Various Artists - ARMS Benefit Concert, Reunion Arena, Dallas, TX, 11-28-1983

This looks a heck of a lot like my last post, and for good reason. But there enough differences that it's worth listening to both.

In short, in September 1983, some big-name musicians led a concert to benefit ARMS, a charity helping to find a cure for multiple sclerosis. The main stars were Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page (all lead guitarists for the Yardbirds in the 1960s), plus Steve Winwood. At first, the concert was meant to be a one-night only, in London. But it was such a success that it was decided to continue with a short US tour later that year. I believe nine more concerts were played.

Most of the same musicians appeared for the US shows, including Clapton, Beck, and Page. But Winwood couldn't make it, due to other commitments. So he was replaced by Joe Cocker. Also, Winwood sang the songs with vocals in Page's set. He was replaced by Paul Rodgers, former lead vocalist for Bad Company.

These personnel changes mean many of the songs were different. Most noticeably, one-fourth of the concert are Joe Cocker songs, in which Clapton plays all the lead guitar. He also sings "With a Little Help from My Friends" as one of the encores. I don't know if there's been any other time when Clapton played so many songs with Cocker.

The involvement of Paul Rodgers is even more interesting in terms of musical history. Page had pretty much been at loose ends since Led Zeppelin came to an end in 1981. Similarly, Rodgers had been looking for something new after Bad Company ended in 1982. Their collaboration for these ARMS concerts led to them forming the band The Firm, which was fairly successful, with two albums released in 1984 and 1985. The last song in their set, "Midnight Moonlight," appeared on the first Firm album, but originally started as an unreleased Led Zeppelin song.

Clapton's set, while nice, has almost the exact same setlist as the London show. The only major difference is the addition of "Sad Sad Day." For Beck's set, half of the songs are different. For the concert as a whole, I'd say about half of the songs are different from the London show. It's fairly different from after the Clapton set.

In terms of sound quality, I chose the Dallas show out of the nine US dates because it has the best sound. It sounds professionally recorded. I think it was played on the radio at the time. Unlike the London show, I didn't have any problems finding missing songs from different sources.

01 talk (Eric Clapton)
02 Everybody Oughta Make a Change (Eric Clapton)
03 Lay Down Sally (Eric Clapton)
04 Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton)
05 Rita Mae (Eric Clapton)
06 Sad Sad Day (Eric Clapton)
07 Have You Ever Loved a Woman - Ramblin' on My Mind (Eric Clapton)
08 Cocaine (Eric Clapton)
09 Don't Talk to Me (Joe Cocker with Eric Clapton)
10 Watching the River Flow (Joe Cocker with Eric Clapton)
11 Worried Life Blues (Joe Cocker with Eric Clapton)
12 You Are So Beautiful (Joe Cocker with Eric Clapton)
13 Seven Days (Joe Cocker with Eric Clapton)
14 Feelin' Alright (Joe Cocker with Eric Clapton)
15 talk (Eric Clapton)
16 Star Cycle [Instrumental] (Jeff Beck)
17 The Pump [Instrumental] (Jeff Beck)
18 Definitely Maybe [Instrumental] (Jeff Beck)
19 Blue Wind [Instrumental] (Jeff Beck)
20 People Get Ready (Andy Fairweather Low with Jeff Beck)
21 Going Down (Andy Fairweather Low with Jeff Beck)
22 talk (Jimmy Page)
23 Prelude [Instrumental] (Jimmy Page)
24 talk (Jimmy Page)
25 Who's to Blame (Paul Rodgers with Jimmy Page)
26 City Sirens (Paul Rodgers with Jimmy Page)
27 talk (Paul Rodgers with Jimmy Page)
28 Boogie Mama (Paul Rodgers with Jimmy Page)
29 talk (Paul Rodgers with Jimmy Page)
30 Midnight Moonlight (Paul Rodgers with Jimmy Page)
31 talk (Jimmy Page)
32 Stairway to Heaven [Instrumental] (Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page)
33 Layla (Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page)
34 With a Little Help from My Friends (Joe Cocker with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page)
35 talk (Ronnie Lane with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page)
36 Goodnight Irene (Ronnie Lane with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page)

https://www.imagenetz.de/ckpd8

I deliberately made the cover similar to the cover for the London ARMS concert, since I consider the two of them closely related. The photo only shows some of the musicians involved, but it gets most of the big names. From left to right: Kenny Jones, Joe Cocker, Chris Stainton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Ronnie Lane, Eric Clapton, and Bill Wyman.