The Greatest 'Stairway To Heaven' Cover Ever In Honor Of Dave Grohl Playing It This Weekend

'Stairway to Heaven' earned the notorious 'FORBIDDEN RIFF' moniker over the years, banned from Guitar Centers across the world (with the help of Wayne's World) because of how overplayed it became at some point decades before I was born.

Very few can get away with covering 'Stairway' without being met with an eyeroll and a groan at this point - but Dave Grohl is one of those that actually could get away with it, and took advantage of that this weekend in Curitiba, Brazil!

After finishing the intro, Dave laughs and says "I have NEVER done that before in my life!" - and while that may be true as far as live Foo Fighters shows - it's not COMPLETELY true, considering this hysterical cover exists….

Just wait for that solo to hit - Dave plays it just as well as Jimmy Page ever did!

Seriously, though, let's talk about the greatest 'Stairway to Heaven' cover ever: done by Heart and Jason Bonham at the Kennedy Center Honors….

Advertisement

If you've never seen this, I'd slap a MUST WATCH tag on it. Jason Bonham surprised everyone in Led Zeppelin and they didn't realize he'd be involved in this until he walked on stage.

Watching the emotion pour out of Robert Plant as he is mesmerized by Ann and Nancy Wilson's performance is almost as good as watching Jimmy Page count out every note in the solo, making sure the guitar player is doing it right. 

By the time the choir kicks in for the "And as we wind on down the road…" section - if you don't have chills, I'm not sure you have a pulse. That shit could bring tears to my eyes.

For me, this is like the 2004 Rock N Roll Hall of Fame performance of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (with the Prince solo) in that I've come back to it on YouTube CONSTANTLY over the years - probably at least one a month. It's the most overplayed song in the Zep catalogue and yet I still can't get enough of this video. Some performances are special enough to transcend that, I guess.