Robert Plant performs Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway To Heaven' for first time in 16 years
At a charity concert
Last updated 24th Oct 2023
Robert Plant performed Led Zeppelin’s timeless anthem ‘Stairway To Heaven’ at a charity concert over the weekend.
The 75-year-old rock legend performed as part of a band at a fundraising event at Soho Farmhouse in the Cotswolds on Saturday 21st October.
All proceeds were donated to the Cancer Awareness Trust, a charitable cause that looks to develop a new platform for ease of information for those suffering from the disease.
The evening was the brainchild of former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor, who is battling stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer.
The impromptu band that took to the stage featured Plant on vocals and Andy Taylor on guitar alongside 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.
The band’s performance of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’ 40 minutes into their set, marked the first time Robert Plant has sung it on stage since Led Zep’s Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at London’s The O2 back in December 2007.
The 20 greatest Led Zeppelin songs of all time
Other tracks performed by Plant and co. on Saturday included ‘Black Dog,’ ‘Thank You’ and ‘Season Of The Witch.’
Sharing a photo after the event, Dino Jelusick wrote: “Performed with Robert Plant and Andy Taylor last night.
“Cancer Fund Charity event in UK was surreal on so many levels. Truly grateful to be a part of this and to be a part of this gang (more plans in the future regarding this event)
“Performing with Andy Taylor from Duran Duran who's recovering from stage IV cancer is beyond inspiring.
“Doing Led Zeppelin tunes with R. Plant has been unforgetable. This was a 2nd time he has done Zeppelin tunes in over 30 years (last one being on Zepp reunion in O2 Arena in 2007).”
Guy Pratt wrote on Instagram: “Well that was fun. Soo good to be reunited with my old rythmn partner David Palmer and play with Andy Taylor for the first time in 25 years.. AND ROBERT PLANT!!! Who was just amazing and such a lovely chap. I’ve now played Black Dog with Page and Plant. Box tick! And for an amazing cause.”
50 facts about Led Zeppelin's album covers:
'Led Zeppelin' (1969)
1] The seminal cover to Led Zeppelin's eponymous debut album features a black-and-white image of the Hindenburg disaster, which occurred on 6th May 1937 in Manchester Township, New Jersey. The vast airship LZ 129 Hindenburg burst into flames while trying to dock at Naval Air Station Lakehurst following a transatlantic flight resulting in the deaths of 36 people.
2] Although there were many images of the Hindenburg disaster due to the assembled media waiting for the airship to land, it was Sam Shere's powerful photograph that proved to be the most enduring. In 2016 Time Magazine listed it as among the 100 most influential images of all time.
'Led Zeppelin' (1969)
3] Graphic designer George Hardie created the cover illustration from the iconic photograph by rendering it in ink using a radiograph pen to avoid potential copyright issues. Hardie also worked with Hipgnosis in the 1970s on Pink Floyd's timeless covers for 'The Dark Side of the Moon' and 'Wish You Were Here'.
4] Explaining why he picked the image of the Hindenburg disaster, Jimmy Page told Time Magazine in 2016: "The idea of it was to use the impact of this but use it in a graphic interpretation. The fact is that it was the right thing to do because it's really an iconic image plus it's Led Zeppelin's first album so it's really good to go in there – not quite like a lead balloon – but like a streaming rocket. I'm sure that people know that phrase 'going down like a lead balloon' and it was a sort of play on words if you like; a play on attitudes even. It's a dramatic incident, it's a dramatic album, it's a dramatic statement."
'Led Zeppelin' (1969)
5] The very short-lived initial 'Led Zeppelin' pressings – estimated to be less than 2,000 copies - featured the album title and Atlantic Records logo in turquoise. Weeks later, the colours were switched to the now familiar orange version. Highly sought after by record collectors, an original turquoise version fetched $1,890 (around £1,450) on eBay in 2012.
6] Although he helped create one of the most iconic album covers of all time, Hardie doesn't rate it highly. He showed Jimmy Page a number of album cover ideas including "a multiple sequential image of a zeppelin" based on a club sign in San Francisco but they were rejected. Eventually creating an illustration of the Hindenburg photo at Page's suggestion, the then Royal College of Art student didn't include the artwork in his degree show. He explained to Eye On Design: "I didn't think Led Zeppelin was a very good bit of work, apart from millions of copies being around, and the fact I was paid $60. I didn't put it in my show because it wasn't really a proper idea, and there wasn't enough original thought in it."
'Led Zeppelin II' (1969)
7] Keeping things early 20th Century German-themed, the front cover of 'Led Zeppelin II' is based on a photo of Baron Manfred von Richthofen (pictured sitting in the cockpit of his Albatros fighter) and his 'Flying Circus' Jagdstaffel 11 Division during World War I in 1917. Nicknamed The Red Baron and widely considered the ace-of-aces of the war, von Richthofen shot down more than 80 aircraft before he himself died when he suffered the same fate near Vaux-sur-Somme, France aged 25 in 1918.
8] The album cover design was created by David Juniper, a fellow student of Jimmy Page's at Sutton Art College in Surrey. Simply asked to come up with an interesting idea, he airbrushed John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham's faces onto members of von Richthofen's squadron from a 1969 press photo of the band.
'Led Zeppelin II' (1969)
9] Decades before digital illustration, Juniper used a combination of collage, photography and airbrush illustration to create the sleeve. He commented: "(It) was groundbreaking for me because the traditional airbrush technique was very tricky, especially when compared to today's digital equivalents. The cover imagery was completely experimental and I liked the combination of the abstract ghostly Zeppelin shape along with a faded sepia WW1 photo of German Aviators. All the faces were replaced or altered with sunglasses and beards on some of the pilots."
10] Interestingly, Baron Manfred von Richthofen doesn't feature on Juniper's 'Led Zeppelin II' cover at all as the cockpit, where he's sitting in the original photograph, is obscured by plumes of smoke emanating from the silhouette of the Zeppelin airship.
'Led Zeppelin II' (1969)
11] Other faces featured on the cover include Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant (pictured above), tour manager Richard Cole, astronaut Neil Armstrong (however, some have speculated this is fellow astronaut Frank Borman), Andy Warhol's friend Mary Woronov (again, others contend this is actress Glynis John; a play on the name of recording engineer Glyn Johns) and jazz legend Miles Davis.
12] 'Led Zeppelin II' was nicknamed 'The Brown Bomber' in reference to the sepia tinted cover, the depiction of the bombing squadron, the silhouette of the Zeppelin airship and, most importantly, the explosive music contained within.
'Led Zeppelin III' (1970)
13] The cover of 'Led Zeppelin III' was created by innovative artist Zacron, aka Surrey born Richard Drew, who first met Jimmy Page while studying at Kingston Collage of Art in 1963. Zacron said of their friendship in the sixties: "Jimmy visited my studio and in his home we discussed art and music. We decorated our guitars with experimental materials and designs, I made liquid projections using hot oils and strobes linked to the music of Jimmy Hendrix."
14] Several years later, Page personally asked Zacron to create the sleeve on 24th January 1970 when Led Zeppelin were playing a gig at Leeds University Union where Zacron taught. Months later they met up again to take portrait photographs of the band to use on the cover.
'Led Zeppelin III' (1970)
15] Both the inside and outside of the gatefold cover feature a smorgasbord of images with a number of them related to the theme of flight; zeppelin airships, UFOs, butterflies, birds, hot air balloons, fighter planes and dragonflies included. According to Zacron.com: "Each component became a formal abstract element, interacting with all the images to make a unified whole. The work created a surrealist environment, changing relative concepts of scale and subject matter. The square format became a visual theatre in which images could appear to move and have their own energy, some moved beyond the boundary."
16] Behind the vinyl album cover is a rotating laminated wheel – known as a volvelle – containing more random psychedelic images and photos of the band members that could be maneuvered to appear through holes in the cover. Zacron said of the visually complex artwork in 1970: "An album cover is not sound packaging, but an area of visual communication, an opportunity to put visual art and audio art together in a joint arena."
'Led Zeppelin III' (1970)
17] The back cover of the first pressings of the record feature composite photos of the four Led Zeppelin members taken by Zacron. The artist said he selected the photos as they showed the band "as the giant force they were in music." This image was used on the front cover on certain international editions of the record.
18] The vinyl on some early editions of 'Led Zeppelin III' is inscribed with the words 'So Mote Be It' and/or 'Do What Thou Wilt' on the run-out groove. The virtually identical 'So mote it be' is a ritual phrase used by Freemasons and modern pagans, while 'Do What Thou Wilt' is the first part of 'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law'; the ethos of Aleister Crowley's 20th Century religion of Thelema.
'Led Zeppelin IV' (1971)
19] Led Zep's fourth album is completely devoid of the band's name and album title on the cover. Explaining the reasoning behind this, Jimmy Page told Brad Tolinksi in 2001: "The cover wasn't meant to antagonize the record company. It was designed as our response to the music critics who maintained that the success of our first three albums was driven by hype and not talent. So, we stripped everything away, and let the music do the talking."
20] Robert Plant bought the rustic oil painting of the old man carrying sticks that adorns the cover from an antiques shop in Reading, Berkshire. It's thought to originate from the 19th Century and its current whereabouts are unknown.
'Led Zeppelin IV' (1971)
21] Instead of a title, each band member chose their own personal emblem to feature on the record. Page designed his own 'ZoSo' symbol based on a renaissance icon for Saturn or Capricorn, while Plant based his feather design on a symbol for the fabled 'lost continent' of Mu. Jones (a single circle intersecting three vesica pisces) and Bonham (three interlocking rings) picked their symbols from German type designer Rudolf Koch's Book of Signs. Page commented years later: "John Paul Jones and John Bonham just said, 'Oh, we'll pick these, you know, sure, whatever,' they weren't that interested."
'Led Zeppelin IV' (1971)
22] To create the cover, the painting was hung on the inside wall of a dilapidated, partially demolished suburban house. The block of flats that can been seen on the back sleeve of the gatefold is Salisbury Tower, a 20-storey tower block on Middleway View in the Ladywood district of Birmingham. Completed in 1968, the tower is 57 metres tall and contains 116 flats.
'Led Zeppelin IV' (1971)
23] The inside sleeve of the gatefold contains a painting called The Hermit by artist Barrington Coleby. The Gandalf-esque figure is actually based on The Hermit (IX) card from the popular Ride-Waite tarot. Jimmy Page played the role of The Hermit during a fantasy scene in Zeppelin's 1976 movie 'The Song Remains the Same.'
24] In 2010 the cover was selected to appear on a set of Royal Mail stamps celebrating iconic albums from the last 40 years. Other sleeves features included The Rolling Stones' 'Let It Bleed' and David Bowie's 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'.
'Houses of the Holy' (1973)
25] The otherworldly cover image that adorns Led Zeppelin's fifth studio album is a collage of several photographs taken at the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis fame. The 40,000 interlocking and mostly hexagonal basalt columns are the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption some 50 to 60 million years ago.
26] The artwork was inspired by Arthur C. Clarke's 1953 science fiction book Childhood's End. Aubrey Powell told Rolling Stone in 2017: "In the end of that book, there was this image of all the children of the Earth rising up in this great firestorm and going up into outer space. Storm (Thorgerson) and I were very interested in that kind of thing. We loved William Blake, Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí – surreal imagery and esoteric writing. So, we presented Led Zeppelin that."
'Houses of the Holy' (1973)
27] The two children on the cover were siblings Stefan and Samantha Gates who were aged five and seven respectively. Stefan Gates is now a television presenter and food writer who is perhaps best known for his documentary series Cooking in the Danger Zone. Stefan listened to 'Houses of the Holy' for the very first time on a boombox at Giant's Causeway in 2010 for a BBC show called Stefan Gates' Cover Story.
28] In parts of America, the album was issued with a strip of paper around the cover to obscure the children's bottoms. Powell remarked to Rolling Stone: "If you did an album cover like that now, you couldn't release it. Naked children on the cover? But it was done with such innocence." Defending the sleeve, he added: "When you look at the Louvre's paintings, it's full of naked children. Nobody complains about that. So this is a piece of art. It's not something that was, in any way, devious."
'Houses of the Holy' (1973)
29] Aubrey Powell also submitted an alternate sleeve idea with the 'Zoso' symbol "bulldozed" into the plains of Nazca in Peru in the style of the Nazca Lines - a series of massive geoglyphs created between 500 BC and 500 CE. Unfazed by the meteoric costs involved in creating the sleeve, which included shooting from a helicopter, Peter Grant told Powell: "You decide which one you want to do. We're going on a tour of Japan. We'll see you when we get back in about six weeks." Ultimately Powell opted for the Giant's Causeway sleeve and the rest, they say, is history.
'Houses of the Holy' (1973)
30] The inner gatefold was taken at the medieval Dunluce Castle near the Giant's Causeway and depicts a silver man holding up the young girl. Upon being presented with the artwork in the carpark of London's Victoria Station, Jimmy Page immediately wanted the inner sleeve and the cover switched. Despite Peter Grant prodding Powell and strongly maintaining "we'll have what we want", the designer eventually managed to persuade them to keep the Giant's Causeway image on the front.
'Physical Graffiti' (1975)
31] Abandoning the usual gatefold design, for 'Physical Graffiti' Led Zeppelin opted for a die-cut cover of two side-by-side tenement buildings located at 96 and 98 St. Mark's Place in New York's East Village. As you can see from the image below, artist Peter Corriston and designer Mike Doud were forced to crop out the top floor of the five-storey buildings so they would fit onto the square sleeve better. The front cover is a daytime shot, while the back is at night.
32] Echoing the volvelle (rotating wheel) on Led Zeppelin III, 'Physical Graffiti' has two inner sleeves – one for each LP – and a middle insert cover featuring images that can be seen through the die cut windows; essentially creating different visuals for the cover depending on which way the sleeves are inserted. The white inner features the song titles and the album title 'Physical Graffiti' that can be viewed through the windows.
'Physical Graffiti' (1975)
33] Among the eclectic famous faces featured on the LP sleeves are JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, astronaut Neil Armstrong, Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra (a film in which Peter Grant had a cameo), King Kong, the Virgin Mary, Judy Garland, members of Led Zeppelin, Peter Grant, body builder Charles Atlas, Queen Elizabeth, Laurel & Hardy, W.C. Fields, Marcel Duchamp and Pope Leo XIII.
34] The Rolling Stones' video for their 1981 single 'Waiting on a Friend' was filmed on the front steps of #96 St. Mark's Place in an apparent nod to Led Zeppelin. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards meet on the steps of #96 before walking to the corner of 1st Avenue to the meet with the rest of The Rolling Stones.
'Physical Graffiti' (1975)
35] The concept for the cover was allegedly inspired by the sleeve on Puerto Rican guitarist Jose Feliciano's 1973 album 'Compartments'. The cover was designed by Frank Mulvey and featured inner illustrations by Bernie Karlin.
36] 'Physical Graffiti' was nominated for the best album package Grammy Award in 1976 but lost out to the Jim Ladwig designed sleeve for 'Honey' by Ohio Players. In fact 'Led Zeppelin II', 'Houses of the Holy', 'Presence' and 'In Through the Out Door' were also all nominated in the same category from 1970 to 1980 but Led Zeppelin failed to pick up one win.
'Presence' (1976)
37] Led Zeppelin once again drafted in Hipgnosis and George Hardie to create the surreal artwork for the seventh studio album. Jimmy Page gave Hipgnosis' Aubrey Powell three weeks to formulate some ideas for the cover and, just like with Houses of the Holy three years earlier, Page didn't divulge any information about the record including the title, song names or what musical direction the band were taking.
38] It was Powell's idea to feature a black object on the cover (referred to as 'The Object' and 'The Obelisk') loosely based on the otherworldly and mysterious black monoliths in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey that affect human evolution. Arthur C. Clarke's book of the same name was developed concurrently with the movie, meaning that 'Presence' is the second Led Zeppelin album cover to have links to the science fiction writer after 'Houses of the Holy'.
'Presence' (1976)
39] Powell has stated that the object was intended to represent the "presence" of Led Zeppelin and it ultimately gave the record its title, as Jimmy Page explains: "There was no working title for the album. The record-jacket designer said 'When I think of the group, I always think of power and force. There's a definite presence there.' That was it. He wanted to call it 'Obelisk'. To me, it was more important what was behind the obelisk. The cover is very tongue-in-cheek, to be quite honest. Sort of a joke on 2001: A Space Odyssey. I think it's quite amusing."
40] Explaining why the black object was placed in a number of everyday situations on the front and back cover and inner gatefold, Aubrey Powell told Rolling Stone: "This was something you needed to live. It was food. It was a symbol of energy, of power, which is what Led Zeppelin were." He added: "It was so brave of a very, very heavy rock band to take such a surreal idea. I mean, a family sitting at a boat show with a black object on the front is that Led Zeppelin? I don't think so. But if you take it another way, yes, it is Led Zeppelin. On the back cover, you've got a school teacher with a child with a black object on the desk teaching the child. The power of teaching. You know, it's all there. Again, I take my hat off to band for having the balls to take such an outrageous idea. It's all about power. That's what Led Zeppelin were about: power."
'Presence' (1976)
41] The background of the striking cover image is an artificial marina that was installed at a Boat Show inside the Earl's Court Exhibition Centre in the winter of 1974 to 1975. Led Zeppelin played a fabled five-night residency of the now demolished West London venue in May of '75.
42] To promote the album, Led Zeppelin's label Swan Song enlisted the Alva Museum Graphics in New York to produce 1,000 individually numbered 12" replicas of 'The Object'. Unsurprisingly these replicas are now highly sought-after collectors' items and in February 2013 one fetched $2,000 (£1,500) on eBay despite being chipped and not coming in the original cardboard box.
'In Through the Out Door' (1979)
43] The artwork for Led Zeppelin's eighth and final studio album was the brainchild of Hipgnosis legend Storm Thorgerson. Mimicking bootleg records of the day, the album came in a sleeve that resembled a brown paper bag that was rubber stamped with Led Zeppelin's name and the album title on the front, and the Icarus logo and song titles on the back.
44] Beneath the brown sleeve, the album was issued with six different front and back covers; 12 different images in total that depicted a different viewpoint of the same scene at almost exactly the same time. Each of the six sleeve pairs is identifiable by a letter code (A-F) at the top of the spine of the record.
'In Through the Out Door' (1979)
45] The covers all depict a man wearing a sharp white suit in a bar burning a Dear John Letter (a letter to a lover ending their romantic relationship; the equivalent of dumping someone by text nowadays). There are six people watching the man in total – a paunchy man holding a coat by the door, a blonde woman next to the bar, the barman, a lady guffawing at the end of the bar, a piano player and a brunette woman by the jukebox.
46] Although it looks as though the cover was shot in an American bar, the photo session in fact took place in a London studio. The recreation was allegedly based on a photo of the famous Old Absinthe House in New Orleans, Louisiana.
'In Through the Out Door' (1979)
47] The inner LP sleeve features a black-and-white close-up sketch of the burnt Dear John letter, a broken glass, peanuts, the white-suited man's cigar and lighter, coins and a dollar bill. Tying in with the brush stroke on the cover(s), when water was applied to the original 1979 sleeve with a wet brush, it ingeniously permanently transformed into a colour image – many fans discovered this brilliant gimmick by accident.
48] Explaining why the cover is a brown tinge and has a brush stroke, Storm Thorgerson said in his book 'Eye of the Storm': "The sepia quality was meant to evoke a non-specific past and to allow the brushstroke across the middle to be better rendered in colour and so make a contrast. This self same brushstroke was like the swish of a wiper across a wet windscreen, like a lick of fresh paint across a faded surface, a new look to an old scene, which was what Led Zeppelin told us about their album. A lick of fresh paint, as per Led Zeppelin, and the music on this album..."
'Coda (1982)'
49] The more simplistic sleeve for the compilation album, released two years after Led Zeppelin disbanded following John Bonham's death, was once again designed by Hipgnosis; their fifth for the band if you include 1976 live album 'The Song Remains The Same'. It was also Hipgnosis' final album cover before the art design group dissolved and went their separate ways.
50] The main four letters CODA are from an alphabet typeface design called "Neon" designed by Bernard Allum in 1978.
Led Zeppelin's career in photos:
1968: Career beginnings
When Jimmy Page's band The Yardbirds decided to disband in 1968, the guitarist began his search for a new band. Before long, he had joined forces with vocalist Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham and bassist John Paul Jones to become The New Yardbirds and embarked on a tour of Scandinavia.
By October 1968, they had changed their name to Led Zeppelin, which was inspired by comments made by several musicians about their chances of going down like a lead balloon. They played their first show as Led Zeppelin later that month at the University of Surrey. Atlantic Records signed the young band in November 1968 without even seeing them, thanks to the growing hype for British bands in the US.
1969: First and second album in one year
Led Zeppelin released their self-titled debut album in early 1969, which was an overnight commercial success in both the UK and US, reaching the Top 10 in both album charts. To take advantage of the momentum from their first album, the group impressively released their second album 'Led Zeppelin II' later that same year.
Despite being predominantly recorded while the band were touring, 'Led Zeppelin II' was an even bigger hit than their first record and reached Number 1 in the UK and US. Their popularity only continued to grow upon the release of the single 'Whole Lotta Love', which sold over 1 million copies and reached Number 4 on the US Billboard chart.
1970-1972: A new folk-inspired sound
'Led Zeppelin III', the band's third and more folk-inspired album, was released in October 1970 and featured hit single 'Immigrant Song'. Even with a brand new sound, the album reached Number 1 in both the US and the UK. The following year the band released their fourth album which, despite being untitled, is often referred to as 'Led Zeppelin IV', 'IV' or 'Four Symbols'. The four symbols featured on the album cover represent each member of the band, plus being a nod to their fourth studio album.
With an estimated 37 million copies sold, 'Led Zeppelin IV' is one of the best-selling albums in rock history and raised the band's profile even higher. While it was never released as a single, album track 'Stairway to Heaven' is arguably one of the band's most popular songs.
1973: North American tour
Led Zeppelin's next album 'Houses Of The Holy' was released in March 1973 and topped charts around the world. Later that year, the band embarked on a North American tour which included three sold-out shows at Madison Square Gardens in New York. They travelled in style, roaming from city to city in The Starship (pictured), a Boeing 720 bought by singer Bobby Sherman and his manager Ward Sylvester, and leased out to touring musicians.
1974: Launch of record label Swan Song
When their contract with Atlantic Records ended in 1974, Led Zeppelin took a break from touring and launched Swan Song, their own record label. As well as using the label to promote Led Zeppelin albums, the band also started signing artists such as Bad Company and Maggie Bell.
1975-1976: 'Physical Graffiti' and tour hiatus
Led Zeppelin released the double album 'Physical Graffiti' in February 1975, the first release on their newly-established Swan Song label. The album was a massive commercial and critical success, which debuted at Number 1 in the UK and Number 3 in the US. Shortly after the release of 'Physical Graffiti, the band embarked on yet another North American tour.
The band were forced to go on a short hiatus from touring after frontman Robert Plant and his wife Maureen were both injured in a serious car crash in Greece whilst on holiday. In March 1976, the band released their seventh album, 'Presence' which reached the top of the charts in the US and UK. Still unable to tour due to Plant's injuries, Led Zeppelin completed their concert film 'The Song Remains The Same', released in October 1976.
1977-1979: Guinness World Record win
Once Plant had made a full recovery, Led Zeppelin went back on tour in 1977 and made it into the Guinness Book of Records for playing to an audience of over 76,000; the largest attendance for a single act show at that time. In late 1978, the band released 'In Through The Out Door', which, like the majority of their previous albums, reached Number 1 in the UK, US, Canada and New Zealand. The following year, Led Zeppelin headlined two shows at Knebworth Music Festival.
1980: John Bonham's death
On 25th September 1980, John Bonham sadly passed away from asphyxiation in his sleep after drinking heavily the day before. He was just 32 years old. He has since been hailed as one of the greatest drummers of all time. Led Zeppelin cancelled their upcoming North American tour and in December, the remaining members of the band released a statement stating that they would be disbanding.
1982-1988: Reunion at Live Aid
In November 1982, a collection of Led Zeppelin outtakes and unused tracks known as 'Coda' was released. It included tracks from the band's performances at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970 and from the sessions for 'Led Zeppelin III', 'Houses Of The Holy' and 'In Through the Out Door'.
Plant, Page and Jones reunited to play two one-off shows. The first was at the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia in 1985 and the second was for Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988, where they played with Bonham's son Jason on drums.
1990s: Plant and Page
After reuniting once again for a 90-minute 'UnLedded' MTV project in 1994, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page formed the duo Plant and Page, releasing an album called 'Walking into Clarksdale' in 1998. Led Zeppelin were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 by Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. The event was attended by Plant, Page and Jones along with Bonham's children, Jason and Zoë Bonham, who were there to represent their late father.
2000s: Another Guinness World Record
In 2003, the triple live album 'How the West Was Won' and the Led Zeppelin DVD were released. The DVD, which features six hours of live footage, became the best-selling music DVD in history. Led Zeppelin, along with Jason Bonham, reunited again to headline the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at London's O2 Arena in December 2007. This was the band's first show in 27 years, setting a Guinness World Record in 2009 for the highest demand of tickets for one music concert, after 20 million ticket requests were submitted online.
2010s: Anniversaries, commemorations and honours
'Celebration Day', a Led Zeppelin concert film, was released in October 2012. The film showcased the band's 2007 performance at London's O2 Arena and grossed $2 million in one night. The accompanying live album sold an estimated 1.8 million copies.
The surviving members of Led Zeppelin - Plant, Page and Jones - were all awarded The Kennedy Center Honors by President Barack Obama in December 2012. This is the US' highest award for "lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts." In 2015, Led Zeppelin re-released their 2007 'Mothership' compilation album which featured remastered versions of the band's songs. The album was a commercial success and went on to go double Platinum. The band also released a book called 'Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin in 2018 to commemorate the band's 50th anniversary.
2020-2021: Tour and documentary news
Despite fans keeping their fingers crossed for another Led Zeppelin reunion, Jimmy Page stated in an interview in 2020: "It seems really unlikely that there would be a tour in the future. Unlike The Rolling Stones, they do sort of know that the fans love that – I know that with Led Zeppelin fans too. But it doesn't look as though there's anything in the future, unfortunately."
After being delayed due to the pandemic, the first official trailer for the Led Zeppelin documentary, Becoming Led Zeppelin, was released in September 2021. The documentary, set for release this year, features brand new interviews with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones, as well as never before seen interviews with the late John Bonham. The band's website describes the documentary as "the definitive telling of the birth of Led Zeppelin."
2021: 50 years of 'Stairway to Heaven'
In November 2021, Led Zeppelin celebrates the 50th anniversary of their legendary track 'Stairway to Heaven'. The song was first released on 8th November 1971, and is now often regarded as 'one of the greatest and most iconic rock songs of all time'.