Now U2 have covered Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven… but why?!

(Image credit: Malcolm Taylor / Getty)

Yesterday St Vincent dedicated her playthrough of some of Led Zeppelin's seminal Stairway To Heaven to guitar players everywhere, today it's U2's dynamic duo Bono and The Edge covering it. Something they said they'd never do…

#SongsFromAnEmptyRoom #stairwaytoheaven U2 Official

A photo posted by @u2 on Jul 26, 2020 at 5:03am PDT

"These professionals believe they play this better than the band and you know, it might be true"

Bono

It's all in tribute / jest to their loyal long-serving road crew, who the duo say would "much rather work for Led Zeppelin". 

Though Bono notes their crew are "the best in the world", he does have one caveat; There is one annoying aspect of Irish crew though, it has to be said," notes the frontman. 

"Wherever you go in the world, whatever venue it is, whether it's the Olympia or the 3 Arena or Madison Square Garden, you walk into the venue, it's a big moment, and you'll hear a song. 

"A song, we said we'd never play this… that's right, Stairway To Heaven. These professionals believe they play this better than the band and you know, it might be true."

Of course, The Edge has previous form with Jimmy Page. Alongside Jack White, they were the focus of 2008 guitar documentary It Might Get Loud. 

Rob Laing
Guitars Editor, MusicRadar

I'm the Guitars Editor for MusicRadar, handling news, reviews, features, tuition, advice for the strings side of the site and everything in between. Before MusicRadar I worked on guitar magazines for 15 years, including Editor of Total Guitar in the UK. When I'm not rejigging pedalboards I'm usually thinking about rejigging pedalboards.