5/6/2013
By Ivan Pereira
Even Bill Clinton couldn’t get Led Zeppelin back together.
The Robin Hood Foundation, the nonprofit that reunited the surviving members of Nirvana for the 12-12-12 Sandy concert in December, revealed on the “60 Minutes Overtime” webcast Sunday night that it tried to bring Led Zeppelin to the show and recruited the former prez to make it happen.
David Saltzman, the group’s executive director, said he approached movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and came up with an idea to have former President Bill Clinton convince the band to perform at the Madison Square Garden show.
Clinton, a fan of classic rock bands, immediately signed on. “I really want to do this. This is a fantastic thing. I love Led Zeppelin,” Saltzman recalled the president saying.
Clinton met with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones at the Kennedy Center Awards on Dec. 2 and made his pitch. But the members, who last performed together in 2007, declined. The band officially broke up in 1980 following the death of drummer John Bonham.
Satlzman’s second choice, the Rolling Stones, stepped in, but Keith Richards toyed with him first.
The executive director said he bumped into Richards at the airport and the iconic guitarist gave Saltzman a message for Weinstein, responding with a four-letter word.
“Their publicist came right up from behind [him] and said, ‘You know what, they’re going to do it. He’s just joking with you,'” Saltzman said.
