First, let's dissect the headliners. No Doubt is a fair prospect. They haven't toured since the summer of 2009 and nobody has heard much from them lately. Does this mean a new album is underway? There's a chance, and Coachella would be a great place for its debut performance. Radiohead has a hefty three-and-a-half-month break in their tour schedule, and they don't have any dates secured for California yet.

This year's release of King of Limbs, plus the fact that they're freakin' Radiohead, have long made one of indie's biggest mainstream bands quite an in-demand headliner for Coachella. Radiohead has headlined Coachella before; that could be viewed as a point either for or against them as a contender for this year's festival.

As for the Foo Fighters, despite their release of one of the best records of the year, they're just too "rock" for Coachella these days. They played there in 2002, but that was when Coachella was a completely different, much smaller monster. And in the words of former New Times music editor Martin Cizmar, "What warped mind would conjure up a scenario in which Foo Fighters headlined over Daft Punk?" He's got a good point; that's so un-Coachella-like. Red Hot Chili Peppers might be more likely candidates for a top spot in 2012. They've released an album this year, too, plus it's very likely that they have additional U.S. tour dates that have yet to be announced.

And now for the rest of the roster, there are some legitimately logical guesses and some careless errors. A$AP Rocky has basically confirmed his Coachella appearance in a recent interview. Based on recently announced tour schedules, Justice, Young the Giant, Band of Skulls, and Grouplove are all safe bets for now too.

Putting Ingrid Michaelson that high on the list of names is iffy; she's planning on releasing an album at the end of January, but there are a lot of artists that have a made a bigger name for themselves than her. Ima Robot is a toss-up too; Alex Ebert is still occupied with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, as far as public knowledge goes.

If you like this story, consider signing up for our email newsletters.

SHOW ME HOW

X

Newsletters

_{All-access pass to the top stories, events and offers around town.}

• No Thanks
• Sign Up

X

SUCCESS!

You have successfully signed up for your selected newsletter(s) - please keep an eye on your mailbox, we're movin' in!

On the other hand, it's pretty easy to rule out artists like LMFAO and Tom Waits. Nobody has heard/wanted to hear anything from Kelis in a while, and nobody wants to see Owl City who's old enough to go to the festival. Rogue Wave isn't active; Zach Rogue is deeply involved in his solo project, Release the Sunbird, so if anybody is going to see Rogue Wave in any form at Coachella, it will be solo. Not to mention that the creator of the fake flier ignorantly listed The Sleepy Jackson under the Friday roster as well as the Sunday roster.

Share your lineup guesses with us in the comments section. Looks like we'll be holding out for the official lineup announcement, which typically comes in January. Until then, let the Coachella speculation season begin!

Follow us on Twitter and friend us on Facebook