Led Zeppelin received the Kennedy Center Honors from President Barack Obama on December 2, 2012. Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson performed the band’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’ at the gala event in Washington, DC, as a tribute.
Ann recently discussed Robert Plant’s reaction to their performance in a chat with The Howard Stern Show. She recalled the aftershow dinner and revealed:
“So, at that dinner, Plant actually let us know that he usually hated people’s covers of ‘Stairway,’ but he liked that one. He said, ‘You guys pulled it off.’”
Nancy added Jimmy Page’s thoughts about her guitar parts:
“And then Jimmy Page goes, ‘Wow, you kind of nailed the guitar part. Really great!’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God! Oh my God! I just heard that from [Jimmy Page].’ I could die.”
It Was Also A Tribute To The Group’s Original Drummer
Late John Bonham’s son Jason accompanied Heart on drums during the performance at the Kennedy Center Opera House. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones watched the band with teary eyes.
Nancy Wilson later reflected on the surviving Zeppelin members’ reaction by noting:
“I think a lot of the emotion between the guys was not just about the song itself, but also us having Jason Bonham on the drums. He was the little kid who grew up around Led Zeppelin’s practice rooms. And he played with Heart for quite a while. Then the reveal of the smaller choir, the larger choir, then the orchestra. It was really well put together. If anybody deserved a tribute like that, it’s Led Zeppelin.”
Jason Bonham played with Plant, Page, and Jones on several occasions after his father passed away in September 1980.
Plant’s Public Reviews On The Heart Performance
Led Zeppelin’s Kennedy Center Honor came in their debut album’s 43th anniversary. The frontman talked about the tribute night with LA Weekly:
“I knew we did a lot of damage to people’s brains and eardrums, and I knew we wrote some great songs, but it was a very humbling experience.”
He commented on Heart’s show as follows:
“When I saw Heart perform ‘Stairway To Heaven,’ I just couldn’t believe that song had anything to do with this 64-year-old man that was sitting next to John Paul Jones. I thought to myself, ‘This is me… How did this happen?’”
You can watch the ‘Barracuda’ band’s performance below.
