UPDATE 17/12/15 5.50pm: Soundwave 2016 has been officially cancelled.
In one fell swoop, or Tweet if you want to get all specific, AJ Maddah has just eradicated a stack of bands from the running for Soundwave 2016 headliner.
We can tell you definitively that it’s not going to be Metallica, System Of A Down, Deftones, Blink-182, Iron Maiden, Avenged Sevenfold, Green Day or Nine Inch Nails and here’s why. When asked if the festival headliner had played Soundwave before, Maddah answered:
@the_zing No
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) September 10, 2015
The fact that next year’s headliner has never played the festival before wipes out most of the potential possibilities. Twitter user the_zing officially just became that kid in Guess Who who wins after the first go by asking one lucky, savvy AF question.
So how many viable headliner options remain, now that we can knock all of those others down? Out of all the bands in the world who are big enough to headline Australia’s biggest metal festival, but have never played it before, there really are only a couple of options.
Black Sabbath are out because they’re doing their own headlining tour next year, Muse have told us they won’t be able make it in time for Soundwave, that Guns N’ Roses reunion rumour has been slapped down, Motorhead’s touring schedule has been plagued by health issues and Rammstein and AC/DC have also both been ruled out of contention.
Even a solo Ozzy Osbourne, appearing as “Ozzy & Friends” with his all-star lineup of Geezer Butler, Zakk Wylde, Slash and Tom Morello, wouldn’t work, because Sabbath have international tour dates that conflict with SW.
So that pretty much leaves Disturbed, who AJ Maddah previously said he’d let tell him when they’re ready to play the festival.
The metal titans have just released a brand new album, which means they’ll no doubt be touring soon anyway. And that tour could very easily coincide with Soundwave.
But are Disturbed a big enough drawcard to fulfil Maddah’s pledge that at least one leg of SW16 will sell out instantly?.
The other, perhaps more likely option for the big 2016 headlining slot is… Tool.
We know that work on their long, long, long-awaited new album has “sped up”, and Maddah has previously said that, while getting them on board Soundwave would “depend on the new album”, he’d nonetheless be “honoured to have them”.
https://twitter.com/Joshvido/status/606292033838317568
So, to sum up, if we had to put money on it, we’d hazard a bet that Tool are going to be headlining 2016, and announcing the release of their brand new album, and making all of our dreams come true.
Mystery solved!
Ok not quite, but we can dream.
So far, there have been only six bands announced for SW16: Bullet for My Valentine, Dead Letter Circus, Failure, Refused, Northlane, and the 2006 Eurovision winners, Lordi.
And there’s another lineup announcement coming from Soundwave tomorrow, so make sure you stay tuned!
In the meantime, you can try to figure out the secret identity of the Soundwave 2016 headliner yourself, by heading to our Soundwave 2016 Lineup Rumours & Info page.
Gallery: 11 Unforgettable Soundwave Festival Moments
