ARMS Charity Concert
Encyclopedia
The ARMS Charity Concerts were a series of charitable rock concerts
in support of Action into Research for Multiple Sclerosis in 1983. The first (and initially planned to be the only) event took place at the Royal Albert Hall
on September 21, 1983, with subsequent dates occurring in the United States, with slightly different lineups of musicians.
, ex-bassist for The Small Faces
and The Faces, himself a casualty of multiple sclerosis
. The concert was billed as The Ronnie Lane Appeal for ARMS and featured a star-studded line-up of British musicians, including Jimmy Page
, Eric Clapton
, Jeff Beck
, Steve Winwood
, John Paul Jones
, 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:
Clapton, Beck and Page each performed sets, with Andy Fairweather-Low and Steve Winwood also performing songs. Clapton, 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 culled 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 and 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 1960s hit "Hi Ho Silver Lining". Jimmy Page's set was made up, first, of three numbers taken from the Death Wish II
music he had put together for director Michael Winner
earlier that year. The set ended with an instrumental version of "Stairway to Heaven
", which evoked a great cheer from the audience. Prince Charles and Lady Diana were in attendance seated in the Royal box in the upper level.
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 "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', and then led the musicians in a rendition of "Goodnight Irene".
, 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 the "Stairway to Heaven" instrumental. While Ronnie Wood appeared in New York, he did not appear at all of the US dates. They played in San Francisco at the Cow Palace on December 2, 1983 for three sold out shows.
rather than his famed Stratocaster Blackie that he used on all other numbers apart from "Everybody Oughta Make a Change", "Goodnight Irene" (an acoustic number) and "Tulsa Time" on which he used Brownie
- the 1956 sunburst finish Stratocaster most famously used on "Layla", and later best known as the world's most expensive guitar when sold for $450,000 on June 24, 1999.
Benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...
in support of Action into Research for Multiple Sclerosis in 1983. The first (and initially planned to be the only) event took place at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
on September 21, 1983, with subsequent dates occurring in the United States, with slightly different lineups of musicians.
Royal Albert Hall ARMS Concert
The idea for hosting the concert was envisaged by Ronnie LaneRonnie Lane
Ronald Frederick "Ronnie" Lane was an English musician, songwriter, and producer who is best known as the bass guitarist and founding member of two prominent English rock and roll bands; the Small Faces where he was nicknamed "Plonk", – and, after losing the band's frontman, Faces, with two new...
, ex-bassist for The Small Faces
The Small Faces
The Small Faces were an English rock and roll band from East London, heavily influenced by American rhythm and blues. The group was founded in 1965 by members Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Jimmy Winston, although by 1966 Winston was replaced by Ian McLagan as the band's...
and The Faces, himself a casualty of multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
. The concert was billed as The Ronnie Lane Appeal for ARMS and featured a star-studded line-up of British musicians, including Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
, Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
, John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (musician)
John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
, Andy Fairweather-Low
Andy Fairweather-Low
Andrew Fairweather Low is a Welsh guitarist, songwriter and vocalist. He was a founding member of 1960s British pop band, Amen Corner, and in recent years has toured extensively with Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.-Early career:Fairweather Low first found fame as a...
, Bill Wyman
Bill Wyman
Bill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...
, Kenney Jones
Kenney Jones
Kenneth Thomas "Kenney" Jones is a veteran English rock drummer best known for his work in Small Faces, Faces, and The Who.-Small Faces to the Faces:...
and Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts
Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
. 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
The Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
, 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 SallyLay Down Sally"Lay Down Sally" is a single by Eric Clapton, written by Eric Clapton, Marcy Levy, and George Terry. It appeared on his November 1977 album Slowhand, and reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It is a country blues performed in the style of J. J...
" - "Ramblin' On My MindRamblin' On My Mind"Ramblin' On My Mind" is a blues song recorded on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas by legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. The song was originally released on 78 rpm format as Vocalion 03519 and ARC 7-05-81. Johnson performed the song in the key of E, and recorded two takes...
"/"Have You Ever Loved a Woman" - "CocaineCocaine (song)"Cocaine" is a song written and recorded by JJ Cale in 1976 and most widely known in a cover version recorded by Eric Clapton. Allmusic calls the latter "among [Clapton's] most enduringly popular hits" and notes that "even for an artist like Clapton with a huge body of high-quality work, 'Cocaine'...
" - "Man Smart Woman Smarter"
- "RoadrunnerRoad Runner (Bo Diddley song)"Road Runner" is a song written and performed by American rock and roll performer Bo Diddley, originally released as a single by Checker Records in January 1960, and later released on the LP record Bo Diddley in the Spotlight. The song reached #20 on Billboard magazine's Hot R&B Sides chart, and...
" - "Take Me To The RiverTake Me to the River"Take Me to the River" is a 1974 song written by singer Al Green and guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges. Hit versions were recorded by both Syl Johnson and Talking Heads...
" - "Slowdown Sundown"
- "Gimme Some Lovin'Gimme Some Lovin'"Gimme Some Loving" is a song written by Steve Winwood, Spencer Davis and Muff Winwood, and originally performed by The Spencer Davis Group. The basic riff of the song was borrowed from the Homer Banks song " A Lot of Love", written by Banks and Willie Dean "Deanie" Parker. The song was a UK #2 in...
" - Star Cycle
- The Pump
- "Goodbye Pork Pie HatGoodbye Pork Pie Hat"Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" is a jazz standard composed by Charles Mingus originally recorded by his sextet in 1959 as listed below, and released on his album Mingus Ah Um. Mingus wrote it as an elegy for saxophonist Lester Young, who had died two months prior to the recording session...
"/"Led Boots" - "Hi Ho Silver LiningHi Ho Silver Lining"Hi Ho Silver Lining" is a rock song, written by American songwriters Scott English and Larry Weiss and first released as a single in March 1967 by The Attack, followed a few days later by Jeff Beck. Because the Beck version charted first, the song is most often associated with him...
" - Prelude
- City Sirens
- Who's To Blame
- "Stairway to HeavenStairway to Heaven"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album . The song, running eight minutes and two seconds, is composed of several sections, which...
" (InstrumentalInstrumentalAn instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
) - "Tulsa TimeTulsa Time"Tulsa Time" is a song written by Danny Flowers. Don Williams recorded and released it as a single in 1978. "Tulsa Time" would be Don Williams' eighth number one on the country chart...
" - "LaylaLayla"Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally released by their blues-rock band, Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs...
" - "Goodnight Irene"
Clapton, Beck and Page each performed sets, with Andy Fairweather-Low and Steve Winwood also performing songs. Clapton, with Fairweather-Low, Bill Wyman, Chris Stainton
Chris Stainton
Christopher "Chris" Stainton is an English session musician, keyboard player and songwriter, who first gained recognition with Joe Cocker in the late 1960s...
, percussionist Ray Cooper
Ray Cooper
Ray Cooper is an English musician. He is a session and road-tour percussionist, and occasional actor, who has worked with several musically diverse bands and artists including George Harrison, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, and Elton John. Cooper is commonly regarded by music fans, critics and fellow...
, Kenney Jones, James Hooker
James Hooker
James Hooker was an American lawyer and politician from New York.-Life:...
, Steve Winwood and Fernando Saunders
Fernando Saunders
Fernando Saunders is a musician, performer, vocalist and bass player from Detroit, Michigan.-Biography:Fernando Saunders has performed all around the world with music legends such as Marianne Faithfull, Joan Baez, Slash, Tori Amos, Jimmy Page, Luciano Pavarotti and Jeff Beck...
performed a selection of blues and rock numbers, each one culled from one or more of his albums - "Cocaine" and "Lay Down Sally" from Slowhand
Slowhand
Slowhand is an album by Eric Clapton, released in 1977. It contained three of his most popular singles, the bluesy "Cocaine", the ballad "Wonderful Tonight" and the country-flavoured #3 U.S. hit "Lay Down Sally", as well as other songs that became Clapton classics on their own like "The Core" and...
, "Rita Mae" from Another Ticket
Another Ticket
Another Ticket is an album by blues rocker Eric Clapton, released in 1981. It was his last album for Polydor Records.-Track listing:All songs by Eric Clapton, except as noted.#"Something Special" – 2:36...
and "Everybody Oughta Make a Change" from Money and Cigarettes
Money and Cigarettes
Money and Cigarettes is an Eric Clapton album, released in 1983. The memorable cover depicts Clapton, cigarette in hand, standing next to a melting Fender Stratocaster guitar. Eric Clapton named the album like this "because, that's all I saw myself having left." The single "I've Got a Rock 'n' Roll...
. 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 1960s hit "Hi Ho Silver Lining". Jimmy Page's set was made up, first, of three numbers taken from the Death Wish II
Death Wish II (album)
1999 Compact disc editionSame track listing and order as the vinyl release.-Album:-Personnel:*Jimmy Page – acoustic guitars, electric guitars, guitar synthesizer, synthesizer, theremin, bass, producer*Gordon Edwards – vocals, electric piano, piano...
music he had put together for director Michael Winner
Michael Winner
Michael Robert Winner is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic for the Sunday Times.-Early life and early career :...
earlier that year. The set ended with an instrumental version of "Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven
"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album . The song, running eight minutes and two seconds, is composed of several sections, which...
", which evoked a great cheer from the audience. Prince Charles and Lady Diana were in attendance seated in the Royal box in the upper level.
After Page's set, the entire cast of musicians gathered on stage to perform "Tulsa Time
Tulsa Time
"Tulsa Time" is a song written by Danny Flowers. Don Williams recorded and released it as a single in 1978. "Tulsa Time" would be Don Williams' eighth number one on the country chart...
", a blues rock/country number from Clapton's album Backless
Backless
Backless is an album by blues rocker Eric Clapton, released in 1978. The album reached #8 on the pop charts. While the single "Promises" only reached #37 in the UK, it was a much bigger success in the US, reaching #9 on the Billboard charts....
, and then "Layla
Layla
"Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally released by their blues-rock band, Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs...
". In each number, Clapton, Beck and Page each shared lead guitar duties, and, notably in "Layla", each performed a different, and unique guitar solo
Guitar solo
In popular music, a guitar solo is a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. Guitar solos, which often contain varying degrees of improvisation, are used in many styles of popular music such as blues, jazz, rock and metal styles such...
.
.
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', and then led the musicians in a rendition of "Goodnight Irene".
U.S. ARMS Concerts
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. The US dates included Joe CockerJoe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
, who notably sang lead vocals on "With a Little Help from My Friends
With a Little Help from My Friends
-Joe Cocker version:Joe Cocker's version was a radical re-arrangement of the original, in a slower, 6/8 meter, using different chords in the middle eight, and a lengthy instrumental introduction...
", and Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page each shared lead guitar duties on the "Stairway to Heaven" instrumental. While Ronnie Wood appeared in New York, he did not appear at all of the US dates. They played in San Francisco at the Cow Palace on December 2, 1983 for three sold out shows.
Recordings
A VHS video (no longer on sale or in circulation) exists of the Albert Hall concert. A DVD is now on general release. On "Rita Mae" and "Cocaine", Clapton can be seen playing a Gibson ExplorerGibson Explorer
The Gibson Explorer is a type of electric guitar that made its debut in 1958. The Explorer offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its sibling, the Flying V. The Explorer was the final development of a prototype design which years later Gibson marketed under the name Futura.The...
rather than his famed Stratocaster Blackie that he used on all other numbers apart from "Everybody Oughta Make a Change", "Goodnight Irene" (an acoustic number) and "Tulsa Time" on which he used Brownie
Brownie (guitar)
Brownie was the affectionate name to a Fender Stratocaster that was used extensively by Eric Clapton during the early 70's, most notably with Derek and the Dominos on their album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs....
- the 1956 sunburst finish Stratocaster most famously used on "Layla", and later best known as the world's most expensive guitar when sold for $450,000 on June 24, 1999.