This was taken during a gig at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. There were two cages behind the amps on stage, each containing six white doves. To be honest, I think they were probably just white pigeons but we called them doves so let’s stick with that. Anyway, Robert Plant’s a real hippy at heart, so the idea was that at the end of Stairway to Heaven, we’d release the doves and they’d fly off into the air as a homage to peace and love.

But when the cages opened, the birds flew out and one did a low pass over the audience, then must have taken too deep a breath of the San Francisco air – remember, this was 1973 and there was a high chance of being dosed by some deadhead. Anyway, it turned back to the stage and Robert stuck out his hand. The dove landed on it, purely by chance – this was not a trained bird. It was there for about five seconds. I’m just glad it didn’t land on Jimmy Page’s hand or something bad might have happened to it.

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The Story behind the Picture – Original Kommentar von Neal Preston (engl.)

Art.Nr.: LC256