Joe Walsh unleashed a raucous rendition of his 1978 solo hit Lifes Been Good with Jon Batiste and Stay Human on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Wednesday.
Walsh sang the cheeky assessment of rock and roll excess with a grin on his face, punctuating a line like, I lock the doors in case Im attacked, with a smile. With Batiste and Stay Human as his back-up band, Walsh was free to run wild on guitar, literally scampering across The Late Show stage during the songs extended solo before trading riffs with a blazing saxophone.
During Walshs interview, he reminisced about the Seventies and recalled staying up for a couple months that night with Keith Moon and the time John Belushi decided to play chef at a Benihana. He went full on samurai, Walsh cracked. It was messy.
The rocker also spoke about his new charitable endeavor helping veterans. Walsh said he was drawn to the cause because he was just 20 months old when his father died in active combat, and he also recalled the many friends who came back shattered or didnt come back at all from Vietnam.
I have noticed in my travels and touring that, besides the big national organizations, there are some small county, small town vets organizations that are really in the trenches and really doing wonderful work, Walsh said. And so I have started an organization called VetsAid and I want to help and take it up a notch.
Walsh will host concert in support of the organization September 20th in Fairfax, Virginia. The lineup also includes Gary Clark, Jr., Keith Urban and the Zac Brown Band.