Radiohead will be playing at least one festival, maybe more in 2016

By William Hughes | January 21, 2016 | 7:55am

Aux Features Music

After months of mixed signals and fan club-based detective work, the enigmatic masterminds at Radiohead have given their followers their first hint of their musical intentions for 2016. There’s still no word on a release date—or title, or anything concrete, really—for the band’s forthcoming ninth studio album, but it’s been revealed that the influential alt rock group will be going out on tour at least once this year: they’ve been announced as the headliners for Switzerland’s OpenAir St. Gallen festival, where they’ll play on Saturday, July 2. (Other headliners include German hip-hop groups Deichkind and Fettes Brot, and Mumford & Sons.)

But that’s not all: Consequence Of Sound is quoting an unnamed source that says that the Swiss outing will be just one stop in a 2016 Radiohead festival tour this summer, presumably in support of the still-mysterious new album. Although this is the sort of news that should probably be taken with a grain of salt and a look of stoic, Thom Yorke-esque contemplation—given that the frontman has shouted down these kind of rumors in the past on social media—the site is suggesting that the North American leg of the tour will take place in July. (Other things happening in North America in July this year, meanwhile, include American Independence Day, Daniel Radcliffe’s birthday, and Lollapalooza 2016, any one of which may or may not be related to this news.)