Eddie Vedder sings the Pearl Jam classic 'Better Man' for Letterman

Eddie Vedder put on a suit for Letterman&#039;s last week on-air

(Image credit: Late Show)

published 19 May 2015

David Letterman's farewell week is such a big deal that Eddie Vedder put on a suit. Vedder first appeared on Late Show in 1996 with Pearl Jam, but on Monday's show he performed with Paul Shaffer and the band. They start out slowly on the Pearl Jam song "Better Man" — maybe a response to Adam Sandler's farewell song, or just because of the rhyme with Letterman, or perhaps because it's a good song — but when it picks up, nobody's having a better time than Paul Shaffer and his ensemble. If you watch Pearl Jam's 1996 performance, it's impressive how much younger everybody looked. And it's impressive, too, that 20 years later, everybody's still in fine form. —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.