IN: Vampire Weekend are an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006. They are currently signed to Columbia Records. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, drummer and percussionist Chris Tomson and bassist and backing vocalist Chris Baio. The band's first album Vampire Weekend (2008) - which included the singles "Mansard Roof", "A-Punk", "Oxford Comma", "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" and "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance" - was acclaimed by critics for its world music influences.

After remaining quiet following the conclusion of their Modern Vampires tour, on January 26, 2016, Rostam Batmanglij announced his departure from the band on Twitter. He noted that he and Koenig would continue to collaborate. Later the same day, Koenig announced that Vampire Weekend was in the studio working on their upcoming fourth album, with Batmanglij contributing to the record. The album's working title was revealed to be Mitsubishi Macchiato.  In April 2016, the band briefly performed at a rally for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in Washington Park Square. Koenig has been a well-known supporter of Sanders, after discussions on his Beats 1 radio show, Time Crisis. The band performed live with Dave Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors, which marked their first performance as a trio.  In late 2016, Koenig was reportedly in talks to sign the band with Columbia Records, as he reportedly "hit it off" with executive, Rob Stringer. Initially, this news was regarded a rumour, until the band's website revamp in 2018, in which a Sony Music copyright appeared on the site.  In March 2017, Koenig revealed in an elaborate Instragram update that during 2016 he had spent countless hours researching and writing music in libraries with grad students. Additionally, he revealed that the album would feature a more 'spring-time' vibe and one of the songs would be entitled Flower Moon. Koenig revealed that LP4 would be partially inspired by the songwriting of country singer, Kacey Musgraves, after he attended one of her shows in September 2016. In an interview with Stereogum, he stated, "I'm the type of person who has spent hours poring over the avant-garde poetic lyrics of certain songwriters, and there was something that felt so good [about how] from the first verse, you knew who was singing, who they were singing to, what kind of situation they were in. After the show I realized there's not a ton of Vampire Weekend songs where you could listen to the first verse and immediately answer the question of who's singing and who are they singing to." Furthermore, in a September 2017 interview with Zane Lowe, Ezra briefly spoke about LP4 and stated that it was "about 80% done." He mentioned that the album would feature lead producer, Ariel Rechtshaid, with additional "guest appearances", one of which being Batmanglij. Lowe pushed Koenig for a release date, sighting Q1 2018 as a likely candidate.  The band's first show since their hiatus was confirmed on January 31, 2018, when it was announced that the band would be headlining the UK music festival End of the Road. The festival will run from August 31 to September 3 and mark Vampire Weekend's first return to the stage in 4 years. Additionally, it was announced that they would headline the 2018 Fuji Rock Festival, scheduled for July 27 to 29. The band will also be performing at Lollapalooza 2018, which runs from August 2-5, 2018.

What date was it

OUT: January 31, 2018,


IN: Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has consisted of Eddie Vedder (lead vocals), Mike McCready (lead guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar) and Jeff Ament (bass). The band's fifth member is drummer Matt Cameron (also of Soundgarden), who has been with the band since 1998. Boom Gaspar (piano) has also been a session/touring member with the band since 2002.

Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were members of pioneering grunge band Green River during the mid-1980s. Green River toured and recorded to moderate success but disbanded in 1987 due to a stylistic division between the pair and bandmates Mark Arm and Steve Turner. In late 1987, Gossard and Ament began playing with Malfunkshun vocalist Andrew Wood, eventually organizing the band Mother Love Bone. In 1988 and 1989, the band recorded and toured to increasing interest and found the support of the PolyGram record label, which signed the band in early 1989. Mother Love Bone's debut album, Apple, was released in July 1990, four months after Wood died of a heroin overdose.  Ament and Gossard were devastated by the death of Wood and the resulting demise of Mother Love Bone. Gossard spent his time afterwards writing material that was harder-edged than what he had been doing previously. After a few months, Gossard started practicing with fellow Seattle guitarist Mike McCready, whose band, Shadow, had broken up; McCready in turn encouraged Gossard to reconnect with Ament. After practicing for a while, the trio sent out a five-song demo tape in order to find a singer and a drummer. They gave former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons the demo to see if he would be interested in joining the band and to distribute the demo to anyone he felt might fit the lead vocal position.  Irons passed on the invitation but gave the demo to his basketball friend, San Diego, California singer Eddie Vedder. Vedder was the lead vocalist for a San Diego band, Bad Radio, and worked part-time at a gas station. He listened to the tape shortly before going surfing, where lyrics came to him. He then recorded the vocals to three of the songs ("Alive", "Once", and "Footsteps") in what he later described as a "mini-opera" entitled Momma-Son. Vedder sent the tape with his vocals back to the three Seattle musicians, who were impressed enough to fly Vedder up to Seattle for an audition. Within a week, Vedder had joined the band.  With the addition of Dave Krusen on drums, the band took the name Mookie Blaylock, in reference to the then-active basketball player Mookie Blaylock. The band played its first official show at the Off Ramp Cafe in Seattle on October 22, 1990. They opened for Alice in Chains at the Moore Theatre in Seattle on December 22, 1990, and served as the opening act for the band's Facelift tour in 1991. Mookie Blaylock soon signed to Epic Records and renamed themselves Pearl Jam. In an early promotional interview, Vedder said that the name "Pearl Jam" was a reference to his great-grandmother Pearl, who was married to a Native American and had a special recipe for peyote-laced jam. In a 2006 Rolling Stone cover story however, Vedder admitted that this story was "total bullshit", even though he indeed had a great-grandma named Pearl. Ament and McCready explained that Ament came up with "pearl", and that the band later settled on "Pearl Jam" after attending a concert by Neil Young, in which he extended his songs as improvisations of 15-20 minutes in length.

Did they achieve early success?

OUT:
They opened for Alice in Chains at the Moore Theatre in Seattle on December 22, 1990,