Robert Plant recently explained why getting back together with Led Zeppelin felt ‘nerve-wracking’ while talking to Mojo.
The frontman was discussing Led Zeppelin’s 2007 Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Show at London’s O2 Arena. The gig marked the band’s first public performance in years, as late drummer John Bonham’s son, Jason, had filled in for his father.
Still, it seemed that Plant had his doubts about the gig, as he said:
“It was nerve-wracking because we were already missing John Bonham. The responsibility the four of us had that night, the 10th of December in London, was a responsibility to ourselves; to get it right with enough feeling, because we hadn’t visited it as a way of being for such a long, long time.”
He continued by explaining how the band felt the tribute show was a chance for them to finally bid farewell for ‘once and all:’
“It [the show] was ‘Goodbye Ahmet [Ertegün]’ and it was, ‘Goodbye, everything, it’s been fantastic!’ So it worked, and it was good, and that was it.”
The show drew many names from rock royalty such as Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Queen’s Roger Taylor, and Oasis’ Noel and Liam Gallagher; all of whom there to pay respect to Ertegun and watch Led Zeppelin reunite for the first time in years.