ARMS Charity Concert

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The ARMS Charity Concert (or concerts) was a rock concert given at the Royal Albert Hall in September 1983 in support of Action into Research for Multiple Sclerosis. The idea for hosting the concert was envisaged by Ronnie Lane, ex-bassist for The Small Faces and The Faces, himself a casualty of multiple sclerosis. The concert featured a star-studded line-up of well known British musicians, including Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Steve Winwood, Andy Fairweather-Low, Bill Wyman, Kenney Jones and Charlie Watts. The concert was particularly notable in the fact that it was the first occasion on which Clapton, Beck and Page, each a former lead guitarist for The Yardbirds, had performed together on stage.

The set list for the ARMS Charity Concert was as follows:

  • Everybody Oughta Make A Change
  • Rita Mae
  • Lay Down Sally
  • Ramblin' On My Mind/Have You Ever Loved A Woman?
  • Cocaine
  • Man Smart Woman Smarter
  • Roadrunner
  • Take Me To The River
  • Slowdown Sundown
  • Gimme Some Lovin'
  • Star Cycle
  • The Pump
  • Goodbye Pork Pie Hat/Led Boots
  • Hi Ho Silver Lining
  • Prelude
  • City Sirens
  • Who's To Blame
  • Stairway to Heaven
  • Tulsa Time
  • Layla
  • Goodnight Irene

Clapton, Beck and Page each performed sets, with Andy Fairweather-Low and Steve Winwood also performing songs. Clapton, along with Fairweather-Low, Bill Wyman, Chris Stainton, percussionist Ray Cooper, Kenney Jones, James Hooker, Steve Winwood and Fernando Saunders performed a selection of blues and rock numbers, each one quelled from one or more of his albums - Cocaine and Lay Down Sally from Slowhand, Rita Mae from Another Ticket and Everybody Oughta Make A Change from Money & Cigarettes. Jeff Beck's set consisted largely of instrumental rock jazz-fusion numbers, though he did (to both the surprise of his fellow musicians, the audience, and indeed, himself!) perform his 60's hit Hi Ho Silver Lining. Jimmy Page's set was made up, firstly, of 3 numbers taken from the Death Wish II music he had put together for director Michael Winner earlier that year. The set ended with "Stairway to Heaven", a popular number that evoked a great cheer from the audience.

After Page's set, the entire cast of musicians gathered on stage to perform Tulsa Time, a blues rock/country number from Clapton's album Backless, and then, what is arguably Clapton's most famous song, Layla. In each number, Clapton, Beck and Page each shared lead guitar duties, and, notably in Layla, each performed a different, and unique guitar solo.

At the concert's end, Ronnie Lane appeared on stage. Expressing thanks not only to the audience, saying that what had been achieved was 'terrific', he also thanked 'all the boys on the stage too', he then led the musicians in a rendition of Goodnight Irene.

The ARMS charity concert proved so popular with both the audience and the musicians that the decision was taken to perform a further nine concerts in the USA. For these extra dates Ronnie Lane was replaced by Joe Cocker, who notably sang lead vocals on With a Little Help from My Friends, and, Clapton Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page each shared lead guitar duties on Stairway to Heaven. Beck it should be noted frequently used a Fender Telecaster at these concerts, rather than the 51' sunburst Stratocaster he had played at the Albert Hall.

Beck was commonly regarded by both concert audiences and his fellow musicians as being the stand-out artist throughout the ARMS concerts. Eric Clapton saw him as being the 'point-man', on whose technical and music ability the large group of artists could depend to produce well-realised, competent and outstanding musical sets in each of the different concerts. As a mark of this, the audience at Madison Square Garden (one of the concert venues in the USA) rose to its feet in congratulation at the end of Beck's set (a fact made all the more remarkable given that Beck's set at this concert consisted largely, as always of instrumental numbers. Furthermore, Beck was 'amazed' at the audience's response...)At the opening show in the states, in Dallas, at the Reunion Arena, video screens were used. As Jeff Beck was finishing his set, a camera caught Jimmy Page as he was preparing to make his way from the back of the stage. When these initial images of Page appeared on the video screen, the enthusiastic audience cheered. People began surging toward the front of the stage. The local reviewer for the paper, from his vantage point, saw the fan reatction and the surge, but did not see the images of Page on the video screen. And so, the reviewer mistakeningly credited the fan's enthusiastic response at the end of Jeff Beck's set to Jeff's performance. It was a good performance. But the facts are the crowd was responding to just the site of Jimmy Page preparing to come onto the stage.

A video (no longer on sale or in circlation) exists of the Albert Hall concert. Jeff Beck is arguably the stand-out artist, performing his famous instrumentals The Pump and Led Boots, though Clapton's 10 minute 37 second extended slow blues jam number Rambling on My Mind/Have You Ever Loved A Woman warrants thorough examination. On this number, Rita Mae and Cocaine, Clapton can be seen playing a Gibson Explorer rather than his well-known Stratocaster Blackie that he used on all other numbers apart from Everybody Oughta Make A Change and Goodnight Irene (an acoustic number).