Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page visited the State Department in Washington on Saturday as recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, receiving accolades from President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Also honored were David Letterman, Dustin Hoffman, blues musician Buddy Guy, and ballerina Natalia Makarova.

The Honors are the nation’s highest award for those who have influenced American culture through the arts.

Watch Barack Obama’s speech honoring Led Zeppelin below:

Later in the evening the recipients were saluted by fellow performers at the Kennedy Center Opera House including Heart, Jason Bonham (son of the late John Bonham), Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz, Bonnie Raitt, Tracey Chapman, Tiny Fey, Alec Baldwin, Jimmy Kimmel, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro, Jack Black.  The evening will be broadcast on CBS on December 26th.