Editor’s Note: Tonight, Heart is performing in concert at USANA Amphitheatre along with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Cheap Trick. Fans would appear to be in for a special treat, as Heart has been closing shows on this “Rock Hall Three For All” tour with its powerful version of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” If you’ve seen the YouTube clip of Heart doing this song at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012, then you know what we’re talking about. During a phone interview with Daily Herald Features and Entertainment Editor Doug Fox in December, Heart’s Ann Wilson spoke for several minutes about that electrifying performance. Revisiting Wilson’s thoughts on the song, and the accompanying YouTube clip, seems like a good way to prep for tonight’s show. Enjoy! 

Three years ago this week, I was sitting on a downstairs couch in front of our big screen watching the Kennedy Center Honors unfold on national TV.

I’m not one to typically watch awards shows, but I am a fan of Led Zeppelin and the surviving members of the band were being honored that night. As it happened, I tuned in just prior to seeing Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson, along with Jason Bonham — the son of deceased Led Zep drummer John Bonham — and various other musicians walk on stage to perform “Stairway to Heaven.”

Now, the task of performing this iconic hit is not one to be taken lightly. In fact, its stature in classic rock lore is both the stuff of myth and legend. When you endeavor to tackle a song like that, you do so not with the intent of making it your own, but with the simple hope of doing it justice.

And … yet … as the song unfolded before my eyes and ears, danged if Heart and Co. didn’t come as close as otherworldly feasible to pulling off the impossible.

They accomplished this by melding the perfect complement of different and familiar parts. They did it with a chorus of background singers, and horn and string accompaniment. They did it with the curtain going up on a killer choir at precisely the right moment. They did it with Nancy Wilson’s delicate acoustic guitar touch. They did it on the strength of Ann Wilson’s soulful vocals — which handled both the soft and raucous demands of the song with unprecedented aplomb.

The song continued to gain momentum with the guitar solo and surprise choir entry, before hitting an ultimate apex at the 5:04 mark as Wilson belted out the line “to be a rock and not to roll” — holding onto the last word for a full seven seconds of near-scream intensity, yet in complete control of every vocal quiver.

While I had been on the edge of my seat for most of the song, that moment literally forced me off the couch and onto my feet — it was so moving and exhilarating all at the same time.

Add in the great camera closeups of the reactions from Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant — especially the latter, who was openly teary eyed — and it was obvious that they, too, were blown away. Unless you’re Meryl Streep, you just can’t fake that kind of genuine emotion.

Ann Wilson could have emphatically dropped the mic after that performance — and the song could literally be retired from public performance ever again, and I would be totally fine with it.

It was that good.

One of my favorite parts of this job is having the opportunity to talk to people who have created such amazing musical moments, and pick their brains about what they were thinking and experiencing when the magic happened.

So it was that when I had the chance to interview Wilson leading up to her New Year’s Eve solo concert at the Eccles Center in Park City, I was hoping she’d be interested in revisiting the Kennedy Center Honors performance for a few minutes.

Luckily for me, she was.

DOUG FOX: Let me just say that it is an honor to talk to the woman with the vocal prowess to make Robert Plant cry!

ANN WILSON: Well, thank you. I would say that there were probably a lot of different things going on in his head besides just listening to me sing at that moment, but thank you very much.

FOX: I know people probably mention that performance to you a lot, but do you mind if I ask you a couple questions about that right off the bat?

WILSON: No, I don’t mind.

FOX: I’m so excited about that because like a lot of people, I’m sure my experience was similar. But there are an endless supply of memories I have over the years of great performances in concert or whatever, that just really move you and make you feel great. But then there are moments which, when you are lucky enough to see them unfold, they just totally blow your mind. And I’ve got to say that the rendition of “Stairway to Heaven” that you pulled off — that whole production — literally the end of that song blew me off my couch.

WILSON: (Laughs) Thank you very much. Thank you.

FOX: What were you going through as you were performing it? Did you recognize that this was really something special, or did you have to dial it back in and focus on the performance? I’m just curious from your standpoint how that works.

WILSON: Well for me personally it was really important to be absolutely in the moment then. Because not only was it being filmed, being put on tape to be shown in the special later, it was in front on an audience that included the president, the first lady and all kinds of huge artistic luminaries … Yo-Yo Ma, well just all kinds of people who were my idols were sitting in the audience (laughs). And it was pretty intense to look out there and see them all. So it was important not to look out and notice them at that moment. Those moments (it’s important) to stay absolutely in the song and the words. That’s what I did. It was good because when a person can do that then they’re actually giving what they can really give, rather than just being reactive and going, “Oh my … look where I am!” When the performance was over, that was the time to sort of go, “Ohh!” you know?

FOX: Was there a moment in rehearsals where you realized this was going to be something special and really take off?

WILSON: In rehearsals it was more work because we were getting a version of the song that was short enough, they actually took out a verse of the song for length, because it was for TV, and that didn’t sit well with me. And they were going to have Jeff Beck play the guitar solo and then they decided against it, and that didn’t sit well with me, and so I had to sort of sit down and shut up a little bit during rehearsal (laughs). Because it was not just about how I wanted it to be, it was how all the group wanted it to be. It came out great. We actually had a really busy couple days. We got to Washington and did the first rehearsal, and got that all sorted out. Then got on a private jet and went to Florida and did a private (gig) with Heart. After the show we got back on the jet and went back to Washington and slept, and then got up and there was another big rehearsal. Then we went to the White House for a reception — went back, did the show and then had a big dinner with everybody. And so in two days — it was really a huge two days in my life just being up and at ’em and not skipping any beats.

FOX: So, like you were saying, in that time you had to kind of be in the moment and really concentrate on those things that you could do, but when you finally got to go back and watch the playback, and see what they showed on TV, especially with how emotionally affected Robert, John Paul and Jimmy were, what was that like for you?

WILSON: Well I didn’t see the playback until it actually showed on TV. So I was home and, you know, there were a whole lot of people at my house watching it — family and in-laws, and kids and everything. I didn’t really get to see Robert Plant’s reaction until I saw it on YouTube. Somebody on YouTube had really focused on his reaction and made a big closeup out of it, and that’s when it started to grow and get all those hits and go viral. That is when they checked out Robert Plant’s reaction. I wonder if that had not been in there, if it would have gone as far as it did — because people really did focus in on that, you know.

FOX: I guess my view, it might not have gone as far, but I think it definitely would have had a great impact because I know how I reacted when I saw it for the first time just on TV — but then to see all the reaction on YouTube and everything, to me that was just fantastic. And I imagine that for you to realize how that whole performance affected them in that moment — I mean you see it, at times he was right there, and at others, his mind might have been a million miles away, kind of, you know what I mean?

WILSON: Yeah. He was looking down at the stage and seeing the drum kit being played by the son of his best friend. And so I imagine that had a pretty big emotional impact on him because he and John Bonham were real close.

FOX: Right. And I know that Led Zeppelin has been a big influence growing up on you and Nancy — I’ve seen some of your shows and you seem to have Led Zeppelin covers in there. Overall the entire thing, where would you rank that in your career in things you’ve done?

WILSON: Well, it was a really sublime moment. I mean, it was really great. If I was going to cover any Led Zeppelin song, it would be that one I guess. I mean, that’s truly an iconic moment in their songwriting career I think. And the fact that we didn’t screw it up was a blessing from above (laughs).

FOX: I was going to ask that because not only on the surface is it kind of a logical choice, but it’s truly a gutsy one, because like you say, the risk is there that if you muff it up, that’s what everyone’s going to remember (laughs).

WILSON: Yeah, and it was also part of a tribute to Led Zeppelin, which had two or three other songs in it as you’ll recall. “Rock and Roll” and I can’t remember what else now. But, so when we heard that they were asking us to do the finale, I was really, really grateful for that. I mean just to be asked to be on that show at all was really something, really great.

FOX: Oh, one other question on that, did you pick the song or did they tell you to play the song?

WILSON: They picked the song. And we could just as easily have been asked to do “Rock and Roll” and it would have been not as cool.

FOX: Well, I’ve seen you do “Rock and Roll” as an opener in concert, and it’s very good — but “Stairway to Heaven,” and at the end, it was just a transcendent moment all the way around.

WILSON: Yeah, I agree.

FOX: Well, thanks so much for indulging me, but like I said, that’s kind of one of those moments that I look to. It’s like, “Wow, this is what’s so great about music. There’s so many things you can love and even after all these years, there can be a moment that just really hits you.” Those are so fun to be a part of and to share, and to be able to talk to you about it is really cool. I appreciate that.

WILSON: Well, thank you. Thank you very much.