On September 20, 1996, Pearl Jam took the Late Show stage during one of David Letterman’s commercial-free broadcasts and delivered “Hail, Hail,” the opening track from ‘No Code,’ their fourth studio album released just weeks earlier. The performance captures the band at a complicated and fascinating moment in their career, having stepped back from mainstream visibility while simultaneously releasing one of their most sonically adventurous records. “Hail, Hail” is a muscular, riff-driven track that translates immediately to a live setting, and the Letterman performance has the kind of contained intensity that made Pearl Jam one of the great live acts of their era. The commercial-free format gave it room to breathe, and watching it now, the song holds up completely.