In a new, just-released clip from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Foo Fighters deliver a bit of déjà vu—revisiting songs tied to meaningful moments from the show’s earlier incarnation, Late Show with David Letterman.
As a treat for Colbert’s audience, the band played a mini-concert during their May 4 appearance. Two of the songs came from their new album Your Favorite Toy: “Caught in the Echo,” which aired on that night’s broadcast, and “Window,” released later as a web exclusive.
In remarks cut from his televised interview, Dave Grohl reflected on how much late-night television meant to him growing up, recalling nights spent watching The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman on a tiny black-and-white TV in his room.
Grohl also spoke about late night’s role as a platform for social commentary—and why it’s worth protecting.
The Late Show itself holds particular significance for Foo Fighters—something the band nodded to at the end of their set with a medley of “This Is a Call” and “Everlong,” featured in the newly released clip (which you can watch at the top of this post). The songs effectively bookend their nearly two dozen appearances on Letterman’s Late Show, beginning with their August 14, 1995 debut—which also marked their first-ever late-night TV performance.
But it’s “Everlong” that became most closely associated with Letterman. After debuting the song during a 1997 appearance, the band famously paused their international Sonic Highways tour to perform it again at Letterman’s request when he returned from open-heart surgery in 2000.
They would go on to play “Everlong” three more times on the show, including during Letterman’s final episode on May 20, 2015, where it was paired with a montage of highlights from his 33-year late-night run. That night, Letterman introduced the Foo Fighters as “my favorite band, playing my favorite song.”
