Robert Plant’s first performance of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven in 16 years prompted by fan’s “six-figure”charity donation

Robert Plant performs Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven for the first time in 16 years after a fan donated a large “six-figure” sum to charity.

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According to a new interview with Reef and Goldray guitarist Kenwyn House – who played alongside Plant – the performance of the iconic Led Zeppelin track was prompted by a six-figure charity donation.

The performance took place at Oxfordshire’s Soho Farmhouse last Saturday (21 October) and was organised by former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor to raise money for The Cancer Platform.

An Evening with Andy Taylor and Special Guests also included performances from Ella Henderson and former Pink Floyd bassist Guy Pratt, and a fine art auction featuring works by Banksy and Picasso.

“Someone bid a huge amount of money for him to sing this song,” explained House to Led Zeppelin News. “There is a good circle of karma around it. That raised a six-figure sum for the charity, that one song.”

“It was a combination between über excitement and terrifying… I literally only had four days to learn everything,” he explains.

“When Robert Plant walked into the room and I had to play Stairway To Heaven with him for the first time in a small enclosed environment, that was probably the most pressured professional situation I have ever, ever come across,” House continued. “I’m in a small room with my hero playing the most famous of his songs.”

You can watch a clip of the performance below:

The “six-figure” sum, or the anonymous donor, has not been revealed by Andy Taylor or any of the other organisers at the event.

The last time Plant performed Stairway to Heaven in public was at the O2 Arena in 2007, which was later released as the Celebration Day concert film. However, back in 2019 the frontman admitted that he could no longer “relate” to the song.