Foo Fighters to Appear as David Letterman’s Final ‘Late Show’ Musical Guests

Late night talk show host and longtime champion of music David Letterman is getting ready to say farewell tonight with his final Late Show on CBS. And there may be no band he's championed more over the years than Foo Fighters, so it should come as no surprise that Letterman's "favorite band" will be on hand for his send off.

The group famously played The Late Show at Letterman's request after he returned from heart surgery in 2000. Letterman asked the band to play "Everlong" and introduced the band stating, "Ladies and gentlemen, my favorite band playing my favorite song -- Foo Fighters!" Grohl recently revealed to Entertainment Weekly that the band was so excited by the request that they canceled tour dates to do it. Watch the video below.

Speaking to the Orange County Register last fall, Grohl stated, "We’ve always shared a special relationship with Letterman. When he had his open-heart surgery, he was gone for a while and when he came back he requested the Foo Fighters be the first band to perform for his first week back because he wanted to hear the song ‘Everlong.’ Ever since that day, we’ve been in love. I don’t know how many times we’ve played that show but every time we do and I stand in the Ed Sullivan Theater, I never take that for granted.”

The band returned to the Late Show stage last fall for a week-long residency in support of the Foo's Sonic Highways HBO documentary series. And it should come as no surprise that Letterman was one of the series' backers with his Worldwide Pants production company.

Like many of us, Grohl was drawn to watching Letterman's Late Night program on NBC in his youth. He told Entertainment Weekly, “I grew up watching him as a teenager in Springfield, Va. I would stay up every night to see him and his band. I was an aspiring rock musician, and the Late Night band in the ‘80s was the best rock and roll band on television. Their drummer, Steve Jordan, was a huge influence on me. I love Letterman -- his wit, and sarcasm. I related to him. So we were obligated to play that show, not just because he’s been a huge part in the career of our band, but our teenage years.”

After the request to play "Everlong," Letterman's relationship with the Foo Fighters continued to grow. “I think we mean a lot to each other,” says Grohl. “We’ve traded cigars, I’ve given him guitars and snare drums. We gave him a guitar once as a thank you, and he got really emotional with us. It clearly meant a lot to him. He’s just genuinely a warm, sweet person.”

Just last fall, after the cameras faded to black on a TV appearance, Letterman had the band play a little more for a web exclusive. The song he requested was "Miracle," and the band and the audience soon found out how the song had become part of the soundtrack of his personal life. Letterman shared a touching story about how the song will always remind him of finding a connection with his young son during a skiing trip. Watch the appearance below.

Letterman will definitely be missed. Grohl concluded his EW interview stating, "We've done a lot of these TV shows. But nobody has the heart that Letterman has. Not even close." Tune in tonight to the final Late Show With David Letterman, airing at 11:35PM ET/PT on CBS.

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