Foo Fighters will be Letterman’s last musical guest: Why he loves them

Dave Letterman booked his favorite band to close out his three-decade-long run in late-night TV. Foo Fighters have been confirmed as the last act to earn a sign-off from Dave when his term on the “Late Show” wraps up Wednesday night.

Reps for the band declined to comment, but sources at CBS confirmed that the Foos would be the final musical guests of Letterman’s tenure.

It’s no coincidence that he booked the Foos for the occasion. The group is his favorite band, and they have a history of showing up during big events in Letterman’s life (and vice versa).

In 2014, at the launch of their HBO documentary “Sonic Highways,” tied to an album of the same name, the band played a weeklong residency of shows on “Letterman.” Their live sets featured covers from artists in many of the cities the band journeyed to in the documentary series.

Letterman’s company Worldwide Pants was an early production partner for the “Sonic Highways” series, and during the band’s residency for that record, Letterman told front man Dave Grohl that their single “Miracle” wound up as soundtrack footage on a ski trip with his son, a beloved document of his late fatherhood.

But Letterman’s fondness for the band stretches back even longer than that. After Letterman underwent an emergency bypass surgery that sidelined him from the show for weeks, his comeback set featured the Foos. As he put it, they were “My favorite band playing my favorite song,” which was “Everlong” from their 1997 album “The Colour and the Shape.”

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