Matchbox Twenty have announced their return to Australia with a tour of the country in February 2024, with supporting act, the Goo Goo Dolls. It will be the first time since 2012 that the band has played in Australia.
The announcement comes in the leadup to the band’s fifth studio album, Where the Light Goes, which is set for release later this month on the 26th May.
The Florida band will begin their international tour — titled the ‘Slow Dream’ tour — in North America tour later this month. The tour is title after the new album’s lead single, ‘Wild Dogs (Running in a Slow Dream)’, which released earlier this year.
The Goo Goo Dolls released their latest album, Chaos in Bloom, in August of last year, with the singles ‘Yeah, I Like You’, and ‘You Are the Answer’.
The Australian leg of the Matchbox Twenty’s tour will begin in Pert on 13th February. Both the Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox Twenty will play at venues across Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, before finishing in Brisbane on 27th February.
But it’s not just the capital cities receiving a visit from the band, with shows at Newcastle, Wollongong, the Gold Coast and the Yarra Valley also announced.
Matchbox Twenty created controversy during its last Australian tour, as during a Melbourne show, front man Rob Thomas made a racist joke about Indigenous Australians. He apologised on social media the next day.
In the period since 2012, Rob Thomas released three albums, and continued to draw crowds during his solo tour of Australia in 2019.
Matchbox Twenty’s Australian tour dates are:
- 13th February (Tuesday) — RAC Arena, Perth WA
- Thursday, 15th February (Thursday) — Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide SA
- Friday, 16th February (Friday) — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne VIC
- Saturday, 17th February (Saturday) — Rochford Wines, Yarra Valley VIC
- Tuesday, 20th February (Tuesday) — WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong NSW
- Thursday, 22nd February (Thursday) — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney NSW
- Friday, 23rd February (Friday) — GIO Stadium, Canberra ACT
- Saturday, 24th February (Saturday) — Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Newcastle NSW
- Monday, 26th February (Monday) — Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre, Gold Coast QLD
- Tuesday, 27th February (Tuesday) — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane QLD
Tickets will be initially available via Telstra pre-sale at 2pm EST on Wednesday, 17th May. Tickets for the general public will be on sale from 9am EST on Tuesday, 23rd May.