As in years past, the lineup for this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival features an eclectic mix of artists. Depeche Mode and Tool will serve as Coachella's co-headliners, and more than 80 acts will hit the stage during the 2006 installment of the two-day rock jubilee, which is set to take over Empire Polo Field in the small desert town of Indio, California on April 29 and 30. Tickets for the festival go on sale Saturday at noon (PST).

Depeche Mode, who will close the first night on the main stage, were officially named one of Coachella's headlining acts late last week. But back in December, frontman David Gahan let it slip backstage at KROQ-FM's Almost Acoustic Christmas that the band would be co-headlining the concert (see [article id="1517974"]"Depeche Mode To Co-Headline 2006 Coachella Festival"[/article]). The act's presence on the roster preserves Coachella's ritual of booking 1980s icons and pioneers. The Cure, New Order, Bauhaus, Beastie Boys, Kraftwerk, Gang of Four, and a reunited Pixies have appeared on the bill in recent years.

Franz Ferdinand, Daft Punk, Sigur Rós, Common and Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley will also top the first evening's bill. Others scheduled to perform that day include the Eagles of Death Metal, My Morning Jacket, Atmosphere, Carl Cox, Cat Power, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Ladytron, Tosca, Animal Collective, Devendra Banhart, She Wants Revenge, Lady Sovereign, Deerhoof, Editors, the Zutons, Colette, Imogen Heap, Wolf Mother, Living Things and You Hear It First artists Hard-Fi and the Like.

Tool's headlining set is scheduled to cap off the weekend as the finale to Sunday night's show. The band, which rocked the crowd during the inaugural Coachella back in 1999, has not performed live in the United States since 2002, when it toured with Mike Patton's Tomahawk. At present, the Maynard James Keenan-fronted group is mixing its forthcoming album -- Tool's first since 2001's Lateralus. Photos taken during the recording of the LP, which were posted on guitarist Adam Jones' online blog, showed that Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme, Melvins guitarist King Buzzo and Isis frontman Aaron Turner had stopped into the studio during the sessions. It's not yet known whether the guests will appear on the album, which will arrive in stores in late April or early May.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, DJ Paul Oakenfold and Scissor Sisters will warm up the Coachella crowd for Keenan's band. Others taking the stage on April 30 include Hasidic dancehall rapper Matisyahu, James Blunt, Sleater-Kinney, TV on the Radio, Mogwai, Coheed and Cambria, Gnarls Barkley (featuring Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo), Coldcut, Digable Planets, Little Louie Vega, Wolf Parade, the Go! Team, the Dears, the Magic Numbers, the Subways, and Minus the Bear.

Additional bands set to play the two-day festival will be announced Tuesday night (January 31).

For the past few weeks, Coachella's bill was rumored to include a Smashing Pumpkins reunion (see [article id="1504436"]"Billy Corgan Says He Wants To Re-Form Smashing Pumpkins"[/article]). But a spokesperson for frontman Billy Corgan's record label shot that speculation down during a recent interview with a California radio station. Melissa Auf Der Maur, formerly of Hole and Smashing Pumpkins, scoffed at the supposed Coachella booking during a recent interview with MTV News.

"I think [that would be] a little too soon," said Auf Der Maur, who worked with Corgan several months ago on a track that will appear on her forthcoming, as-yet-untitled sophomore solo disc. "I think that it's cool that there's interest and rumors running around, but ... that's definitely a hoax."

This story was originally published at 8:42 AM EST on 01.31.2006