The Best in Late-Night Music: Week of May 18 (Letterman Edition)

Dave is gone. And so is late-night’s greatest music champion.

Despite the laughs and trademark self-deprecation, watching Letterman’s last on-air days were a seriously sober reminder of how much music he gave us and how much we’ll lose. For 33 years, David Letterman proved that the TV dial can be as bold and full of wonder as the far end of the FM dial.

Dave gave the greatest mixtape one could ever want —filled with tough rock, tender ballads, new discoveries, and nostalgic flashbacks. I dare you to find anyone on TV who has been so dedicated for so long to so many musicians. Most will miss his comedy. I’m one of them. But I think I’ll miss the music a bit more.

Thank you Dave. You’ll always be the late-night champ.

MONDAY

Eddie Vedder on The Late Show With David Letterman

Eddie brought out the Pearl Jam classic “Better Man”and channeled in inner Pete Townshend —complete with windmills, broken guitar strings, and jumps —to send Dave off into the late night sunset. He even wore a suit.

TUESDAY

Bob Dylan on The Late Show With David Letterman

“There are only two things you need to know in life,“Letterman quipped on his second-to-last night. “Be nice to other people and Bob Dylan is our greatest American songwriter.”Dylan prowled the stage like a caged prizefighter, lit a like a lost scene from a Bogart noir film, and inhabiting the 1941 jazz standard “The Night We Called It a Day”like it was his very own.

WEDNESDAY

Foo Fighters on The Late Show With David Letterman

The last band of the last show. The Foos provided the soundtrack for a montage capturing Dave’s 33 years. It was epic and a perfect capstone to a musical friendship that began when the band played for Dave after he returned from heart surgery in 2000.

If you’re curious about that first performance, wonder no more:

THURSDAY

A Night of Mourning

Let’s face it…after Wednesday’s Late Show, what else matters? And besides, it’s all repeats ahead of the Memorial Day weekend. If you’re in need of one more Dave fix, here is James Corden’s send-off to Dave — accompanied by Sting.

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