The Mountain Goats just sang fiction into reality. Just six days ago, John Darnielle's band released "Candlebox," the latest single from their upcoming album Days. Darnielle sings that song from the perspective of a fictional band who get the life-changing opportunity to tour with early-'90s quasi-grunge hitmakers Candlebox. Now, the Mountain Goats are going on tour with early-'90s quasi-grunge hitmakers Candlebox.
Well. OK. I'm overstating things. Candlebox just announced a big fall tour, their most extensive headlining run in years. After teasing some dates together by posting a very funny text exchange, the Mountain Goats will open exactly two of those Candlebox shows — the Sep. 17 tour opener at the Pageant in St. Louis and the Sep. 19 show at Belterra Casino Resort in Florence, Indiana. The rest of Candlebox's dates will have revolving openers, including fellow '90s alt-rock radio survivors like Sponge and the Verve Pipe, who just appeared in our Alternative Number Ones column.
So the Mountain Goats won't have quite the same run alongside Candlebox that they describe on "Candlebox": "Twenty-five tight minutes, seven nights a week, eight weeks without a break! With Candlebox!" But they're still doing the thing that they already sang about. Here's what Darnielle says in a press release:
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. It was written in the stars! This fated confluence will light up the skies of St. Louis and Florence like a Roman, wait for it, candle. We answer the call of fate! Meet you in St. Louis, fellas!
You know, it's funny. When they teased those shows together, I imagined Candlebox opening for the Mountain Goats. Shows what I know about drawing power. Candlebox!
