Chinese President Xi Jinxing and Pope Francis are both in Washington on Thursday, and that may have influenced Pearl Jam's choice of an encore on Stephen Colbert's Late Show Wednesday night. Or not — you don't need an excuse to perform the Neil Young classic "Rockin' In the Free World." In any case, they did, including Colbert, who joined Eddie Vedder and the band mid-song.
Colbert didn't join Vedder in crowd-surfing through the Ed Sullivan Theater, but he's clearly pumped at the end. "You don't get to do that every day," he repeated, high-fiving the band. He's right. And it's a really good performance. You can watch below. Peter Weber
The Week
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