Tour Preview: Why 2012 Is Shaping Up to Be a Monster Year

Only the Download Festival is officially on the books for 2012, but the band held a press conference recently and confirmed that a new album and world tour were slated for next year. The only question now is the setlist. The last few tours featured little beyond obvious hits like "Paranoid," "Iron Man" and "War Pigs." Hopefully they're going to broaden it out a little this time. Here's hoping for "Sabbra Cadabra," "Killing Yourself To Life" and "Into The Void."

Likelihood: 99.9 percent. Unless Ozzy drops dead, this is happening.

Van Halen had an Australian festival tour booked for next year, but it was cancelled by the promotors when they failed to line up other headliners. Clearly, Van Halen are going to tour next year. They just signed to Interscope and a new album is supposedly imminent. 

Likelihood: 80 percent. Their 2007 reunion tour was pushed back a few months so Eddie could go to rehab. Assuming he's staying off the sauce, this tour is probably happening. If they run into trouble with the album, however, it might get pushed back to 2013. But that seems unlikely.

U2 and the Rolling Stones may get all the press, but one of the most reliable stadium acts on the road is Kenny Chesney. Throw Tim McGraw onto the bill and you've got yourself a mega tour. Back in the day, Chesney opened for McGraw – but things have changed and now Chesney is closing out the show.

Likelihood: 100 percent. A 19-date stadium tour has already been announced.

My god, this has been one gigantic tour. Waters spent much of 2010 and 2011 bringing the Wall around the world – but he's just getting started. He has 64 dates lined up for 2012. That includes stops at baseball stadiums all across America, and a hell of a lot of arenas. "They're trying to get me back to Europe next year," Waters told Rolling Stone earlier this year. "But I think I'll be completely cooked by the end of July next year." If 64 Wall shows doesn't cook him, we don't know what would. 

Likelihood: 100 percent. The only question is whether or not he decides to do even more.

The Diamond hit Australia and Europe in 2011, but didn't stray onto American soil. This summer he's launching an extensive American tour of arenas and ampitheaters. Neil is 70 years old, but he still puts on a powerful show. 

Likelihood: 100 percent. This thing is on the books. It looks like there's a Madison Square Garden-sized hole after his show at Jones Beach, so New York City shows seem quite possible. They may just be waiting for Jones Beach to sell out before announcing them, but that's just complete speculation. 

The Dave Matthews Band publicly announced that 2011 was going to be a rare off year for then, even though they wound up throwing a bunch of festivals. Word is they are going to return to the summer shed circuit in the summer of 2012, but nothing has been announced so far.

Likelihood: 85 percent. These guys have grossed the GDP of many mid-sized nations over the past 20 years. No way they're going to stop.

You didn't think that break-up was for real, did you? They were clearly plotting a comeback that whole time. The days of five-months slogs are over, but Phish have been touring every year since their reunion in 2009. A four-night stand is booked at Madison Square Garden in late December of this year, but expect short bursts of activity throughout 2012.

Likelihood: 90 percent. Nothing is on the books, but we're talking about Phish here. They tend to go out and play live.

According to Joe Walsh, the Eagles are going to celebrate their 40th anniversary in the second half of 2012. "We’ve archived so much stuff from the band’s early days, concert footage and film and interviews and stuff," Walsh says. "We’re going to put a show, kind of a retrospect show together around that. But it’s a new show because everybody’s seen our show, so we have to put together something new. And the 40-year anniversary theme will work well and be valid. So we’re putting that together and that’ll probably take four or five months."

Likelihood: 95 percent. Who are we to call Joe Walsh a liar? The thing is, 40 years ago the Eagles have a pretty different line-up. They should suck it up and invite Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon out on the road. Hell, even suck it up big time and invite Don Felder back. Sure, you hate his guts – but it would make for a much better show. The anniversary should be celebrated by all seven Eagles. (There's about a .0001 percent chance that Don and Glenn will agree with that assessment.)

Let's allow Lindsey Buckingham to comment on the possibility of Fleetwood Mac touring next year. "We're doing something for sure," the Fleetwood Mac guitarist told Rolling Stone in August. "I wouldn't be shocked if it was a tour and possibly an album. We'll have to wait and see. Nothing is on the books right now. With Fleetwood Mac, there's a lot of landmines out there politically and it's hard to get everybody on the same page at the same time – but I think this might be one of those years where everyone will want to do the same thing. Whatever that is."

Likelihood: 60 percent. This could easily move into 2013 – especially if they decide to cut an album first. Also, it was widely reported that they were going to tour stadiums with the Eagles in the summer of 2010, and that didn't happen.

Coldplay are one of the few rock acts to emerge within the last decade that had successfully made the leap to arenas. They can even fill stadiums in Europe. They played a bunch of festival dates this year and are hitting European arenas this December. The only 2012 dates on the books right now are U.K. stadiums in May and June, but there's almost certainly a U.S. arena run coming.

Likelihood: 99 percent. They have a new album out, and they've been very clear that they're supporting it on the road.