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(Were particularly fond of Page mouthingfuck!when the second choir reveals itself.)
Do you often revisit this particular performance in your life?I havent seen it that many times.
Its surreal to me because my experience of those moments was from a whole different perspective.
It was like I was up onstage and I was not even …
I was taking care to not pay attention to anything but the exact moment.
I wasnt going,Wow, the Obamas are out there!
It was a moment of high visibility in my life.
Prior to being approached for this, where did Led Zeppelin fit within your pantheon of influences?
He never paid attention to that.
It fell to me to sing those songs.
I was a young 20-something woman copying Robert Plant and that showed me my rock voice.
How did the Kennedy Center present this idea to you?
They gave us an invitation through our management.
Or rather, it was way more cryptic than that.
It was like, Youre being considered for this very important event.
Of course we accepted and said wed be more than happy to play whatever theyd want.
It was only, like, several days before the actual event when they said Stairway to Heaven.
That moment was really something.
I thought,Fuck.
This is gonna be a big thing.That song is almost holy.
You dont want to do anything wrong; you want to do everything super right.
Jeff Beck was originally going to do the guitar for Shane Fontayne.
As it was, Jeff was also there to honor Buddy Guy.
He does his own thing; Jeff is his own element.
It just didnt work out with him.
Thats all the rehearsal we really had.
We were probably up there for 30 or 45 minutes, not even a full hour.
It was quite exciting and very professionally done, of course.
There were probably 80 people involved in total.
Its very thrilling and a dream.
Its the Christmas season, so the place was all dressed up.
The bowl of water in this case was the song.
And then wed freak out afterwards.
It was really authentic.
The emotions involved in performing that were wide awake and in the moment.
What enhanced that authenticity?The beauty of the song and the poetry of the lyrics.
Stairway to Heaven represents a whole universe of Led Zeppelin and so many people love that song.
Something about unity.Hey, theres a better day coming.That message is ancient and pure and universal.
Thats what I felt performing it.
Thats why I almost teared up singing it its so beautiful.
What was your interaction with the band like afterwards?
Ive worked with John Paul before, and hes such a gentleman.
He was also friendly and open about it, as was Jimmy.
Listen, Robert and Jimmy are the guardians of the Zeppelin gate.
You really want approval fromthem.
Not to be an armchair psychologist, but what do you think was going through their minds?
Jimmy is smiley and twinkly.
John Paul is both.
It probably brought back a lot of nice memories.
Our production of Stairway to Heaven was probably the biggest and most epic one Ive ever seen, anywhere.
It goes through this gate of introspective to being big, muscular, aggressive, and soulful.
That was my favorite part.
Feeling that energy coil up and then open.
Have your views of the performance changed over the past eight years?
It hit listeners not only with their ears, but in their hearts and souls.
I wish you couldve seen that audience.
It didnt matter what genre they were in.
Everybody was all misty when that was going on.
Ill never forget that.
It was the most beautiful thing.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
