Mainstream vibe is intact as Candlebox plays Square
When Candlebox played the Woodstock anniversary show in 1994, it was the only band on the incredible, eclectic bill to have a song in the Top 20.
That sounds like something to brag about, but it was actually a sign of the group’s impending demise. A Seattle band formed in the post-Nevermind era, Candlebox took the ragged edges of its fellow scenesters and polished them up, releasing an across-the-board smash of a debut record — 1993’s “Candlebox” — that was as derivative as it was radio friendly.
REVIEW
WHO: Candlebox with Agent Me
WHEN: Thursday night WHERE: Lafayette Square
The beauty of the Seattle sound’s initial rise was that it got people thinking about all the amazing alternatives to mainstream music. But from the beginning, Candlebox embodied the essence of mainstream music itself. So when rock radio abandoned the group in the years after its biggest hits, it had nowhere else to go and dissipated into the ether, destined to appear on “Monster Ballads of the ’90s” compilations for all eternity. Or so we thought.
After a greatest hits record and an ensuing tour, Candlebox — lead singer Kevin Martin, guitarist Peter Klett, bassist Adam Kury and drummer Scott Mercado — has decided to give it another go. This past July saw the release of “Into the Sun,” the first new Candlebox album in a decade.
And as the band finally took the Thursday at the Square stage, after an extended bout of technical difficulties, you had to give them credit for consistency. Its new material may have a bent towards heavier, lumbering, faux-Zeppelin riffage, but the group hasn’t forgotten what it does best — executing the kind of big, glossy choruses that toe the line between power ballad land and straight-up rock ’n’ roll-ville.
If the “twisting the radio knobs” intro motif didn’t belie Candlebox’s love for ’70s and ’80s FM rock — it included snippets of Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” and Black — its opening song was a dead giveaway.
“How Does It Feel” is a track off “Into the Sun” that is a perfect example of the band’s attempt at an evolved sound and identity, full of loud, rumbling guitars and plenty of profanity-laden statements from Martin. But for all of his and Klett’s Page and Plant aspirations, this was still a standard modern rock tune — a little heavier perhaps, but nowhere near the level of artistry or theatricality of any of the tunes they walked on stage to.
As Candlebox’s roadies frantically tried to fix a feedback snafu, which held up the set for a good 20 minutes, I overheard a guy behind me ask his buddy how familiar he was with the band.
“I know, like, two songs,” he replied. “They’re the only ones I care about tonight.”
Four songs into the set, I’m guessing this guy got one of his wishes, as the band broke into “You,” the tune that put Candlebox on the map 15 years ago. Greeted with a huge cheer from the healthy Square crowd, the song is definitely a time capsule — I instantly remembered hearing it as a sort-of pudgy, inept 16-year-old.
And the band leaned into it, building up to every scream-happy chorus with obvious relish.
