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...

Happy New Year! Our Last Festival Predictions of 2015...

[Updated 1/4]

One more update as we head into 2016. We are quite confident in many of the predictions below, moreso for most of the earlier festivals than many of the later ones. We have added several festivals, and shaken up our predictions for the big NYC festivals, dropping the planned Panorama Festival in NYC, which is on the rocks and possibly canceled, and restoring to our list the Governors Ball, though our headliner predictions for that one are particularly shaky.

Watch this space over the next week for a much fuller Coachella lineup prediction, as well as a preview of some big non-festival gigs we anticipate in 2016...

Ultra

Chemical Brothers

Coachella

Guns 'n Roses

LCD Soundsystem

Calvin Harris

Lana del Rey

A Tribe Called Quest (with the Roots)

Deerhunter

Gary Clark, Jr.

Grimes

Halsey

Jean-Michel Jarre

The Kills

The Libertines

M83

Major Lazer

Missy Elliott

Of Monsters and Men

Savages

St. Germain

SZA

Twenty One Pilots

New Orleans Jazz Fest

Allen Toussaint tribute featuring Boz Scaggs
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals

Bob Seger

Bonnie Raitt

Lauryn Hill

My Morning Jacket

Neil Young + Promise of the Real

Paul Simon

Van Morrison

Sasquatch

The Cure

J. Cole

Mumford and Sons

Ween and/or Wilco

Governors Ball

Pearl Jam [and/or The Dead Weather]

A Tribe Called Quest (with the Roots) (unless Panorama is revived)

Chemical Brothers or The Prodigy

The National and/or MGMT

PJ Harvey

A$AP Rocky

Big Grams

Chvrches

D'Angelo and the Vanguard

Death Cab for Cutie

Disclosure

Father John Misty

M83

Matt and Kim

Miike Snow

Of Monsters & Men

Purity Ring

Tame Impala

Bonnaroo

Pearl Jam

Dead & Company 

LCD Soundsystem

J. Cole

Death Cab for Cutie

Ween

Big Grams

Leon Bridges

Of Monsters & Men

Portugal. the Man

Tame Impala

Primavera Sound

LCD Soundsystem

Sigur Ros

Glastonbury Festival

Adele

Coldplay (with special guest Rihanna?)

Jeff Lynne's ELO

Muse

Lollapalooza

Guns 'n Roses and/or Pearl Jam

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

Coming into focus...

Updated 12/11

The 2016 festival picture is getting clearer. Below is an update of our bigger-name artist predictions for most of the major and some of the less major American music festivals, as well as a note about a European festival or two. 

Newly-included are several big festivals, including Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Outside Lands, and Miami's Ultra Music Festival. We have also dropped a number of headliner predictions from our previous post; you can count most of those names out now. We'll have new predictions soon about a festival or two we've dropped momentarily, including Governors Ball.

Scroll to the bottom for an extra word about next year's reunions, big and smaller.

Ultra

Chemical Brothers

Coachella

Guns 'n Roses

LCD Soundsystem

Twenty One Pilots
Calvin Harris

Lana del Rey

The Arcs

A$AP Rocky

Chic

Death Cab for Cutie
Deerhunter

Gary Clark, Jr.

Grimes

Halsey

Jean-Michel Jarre

The Kills

The Libertines

M83
Major Lazer

Of Monsters and Men

St. Germain

New Orleans Jazz Fest

Bob Seger

Bonnie Raitt
Paul Simon

Van Morrison

Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals

Sasquatch

The Cure

Mumford and Sons

Wilco

Bonnaroo

Dead & Company 

LCD Soundsystem

Zac Brown Band

J. Cole
Ellie Goulding

Death Cab for Cutie

Ween

Big Grams
Blood Orange

Of Monsters & Men

Portugal. the Man

Tame Impala

Jason Isbell
Leon Bridges

Panorama (if it happens)

LCD Soundsystem

Mumford and Sons

Glastonbury Festival

Adele

Coldplay (with special guest Rihanna?)

Jeff Lynne's ELO

Muse

Lollapalooza

Muse
The Prodigy

Outside Lands

Dead & Company 

About those reunions, and additional possibilities.... 

LCD Soundsystem will make its triumphant return at Coachella, but that will be just the beginning of the road for the band. In addition to Bonnaroo and Panorama festival (or perhaps Global Citizen if the Queens festival's permit is denied), the band will travel overseas for an appearance at one or more European festivals including, we believe, British Summer Time in Hyde Park, London and perhaps Barcelona's Primavera Sound. They will also make an appearance or two later in Summer at some smaller American festivals including HARD Summer and perhaps Chicago's Pitchfork festival.

The story is similar with Guns 'N Roses. Assuming its volatile personalities hold together, the semi-reunited band will play some very big gigs on at least three continents over the next year or two, including festival appearances in South America and Europe, where the band has been tipped to headline the Download and Isle of Wight Festivals in not 2016, but 2017. Whether and how many shows beyond Coachella occur in the US in 2016 remains to be seen, but we would not be surprised by a Lollapalooza headlining slot. The new lineup reportedly will feature a mix of old and new members including Slash and Duff McKagan, but perhaps neither Izzy Stradlin nor either of the drummers from earlier lineups.

As for other potential 2016 reunions, we'll mention that we do expect Fleet Foxes to reform in some fashion within the next year or two, perhaps as soon as next Summer. We also would not be surprised if Jack White and Alison Mosshart's The Dead Weather also makes one or two live appearances next Summer, at Lollapalooza and/or Bonnaroo.

Stay tuned for more soon, including a much longer-form Coachella lineup prediction later in the month.

The Dead Keep on Living

Quick on the heels of their successful Fall Run for the Roses comes news that most of what's left of the Grateful Dead will head down the road again when the roses return in 2016.

We expect that the band featuring three surviving Dead members and surprise guitar hotshot John Mayer will make additional appearances at a number of festivals next year. These likely include Bonnaroo, where we have added them as a replacement for Eric Clapton in our prediction post below, Outside Lands, a new and as-yet-unnamed festival in Queens' Flushing Meadows Corona Park the weekend of June 24-26 (not the Panorama Festival there the weekend before), and perhaps the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which will surely also celebrate the life and work of the late, great Allen Toussaint.

Autumn Leaves are Falling...

As we approach the end of the year and head into lineup announcement season, it's time to update our predictions for top US festivals in the first half of 2016. 

Several months ago, we heard that next year's Coachella festival would feature a big-time reunion among its headliners. We initially reported that that act would be Guns 'n Roses. Within days, we crossed that name out, replacing it with the more hotly-tipped LCD Soundsystem. As we suspected, however, we weren't wrong about either act. We expect Coachella 2016 to feature not one but two big reunions among its headliners. 

Without further ado, some of our topline predictions for big US festivals through next Spring, including the new Panorama Festival in New York City, one of several big new festivals whose debut we anticipate in 2016, including June's America Rocks in Rhode Island and the Arroyo Seco Music and Arts Festival at the Rose Bowl...

Coachella

Guns 'n Roses

LCD Soundsystem

Lana Del Rey

Calvin Harris

Twenty One Pilots

The Arcs

A$AP Rocky

Chic

Gary Clark, Jr.

Halsey

Jean-Michel Jarre

The Libertines

Major Lazer

Of Monsters and Men

St. Germain

[11/16 Update] New Orleans Jazz Fest
Van Morrison

Sasquatch

The Cure

Mumford and Sons

Wilco

Governors Ball

Radiohead 

Phish

[11/16 Updates:
A$AP Rocky
Justice
Of Monsters & Men]

Bonnaroo

Dead & Company Eric Clapton

Calvin Harris

Phish
[11/16 Update: Ween]

Panorama

LCD Soundsystem

Mumford and Sons

Firefly

Kings of Leon (making up their canceled performance this year) or Green Day

Mumford and Sons 

Florence and the Machine

[11/13 Update] America Rocks

Green Day or Kings of Leon

Hollywood Vampires

We'll leave our festival predictions there, but name a few more artists we expect to be active to one degree or another in the US in or around the Summer of 2016: Adele, Avicii, Beyonce, Coldplay, the Dixie Chicks, Drake, Ellie Goulding, Eric Church, Foo Fighters, Frank Ocean, Gorillaz, Iggy Azalea, Kanye West, J. Cole, Justin Bieber, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Metallica, My Morning Jacket, The National, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rihanna, Skrillex and Tom Morello.

Whether additional reunions will follow at Coachella or other festivals remains to be seen, but we will also name a few additional acts whose return next year would not shock us: A Tribe Called Quest [11/13 Update: We expect them to appear at one of the New York festivals], Fleet Foxes, N.W.A., Pavement.

Stay with us as the season gets under way!