Vedder, Dylan and More Letterman Musical Guests

Tonight marks the last David Letterman show, bringing to end a huge era in the realm of television. To be honest, Late Night TV has never had a hold on us like others of our generation or certainly generations before. We slightly appreciate it but never felt super connected to any host and the format leaves us wanting with some vapid guests, give us Chuck for interviews. It is doubtful Late Night will ever have the same impact now and going forward with diluted media but it still is a huge huge step to play music on any talk show let alone one watched by millions.

This week, to close out Dave's historic, run we had Eddie Vedder sing "Better Man" on Monday night backed by Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra. Check out the fun version below:

You could tell Eddie wanted to go even more nuts and probably play about 100 more songs.

Last night Bob Dylan made an extremely rare network appearance and played "The Night We Called It A Day" see it below:

A fitting tribute on an American Jazz Standard that worked and looked pretty damn good on national TV, better then we thought he would look/sound. Maybe only slightly better then Letterman in Cabin Boy.

A lot more music after the jump, click that read more below:
A favorite of ours Tom Waits stopped by last week as well for a rare TV appearance to chat:

and play a brand new tune written (or at least performed) for Dave actually:


We have seen Letterman a few times in person and one time was specifically for the musical guest. At the height of our Phish love we pulled some strings and got tickets to watch the fellas play "Birds Of A Feather" up close and personal on 10/27/98:

Damn that is cooking solo from Trey in a small studio. When the band actually came out the Orchestra was playing Hendrix and Phish chimed in before it went back on the air. Pretty cool.

While Dave actually likes Phish, even requesting "Chalkdust Torture" the first time the band played his show, there is only one guest Letterman would have wanted for his last show, and that is clearly Warren Zevon.

Zevon and Letterman were kindred spirits. Both are brilliant in their field and could be lazy at times in their production but also had a glint of the insane. There are lots of links on youtube for clips of theirs but we will put a few on here for your enjoyment.



And perhaps the most emotional thing I may have ever seen on TV:


Thanks Dave. Best of luck in future adventures, especially Cabin Boy 2...