“I lost my virginity to the first two minutes of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and spent the next 11 minutes of it apologizing.” “As a performer, the last thing you want to do is bomb in front of Led Zeppelin,” he said.
The 10 Wildest Led Zeppelin Legends, Fact-Checked The Zeppelin tribute, the night’s longest, was saved for last, though the rock gods’ presence was noted throughout the evening, as when Ray Romano opened his tribute to Letterman by acknowledging his nerves.
Zeppelin’s three surviving members, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page, sat down the row from President and Michelle Obama in the balcony, next to the other honorees, all wearing the rainbow-colored sash and medal that had been given at a White House ceremony hours earlier. Other honorees included blues trailblazer Buddy Guy, ballerina Natalia Makarova, David Letterman and Dustin Hoffman. Sunday night as the band received the Kennedy Center Honors in the annual gala tribute, to be broadcast on CBS December 26th. A generation of acolytes including Jack Black, the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz and Heart paid hard-rocking tribute to Led Zeppelin in Washington D.C.