News Robert Plant says ‘cathartic’ Stairway To Heaven performance in 2023 was ‘probably’ his last
Robert Plant has admitted that his first performance of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’ in 16 years in the autumn was probably his last.
The septuagenarian rock legend sang ‘Stairway To Heaven’ at a fundraising event in the Cotswolds on Saturday 21st October 2023.
Organised by former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor, who has stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer, proceeds from the night went to the Cancer Awareness Trust.
Robert Plant’s rendition of ‘Stairway To Heaven’ was the first time he performed the seminal track in public since Led Zep’s Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at London’s The O2 back in December 2007.
Plant and Andy Taylor performed in a band on the night that also featured Whitesnake’s Dino Jelusick, Rod Stewart’s drummer David Palmer, Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets bassist Guy Pratt, former Reef guitarist Kenwyn House, Andy Taylor’s son Andrew, and singer Anne Rani.
It later emerged that Plant agreed to sing ‘Stairway’ after an attendee at the event donated a six-figure sum to the cancer charity.
Commenting on the experience, Robert Plant said in a new interview with Rolling Stone: “It was cathartic. People go, ‘Oh, that’s good. He never was going to do that.’ But I didn’t really do it! I just blurted it out.
“It’s such an important song to me for where I was at the time and where I was with Jimmy (Page) and with John (Paul Jones) and Bonzo (John Bonham). So on that night, it was what it was. It was a trial by fire, but I felt better at the end than at the beginning.”
When the interviewer noted that it could be the last time he sings ‘Stairway To Heaven’, Plant replied: “Yeah, I think you’re probably right. I haven’t got around to doing the ice-skating rinks in Finland yet with a small orchestra (laughs).
“So I don’t think I’ll be doing that, but I don’t know. Who knows? Something could change somewhere. Spirit and heart could come back in the soul. It’s a long song. Who can remember all those words?”
Elsewhere in the interview, Plant ruled out retirement, saying he’s always looking forward instead of backwards.
“The camaraderie, the things that you share up there, and the frailties that you know you’re carrying with you quietly, the exposure of yourself to yourself, is something that I would hate to say goodbye to,” Plant explained.
“I can’t just sit back. Out there in the real world, people say to me, ‘What about the book?’ And I say, ‘Are you kidding? What? This is spectacular. Why think about it twice?’ This is today. What happened in Schenectady in 1969 is another story. And for me, the continuum must keep going.”
