Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones and the daughter of the late John Bonham were in Stockholm yesterday where they were presented with the Polar Music Prize, that international award for outstanding achievement awarded each year by the Royal Swedish Academy Of Music.
Led Zeppelin shared the 2006 Polar Music Prize with Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, and were chosen for being "great pioneers" of rock music. They were particularly apt winners of the Swedish award, because they recorded their last studio album in Stockholm 27 years ago.
Making reference to those recording sessions, Robert Plant said "it's a long time ago", adding "Music has been a fantastic passport to us all",
Gergiev said he was "honoured to be on the same stage as my friends Led Zeppelin" while thanking his mother, "who made it possible for me to become a musician".
As we've surely mentioned before (last May probably), the Polar Music Prize was founded by Abba manager Stig Anderson in 1989, and is named after his record label, Polar Records. Previous winners have included Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and producer Quincy Jones.