Candlebox un-retire for a 32-date fall tour after guitarist Peter Klett rejoins

Two years ago, Candlebox meant it. The Seattle band wrapped a 2023-2024 run it billed as a farewell, released an album called The Long Goodbye, followed it with a 2024 tour edition called The Longer Goodbye, and got ready to leave the stage after three decades. That plan is off.

On July 14 the band announced the "Can't Quit You" tour, a 32-date North American run that opens September 17 at The Pageant in St. Louis and ends October 30 at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey. It is their longest headline routing in years, and it exists because a guitarist came home.

Peter Klett, who played on the 1993 debut and wrote a lot of what people picture when they picture Candlebox, rejoined after roughly a decade away. Frontman Kevin Martin puts that reunion at the center of why the goodbye didn't take.

"The phrase 'Can't Quit You' really speaks volumes to how important our fans are to us and the music we create," Martin said. "Candlebox has always relied on the energy our fans bring and the atmosphere that live music brings."

Why Klett matters here

The self-titled 1993 debut went quadruple platinum and moved more than four million copies, carried by "Far Behind" and Klett's clean, ringing lead lines, the kind of playing that sat closer to classic rock than to the sludge most Seattle bands were trading in. Candlebox played the main stage at Woodstock '94 and opened for Metallica, Rush, and Aerosmith before the decade was out. Klett's guitar is a big reason those records sound the way they do. His departure a decade back left a hole; getting him back is what reopened the retirement question.

The undercard is half the story

The support bill plays like a '90s alt-rock family reunion, with one deliberate wrinkle. Sponge, The Verve Pipe, Sweet Water, and American Blonde split opening slots across the run, and so does The Mountain Goats.

John Darnielle's indie-folk institution is the odd name on a grunge-adjacent bill, and the reason they landed there is better than the booking.

"Two weeks before we were set to release the song 'Candlebox,' a song I wrote in the summer of '25 and which only we in camp had heard, my manager texted me that Candlebox was seeking support for their first headline tour in a good long minute," Darnielle said. "It was written in the stars!"

Vinnie Dombroski of Sponge gets the full-circle note. His band's first major tour, back in the early '90s, was opening for Candlebox. "We've come full circle," he said. "Who says you can't travel back in time?" Brian Vander Ark of The Verve Pipe kept it plainer: "Opening for a band that helped shape the alternative landscape is a fucking dream come true."

Dates and tickets

An artist pre-sale ran July 15 using the code BLOSSOM. General on-sale is July 17 at 10 a.m. local time, with routing and links at candleboxrocks.com.

Sep 17  St. Louis, MO       The Pageant                       + Mountain Goats
Sep 18  Downers Grove, IL   Oktoberfest
Sep 19  Florence, IN        Belterra Casino Resort            + Mountain Goats
Sep 22  Aspen, CO           Belly Up Aspen                    * Sponge
Sep 23  Salt Lake City, UT  The Depot                         * Sponge
Sep 25  Seattle, WA         Paramount Theatre                 # Sweet Water / * Sponge
Sep 26  Umatilla, OR        Rock The Locks 2026
Sep 27  Salem, OR           Elsinore Theatre                  * Sponge
Sep 29  Menlo Park, CA      The Guild Theatre                 * Sponge
Sep 30  Los Angeles, CA     Troubadour                        * Sponge
Oct 02  San Diego, CA       The Observatory North Park        * Sponge
Oct 03  Laughlin, NV        The Edge Pavilion                 (no support)
Oct 04  Phoenix, AZ         Marquee Theatre                   * Sponge
Oct 06  Denver, CO          Gothic Theatre                    * Sponge
Oct 08  Houston, TX         White Oak Music Hall              * Sponge
Oct 09  Bay St. Louis, MS   The Cypress Cove Ballroom         (no support)
Oct 10  Birmingham, AL      Iron City                         * Sponge / @ American Blonde
Oct 11  Nashville, TN       Brooklyn Bowl                     * Sponge / @ American Blonde
Oct 13  Jacksonville, FL    FIVE                              * Sponge
Oct 14  Orlando, FL         The Plaza Live                    * Sponge
Oct 16  Maryville, TN       The Shed                          ^ Verve Pipe / @ American Blonde
Oct 17  Columbus, OH        The Bluestone                     ^ Verve Pipe
Oct 18  Detroit, MI         The Fillmore Detroit              ^ Verve Pipe
Oct 20  Silver Spring, MD   The Fillmore Silver Spring        * Sponge
Oct 21  Buffalo, NY         Electric City                     * Sponge
Oct 22  Pittsburgh, PA      Roxian Theatre                    * Sponge
Oct 24  Cleveland, OH       House of Blues                    * Sponge
Oct 25  Jim Thorpe, PA      Penn's Peak                       * Sponge
Oct 26  New York, NY        Bowery Ballroom                   * Sponge
Oct 28  Boston, MA          Citizens House of Blues Boston    * Sponge
Oct 29  Huntington, NY      The Paramount                     * Sponge
Oct 30  Sayreville, NJ      Starland Ballroom                 * Sponge

A band that named one album The Long Goodbye and the next tour The Longer Goodbye un-retiring inside two years is an easy thing to raise an eyebrow at. The better read is simpler: the lineup that made the band worth caring about in 1993 is back in a room together, and they would rather play than not. Kevin Martin has run Candlebox through hiatuses, lineup churn, and a stated ending before. This time the guy who wrote the guitar parts is standing next to him again.