I just listened to the Letterman performance of Charlie Brown and wasn't that taken with it, it sounds slower, and a little lifeless compared to all the other live versions played at festivals.

 

I really hope I am not going to be disapointed by the studio version of this song :\

uhmm...... no, it sounds as fast as the other live versions. For me at least :shrug:

And you can hear the bass better :)

From what we heard in that BBC Drama ad which had the studio version as the background music it sounded just as fast if not a tick faster, so no worries.

The speed of the song depended on how fast Jonny played the riff at the beginning. He just played it a little slower than usual at that performance.

Not to mention the crowd was kind of dead at Letterman, so the perception of tempo is different. But yeah, I'm sure it changes from show to show.

 

In my listening experience, it's HLH that has the most variable speed...it's booking-it-fast at Rock Am Ring, Glastonbury...but rather slow at iTunes.