“There’s a Feeling I Get When I Look To the West …”

Posted on September 2, 2013 by sheila

Heart performs “Stairway to Heaven” at the Kennedy Center Honors last year, where Led Zeppelin (and Dustin Hoffman and David Letterman) were being honored. I had somehow missed this clip, despite the fact that I love Heart, and I love Led Zeppelin. This is a powerhouse version of the song, and the giant choir in the background (which is revealed in full at around the 4:20 mark) pushes it over the edge into such an explosion of joy, celebration, and transcendence of pain. You can see it hit Robert Plant up in the balcony. The clips of his face are very emotional.

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15 Responses to “There’s a Feeling I Get When I Look To the West …”

  1. Todd Restler says:
    September 2, 2013 at 6:42 pm

    That was awesome. Cool to see Michelle Obama grooving to Zep! Plant and Page both looked awestruck, like they were hearing the song for the first time or something. Then it’s like, hey wait a minute, we WROTE that? I guess we were pretty good.

    Heart is awesome. One of my favorite performance ever was Nancy Wilson doing an accoustic solo of These Dreams. It gave me goosebumps. I’m not sure where I saw it (flipping around a few years ago), and I can’t find it online, but it’s one of those performances that I will never forget. Thanks for sharing this.

    Reply
    • sheila says:
      September 2, 2013 at 6:46 pm

      Yes, the looks on their faces as they watched that performance were just awe-struck. They couldn’t believe where the song went. When that choir is revealed – you see Plant exclaim, “Wow” or something like that. Amazing!!

      Reply
  2. Melissa Sutherland says:
    September 2, 2013 at 11:44 pm

    The Kennedy Awards are must-see TV for me every year. I might miss the Oscars or the Emmys (never miss the Tonys) but it’s my favorite award show. I have some on VHS tapes going back years. Will probably never watch them again, but love them. I remember being surprised that Stephen Colbert was the presenter for Yo Yo Ma. What a puzzlement. Turns out Stephen’s mother did a lot of fund raising and volunteer work for an organization that Yo Yo Ma was involved in, and they knew each other. Strange stories like this always come up with this show. Loved the clip. You always come up with things that surprise me.

    Reply
  3. Kate F says:
    September 3, 2013 at 1:21 pm

    Did you know that he and Patty Griffin are an item? They may just rival Diana Krall and Elvis Costello for coolest musical couple. You can see her a couple of times in the clip, sitting in back of him to the side. He sings two duets with her on her new album, American Kid, (tracks 3 and 7) and they are both haunting.

    Love you!

    Reply
    • sheila says:
      September 3, 2013 at 6:40 pm

      Kate – love you too!

      I thought I read somewhere that Patty Griffin de-bunked that rumor and said something like, “Robert Plant has a vivid imagination.” I so HOPED it was true though! I didn’t see her in the clips – will look again. Maybe it is true. It would be so cool.

      Reply
  4. mutecypher says:
    September 4, 2013 at 12:29 am

    Sheila! I’ve listened to several of Heart’s versions of Stairway to Heaven, this was just awesome. Good god, can you imagine performing this in front of them – and then just nailing it, owning it. And with Jason Bonham on the drums.

    It’s so cool watching JP, RP and JPJ – they just seem to love music so much. Page is completely into it, Plant is giving a critical listening and is won over, and Jones quickly gets into it. Wow, just wow.

    I forget if you’ve written about “It Might Get Loud,” but I so loved Jimmy playing air guitar to Link Wray, and talking about the house where they recorded LZ IV. And showing Jack Black and The Edge how to play Whole Lotta Love.

    Thank you so much for sharing this!

    Reply
      • sheila says:
        September 4, 2013 at 7:34 am

        Yes, Jason Bonham on drums is just so awesome – there’s so much emotion there, for obvious reasons.

        Speaking of Jack Black (not White), his speech at the Kennedy Center Honors was so wonderful – it’s also on Youtube – it was quite funny: “They wrote songs about love ……. they wrote songs about Vikings …… they wrote songs about Vikings making love ….”

        But it is so clear how in awe he is of those guys up in the balcony.

        I haven’t seen It Might Get Loud – I have to!

        Reply
  5. Kate F says:
    September 4, 2013 at 7:20 pm

    It’s totally true! They are together! She talks about it in Rolling Stone. She’s even moved to the UK to live with him. xo

    Reply
  6. Tracey K. says:
    September 4, 2013 at 9:54 pm

    this is wonderful, and I love the joy and amazement on Jimmy Page’s face at the end of the performance.

    Reply
  7. jackie says:
    September 6, 2013 at 5:09 pm

    The reverence on the face of the drummer put a little lump in my throat….

    Reply

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