Bill Clinton Zeppelin Reunion Talks A Diplomatic Failure

Bill Clinton’s Zeppelin reunion request just wasn’t enough to convince the band to perform one more time. According to a CBS 60 Minutes Overtime webcast today, the popular former president and humanitarian was asked to bring his influence to bear on the surviving members of the English supergroup Led Zeppelin.

John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, and Jimmy Page received the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors in December from President Barack Obama.

According to the CBS webcast, David Saltzman of the Robin Hood Foundation and executive producer Harvey Weinstein wanted Zeppelin to reunite for the Superstorm Sandy benefit concert in New York, which was scheduled to take place about 10 days after the Kennedy honors.

Although Clinton reportedly did ask when he met the band members, his famous charm didn’t come through this time.

The three band members said that they wouldn’t appear in the performance was in December 2007, when they gathered in the O2 Arena in London with Jason Bonham, the son of deceased member John Bonham. They set a world record for the time, with 20 million ticket requests going out online as fans scrambled for one of the coveted seats.

A film of the performance, Celebration Day, was released in late 2012. On its best night, it grossed $2 million.

Robert Plant is apparently the reason the Zeppelin reunion won’t happen. Although Clinton hasn’t said anything about his diplomatic failure with the band, past reports say that Jason Bonham, John Paul Jones, and Jimmy Page are willing.

Considering the former president’s well-known diplomatic skills, it may be time to assume that this one won’t happen. If Bill Clinton can’t broker a Zeppelin reunion, who can?

[Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin 1995 performance photo by Dana Nalbandian / Shutterstock.com]