Desitively Bonnaroo

Both Bonnaroo and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival will reveal their lineups next Tuesday, January 19th. Below, we present extensive predictions for both festivals, with Jazz Fest broken into separate weekends...

Jazz Fest 1st Weekend

Pearl Jam

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Van Morrison

[The Original Meters?]

Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter

J. Cole

Lauryn Hill

Alvin Youngblood Hart

Arlo Guthrie

Beausoleil

Big Freedia

Boz Scaggs

Brandi Carlile

Buffy Sainte-Marie

CeCe Winans

Donald Harrison, Jr.
Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers
Elle King

Galactic

George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic

Gregory Porter

The Isley Brothers

Jack DeJohnette and Ravi Coltrane

Jon Batiste and Stay Human

Joe Krown Trio

John "Papa" Gros Band

Kermit Ruffins

The Lone Bellow

Maxwell

Michael McDonald

Mystikal
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Rebirth Brass Band

Rhiannon Giddens

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
Terence Blanchard E-Collective

Jazz Fest 2nd Weekend

Neil Young + Promise of the Real

Paul Simon

Stevie Wonder

Allen Toussaint tribute featuring Aaron Neville, Bonnie Raitt, Dr. John, Elvis Costello, Irma Thomas, and Mavis Staples, some of whom will play their own sets

B.B. King tribute featuring Buddy Guy, Elvin Bishop, Gary Clark Jr., John Hammond, Jonny Lang, Taj Mahal, abd Tedeschi Trucks Band, some of whom will play their own sets

Beck 

My Morning Jacket 

Snoop Dogg 

Alpha Blondy

Arturo Sandoval

Dirty Dozen Brass Band

Ellis Marsalis

Flo Rida

George Porter, Jr. and Runnin' Pardners

Govt Mule

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk feat. Art Neville

Janelle Monae

Maze featuring Frankie Beverly

Mississippi Mass Choir
Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas
Nicholas Payton

Punch Brothers

Snarky Puppy

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue
[Possibles - Ben Harper and Innocent Criminals, Modest Mouse]

Bonnaroo

Pearl Jam

Dead & Company 

LCD Soundsystem

Chris Stapleton (with Special Guest Justin Timberlake?]
Ellie Goulding
J. Cole

Death Cab for Cutie

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

[Pretty Lights-led Super Jam?]
Tame Impala

Ween

Adventure Club

Allen Stone

Andra Day

Beach Fossils

Big Grams

Blood Orange

BØRNS

Brett Dennen

Bully

Cashmere Cat

Chvrches

Civil Twilight

Daughter

Dungen

Father John Misty

FIDLAR

Flosstradamus

Givers

Godspeed! You Black Emperor

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

GRiZ

Haim

Halsey

Hundred Waters

Ibeyi

Jason Isbell

Judah and the Lion

Kamasi Washington

Keys N Krates

Kurt Vile and the Vioators

Lamb of God

Leon Bridges

Lettuce

Lizzo

Lord Huron

Lucius

M83

Miguel

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

Purity Ring

Sam Bush Band

Sara Watkins

Shamir

St. Lucia

Steep Canyon Rangers

Two Door Cinema Club

Tyler, the Creator 

Vince Staples

Vulfpeck

Waxahatchee

The Wood Brothers

X Ambassadors

Zeds Dead

Let the lineups, um... drop?

We believe the lineups for both Sasquatch and Bonnaroo will drop within the next 24 hours (with the New Orleans Jazz Festival potentially hot on their heels?). Below, our incomplete but potentially-final predictions for all three...

New Orleans Jazz Fest

[possibly Dead & Co? J. Cole?]

Neil Young + Promise of the Real

Paul Simon

Pearl Jam

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Stevie Wonder

Van Morrison

Allen Toussaint tribute featuring Bonnie Raitt, Boz Scaggs, and Irma Thomas

Arlo Guthrie

B.B. King tribute featuring Buddy Guy, Gary Clark Jr., and Jonny Lang
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals

Bob Seger

Buffy Sainte-Marie

Cece Winans

Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter

The Isley Brothers

Janelle Monae

Lauryn Hill

Mavis Staples

Maxwell

My Morning Jacket

Rhiannon Giddens

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Snoop Dogg

Tedeschi Trucks Band

Sasquatch

The Cure

Florence and the Machine

Disclosure

Sufjan Stevens

Alabama Shakes

Allen Stone

A$AP Rocky

Big Grams

Caribou

Chet Faker

Death Cab for Cutie

Four Tet

Grimes

Jamie XX

Kurt Vile

Leon Bridges

Lord Huron

M83

M. Ward

Mac DeMarco

Major Lazer

Purity Ring

The Internet

Todd Terje

Tycho

Ty Segall

Vince Staples

Yeasayer

Yo La Tengo

Bonnaroo

Pearl Jam

Dead & Company 

LCD Soundsystem

Lana Del Ray

J. Cole

Death Cab for Cutie

Ween

All Them Witches

AlunaGeroge

A Place to Bury Strangers

Beach House

Big Grams

Cherub

Godspeed! You Black Emperor

Gr!z

Jason Isbell

Leon Bridges

Lord Huron

Lucius

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

Of Monsters & Men

Portugal. the Man

Robin Pecknold

Tame Impala

Tyler, the Creator 

Ball Ready to Drop, and more...

New York City's Governors Ball will announce its lineup in a matter of hours. We believe the festival will be headlined by Kanye West, Beck, The Strokes, and the Killers. We also believe that New York's Panorama Festival lives and will take place in July.

We have updated our predictions for those festivals and more below...

Ultra

Chemical Brothers (to be added?)

New Orleans Jazz Fest

Neil Young + Promise of the Real

Paul Simon

Pearl Jam

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Stevie Wonder

Van Morrison

Allen Toussaint tribute featuring Bonnie Raitt, Boz Scaggs, and Irma Thomas

Arlo Guthrie

B.B. King tribute featuring Buddy Guy, Gary Clark Jr., and Jonny Lang
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals

Bob Seger

Buffy Sainte-Marie

Cece Winans

Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter

The Isley Brothers

Janelle Monae

Lauryn Hill

Mavis Staples

Maxwell

My Morning Jacket

Rhiannon Giddens

Snoop Dogg

Tedeschi Trucks Band

Sasquatch

The Cure

Florence and the Machine

J. Cole

Mumford and Sons

Death Cab for Cutie
Walk the Moon
Ween and/or Wilco
Beach House
Kurt Vile

Governors Ball

Kanye West

The Killers

Beck

The Strokes

[possibly The Dead Weather and/or The National]

A$AP Rocky
Beach House

Big Grams
Bloc Party
Bob Moses

Chvrches

D'Angelo and the Vanguard

Death Cab for Cutie

Disclosure

Father John Misty

Gary Clark Jr.

Haim
Lord Huron

M83

Matt and Kim

Miike Snow

Of Monsters & Men

Purity Ring

Robin Pecknold
Tame Impala

Bonnaroo

Pearl Jam

Dead & Company 

LCD Soundsystem

J. Cole
Beck

Death Cab for Cutie

Ween

AlunaGeroge

A Place to Bury Strangers

Beach House
Big Grams

Godspeed! You Black Emperor

Jason Isbell

Leon Bridges
Lord Huron

Of Monsters & Men

Portugal. the Man
Robin Pecknold

Tame Impala

Tyler, the Creator 

Primavera Sound

LCD Soundsystem

Sigur Ros

Glastonbury Festival

Adele

Coldplay (with special guest Rihanna?)

Jeff Lynne's ELO

Muse

Panorama

A Tribe Called Quest (with the Roots)

LCD Soundsystem

Mumford & Sons

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Lollapalooza

Guns 'n Roses

LCD Soundsystem (may play Pitchfork instead) or possibly Daft Punk

Radiohead

Deadmau5

Ellie Goulding

Kendrick Lamar

HARD Summer [and/or FYF Festival]

LCD Soundsystem

Outside Lands

Dead & Company
LCD Soundsystem

Radiohead

Duran Duran

2016's Biggest (Non-Festival) Gigs

A brief break from festival news to mention some large-scale events we expect next year from bands that tend to create their own festival-like scene. 

The Summer of 2015 was a big one for the touring industry, with U2, the Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, AC/DC, One Direction, the Grateful Dead's Fare Thee Well, and more filling stadiums from coast to coast. This coming summer is unlikely to match that scale. However, we do see a number of big tours and gigs coming over the horizon, including the anticipated "final" Coldplay tour later this summer. 

GNR

Chief among them may be a long-awaited  tour from semi-reunited Coachella headliner Guns 'n Roses. While little can be said with certainty about its volatile collection of personalities, we believe that the band is in fact planning a national stadium tour for this summer, as has been reported. We'd expect some arenas to be mixed in as well, but forecast stadium shows in major markets like New York and the Bay Area among others, probably along with another festival headlining slot at Chicago's Lollapalooza.

Pearl Jam

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Pearl Jam will also head back out on the road in the Spring and Summer of 2016, hitting mostly arenas in the Eastern half of the country, but with a stadium or three mixed in along with the band's headlining slot at Bonnaroo (and possibly New Orleans Jazz Fest?), to be announced next week. We anticipate one or more baseball stadium shows in major Northeastern markets, including Fenway Park, as well a stadium show in Chicago, where our understanding is that the band is exploring options at both Wrigley and Soldier Fields, the latter for a potential "PJ25" event over the July 4th weekend.

The Dead (& Company)

Potentially trading places with Pearl Jam will be Dead & Company, who will switch from last summer's Soldier Field event to Alpine Valley (which may inaugurate a new camping section to be expanded in 2017) the following weekend as part of a summer filled with a number of large-scale events, including Bonnaroo and probably Outside Lands, a July 4th weekend stand in Colorado, possibly at Boulder's Folsom Field, a big gig or two in Queens, possibly at Citi Field in late June, and perhaps more stadium shows including Fenway Park. More speculatively, the band's biggest gig of all just might be an event at Watkins Glen International Raceway, where a reunited Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts theoretically could help commemorate the Dead, Alllman Brothers, and Band's huge 1973 summer jam there.

Phish, DMB, and Mumford & Sons (oh my)

The Dead's descendants in Phish will also play a big gig weekend or two this Summer in addition to their usual amphitheater jaunt. We expect their Summer tour to kick off Memorial Day weekend with a stand at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds (site of Rock in Rio USA, taking this year off before a return in 2017) and to lead up to another on the beach in the East Coast's own gambling mecca, Atlantic City, where camping may be offered at an adjacent site. In between, look for the band to make a return to Washington State's Gorge Ampthitheater (another potential PJ25 location?) and possibly join Pearl Jam and play two nights at Wrigley in late June. Look as well for Phish's jammy brethren in the Dave Matthews Band to play a stadium show or two as well, albeit on a smaller scale - they and fellow folksters Mumford & Sons will inaugurate New Orleans' minor-league Zephyr Field as a new concert venue this Spring. DMB will also appear at Alpine Valley and possibly Atlantic City in addition to their regular Labor Day feature at the Gorge. Look for all three acts to appear at upstate New York's large Saratoga Performing Arts Center as well.

And more (pigs may fly)

Near-last and with near-least certainty, we hear whispers that Roger Waters may take to the American road this summer. Yankee Stadium and the LA Coliseum, perhaps? In the wake of the possible cancellation of New York's Panorama Festival, it's our understanding that LCD Soundsystem may play a single-day, festival-style concert in the New York area in association with the same promoter. Finally, look for Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails to join Adele and other big names on the arena circuit later this year, the latter bringing with them a spectacular new production. 

The Coachella Incident

Coachella has announced its 2016 lineup and once again we predicted all three headliners, some of them well in advance, as well as a number of undercard acts.

We missed a few too, and never got around to posting our full lineup prediction, but we hope to have one of those for Bonnaroo within the next week.

We admit to some surprise that A Tribe Called Quest was not on the lineup, but remain firm that the band will reunite and perform this year. We believe that their New York appearance will be at Governors Ball, whose lineup (which will include Beck, The National, and possibly The Dead Weather) should drop within days. We also would not be surprised if an unusually big-name act gets added to the Coachella lineup at a later date, or if Calvin Harris' Sunday night headlining set features an appearance by a big-name guest or two, most notably his much more famous girlfriend...