rolling up and down the coast from time to time. It's a nice feeling knowing that, no matter how haywire the world goes, you can still catch a Common Sense or Steve Poltz show. Did you ever see the Paladins at the Belly Up? Those guys were amazing.

  • Paladins yes! I bought two of their CDs. The 50s thing, bowling shirts, the bass player laying his bass down and riding/playing. Awesome. The crowd dressed retro it was great. "Let's Buzz".

  • The TUBES are #1.....I'm going to see them this weekend 10-27-07 in Modesto at the State Theater..for their Holloween freakshow & costume contest judged by FEE...it's gona be great..3rd row seat Still some seats open

  • Love(bomb)the Tubes!!!

  • This was the first concert I ever went to!

  • Fee still has the energy on stage and their musicianship is more impressive live than on the recordings.

  • Thanks for Posting this. I saw the Tubes 3 times in 3 weeks at Bimbo's in 76- so this is fantastic. Still remains one of the best shows I've ever seen by anyone.

    Sputnick and Fee stole the show back then---

  • GREAT vintage Tubes! Thanks for sharing and thanks to Fee for letting you tape.

  • Well about the sad ending of Jane Dornacker, you may read the whole story at wikipediaDOTorg/wiki/Jane_Dorn­acker

  • I saw them in San Jose last night, too! They were great! I got to talk to Fee, Prairie, and Rick after the concert at the merchandise booth. They were so nice! I'm so glad I got to see them again. My last time was way back in the early 80's. I'm glad to see some videos here!

  • Saw the Tubes last night in San Francisco....better than ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Hey, I was at the Independent in SF last Saturday too. Great show!

  • The Tubes are alive and well. I just saw them tonight @ Music in the other park in San Jose, CA. They still got it. Although it was an after work day show, Fee did some costume changes including his Quaa-lude persona which was so funny. Crazy and talented!!!!! What a great show.

  • check out thetubesproject dot com

  • I was at one of The Tubes' Bimbo's shows in 1976, so it is really a treat to see this video! It was one of the best rock shows I've ever seen (and I've seen some great ones) - the video quality of course doesn't capture what it was like to be there but you get a taste. Incredible musicianship, theatrics, humor - The Tubes were just amazing. Note Vince Welnick on keyboards on the left; he spent many years with The Dead before passing.

  • Thanks monkeymichel...this story is just- i don´t know what to say.I think i would have done the same, to enter a helicopter again (at least would have tried)..It is similar to the story of the girl who survived the Bali-Bombing just to be killed by an crocodile days or weeks after on the same vacation in australia. It is hard to read the signs correctly, innit? Some are not ment to survive.Sad.

  • This is classic Tubes. Te first time I sw them, FEe was singing the "Rawhide Theme" wearing a white cowboy outfit with black "bloodstains" on it.

  • Thanks for posting! Have been wanting to see video of them in the early/great days - figured they'd publish something ... What an incredible stage show they'd put on!

  • As bhmartin says Bimbo's 365 is still there with shows almost nightly. That Club has been there since 1931, a San Francisco institution.

  • aaaaaaahhhh, har har once in New Zealand about 1976-77 on tv, I was 14 and after the tubes I was never the same and I bet so was a few TVNZ staff and what of NZ that saw it..i must have been the only one to see it and you guys saw them as a pub band..cheers most excellent, you bluddy lucky americans...so anyone know of any..ANY live videos?...PS Bill Spooner was cool

  • Man....to see a Tubes show from the 70s....wow. I saw this band in the early 80s, but not from their glory days of "White Punks on Dope", "TV is King", and "Mondo Bondage". Their LIVE album is a must have in any 70s rock collection.

  • Miss you Vince!

  • And Re Styles,RIP!

  • Re Styles died? when ? Hiw? how sad..

  • I don't know when or how but I've heard she is dead. She isn't included on the current list of band members at the Tubes website. Very sad indeed.

  • Check out the "Primetime" video from 1979 for some classic Re!

  • Just becuase she isn't in the band doesn't mean she's dead. She's alive and well and was interviewed for Michael Cotten's documentary.

  • I hope she is alive, I've just heard rumors to the contrary. Sorry about spreading rumors but that happens.

  • I am guilty of talking shit if she is alive, I've heard the rumor also and I hope it isn't so.

  • actually there was a rumor Re Styles died but it was really Jane Dornacker, the woman who wrote Don't Touch Me There. she was killed in a helicopter crash and the news went out that Jane Dornacker was the real name of Re Styles. Jane Dornacker was the eye in the sky traffic girl for WNBC in NYC who died when her helicopter went down in the Hudson River twice. she actually survived the first crash and went back up to face her fears and then crashed again.

  • The Tubes are the most amazing band ever. Where did you get this film and is there more? And is it for sale somewhere?

  • This is amazing! Awesome musicians, and they really knew how to put on a show

  • I would absolutely love to see this in it's uncut, raw form. How cool is this? I would say extremely...

  • The Tubes played at Bimbos for 2 weeks straight and I think I went to at least 6 nights

  • I saw this incredible band half a dozen times between '77 and '02. A truly unique and original group - great tunes, elaborate coreography, elaborate performance art, biting humor - simply brilliant. They later stripped down the show because, Fee said, nothing shocks people any more. But boy, in the '70's...

  • Hey... knucklehead bacci40... Bimbo's is not gone. Don't you see all of the other current shows from Bimbo's on youtube? It's still alive and well in San Francisco hosting all sorts of great shows.

  • classic,thank you so much

  • nope...both bimbos and finochio's are now gone

    this is a great find....thx very much

  • This is incredible footage. This is The Tubes when they were really special. I only wish the songs were posted in their entirety.

  • I saw the tubes a few months back and they still do a great show and Fee is better than every vocally. Plus he has a nice ass :)

  • Quite a showman, that Fee.

  • I say fee and crew here in WI this spring, along with THE KINGS

  • The KINGS? They of. . "This beat goes on?" Oh yeah. . tell me more.

  • Thanks for posting this, sylvanro - I think I was there, too (but after the 60'z who is sure of anything?). Who knew at the time, but The Tubes were really the future of stageshow "rock", but they, at least, had a good time with it - and so did we!

    FYI, the filmer's comments: The Tubes, including singer Fee Waybill, played recently in SF (had to work so I missed them), so they're all still around (except for the dear Vince Welnick who wanted so badly to rejoin The Dead; now, he has).

  • This was the first band I really loved back in Jr. High :)

    Thanks So much, you brought back so many great memories!

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