The Tubes toured the UK at the height of the punk rock era in 1977. Despite their somewhat out-of-step musicality, the band's humorous and manic stage show found favor all over the country. The cabaret-like shows lasted over an hour, ending with Waybill – in character as "Quay Lewd", a parody of a drug-addled rock star – getting crushed to death by a giant stack of (fake) speakers. NME pronounced the tour a great success, writing: "They came, they outraged, they conquered."[2]
Although AllMusic reviews the album very favorably, describing it as "witty and entertaining" throughout, it ultimately gives it three stars out of five because the audio portion of the show is simply unable to convey the full impact of a Tubes concert in their heyday. "The downside of What Do You Want from Live", says reviewer Donald A. Guarisco, "is that some of the numbers are less potent without the choreographed routines surrounding them... this leaves the listener feeling like they're only witnessing part of the joke", adding wistfully, "if only someone would put out a video of one of the Tubes' shows from this era."[1]
