Robert Plant has revealed that performing Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven for the first time since 2007 at a charity gig in England last year was "cathartic", albeit "a trial by fire".
Led Zeppelin's former frontman has a famously complicated relationship with the band's most iconic and best-known song.
“I’d break out in hives if I had to sing it every show,” the singer told the Los Angeles Times in 1988. “I wrote those lyrics and found that song to be of some importance and consequence in 1971, but 17 years later, I don’t know. It’s just not for me. No more Stairway to Heaven for me."
But last year, for the first time since Led Zeppelin's performance at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at London's O2 Arena on December 10, 2007, Plant performed the song at a gig in Oxfordshire organised by former Duran Duran/The Power Station guitarist Andy Taylor to raise money for The Cancer Platform charity.
In an exclusive new interview with Rolling Stone to promote an upcoming North American tour with Alison Krauss, Plant is asked how it felt to perform the song once more, and he replies, "It was cathartic."
"People go, 'Oh, that’s good. He never was going to do that'." he continues. "But I didn’t really do it! I just blurted it out. ‘Cause it’s such an important song to me for where I was at the time and where I was with Jimmy and with John and Bonzo. 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 writer Brian Hiatt says, 'I was thinking it could be the last time you ever sing that song. Would you be OK with that?', Plant responds," 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," he adds with a laigh. "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?"
Plant and Alison Krauss have lined up 28 dates in North America for their Can't Let Go Tour in June, August and September. Tickets go on sale on Friday, February 16. More details here.
