Heart Reflect On Epic Performance Of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway To Heaven'

Michael Angulia | 07-29-2024

AXS TV have shared a new video clip of Nancy and Ann Wilson of Heart sharing the story of the night that they performed Led Zeppelin's classic track "Stairway to Heaven".

The clip comes from their appearance on The Big Story With Dan Rather. According to the network, "the performance was so powerful that it brought [Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and [Lead guitarist and founder] Jimmy Page to tears." Here is a partial transcript of Ann and Nancy discussing the performance:

Ann: It was a Sublime night, it was just one of those life-changing things. We had
played a Heart show the night before down in Florida, so we leased a private
jet the day before there was a rehearsal in Washington DC for the Kennedy Center Honors, so we did that, flew down to Florida did our show, flew
back to Washington, got up early went to the Kennedy Center and did the rehearsal for the show that night and then went to the White House for a
reception.

[We] came back and got ready to do the performance and it was all so machine
like and so much security and very dream like because here you are it's Christmas time, it's Washington DC, it's beautiful you know.

She continues: We're up to the moment where we're standing backstage just about to walk on to do the ultimate Rock Anthem [Nancy interjects, "I just got
nervous again (laughs)] and we looked at each other I remember just before we walked on and we both kind of went jeez.

Nancy: Then we had two skull rings that we bump together like kind of
a like you know a Talisman for power, bringing power in and we took it real
really deep breath.

Ann: And we remembered the old meditation trick of when your mind feels like a pinball machine, you just reach out and gather all the balls and gently bring them all in and that's what we did and then walked out and did the song.

Ann: Then when it was over, fell apart you know, just like all the pinballs went you know. But um it was a quiet really quiet, timeless moment of actually doing the song, I felt really focused and pull in and really in it.

Nancy: I think part of the amazing emotion of that night during that song two was the fact that Jason Bonham, the son of their previous now deceased drummer John Bonham, was on the drums too. And so a lot of people say oh you made Led Zeppelin cry, was like I don't think it was only about that I think it was a lot about yeah their Rock family and seeing the fruition and you know the
beautiful uh echoing forward of the generations of their own Rock Family. Watch the full clip below: