The Crowd featuring Mike Arnold
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The Crowd featuring Mike Arnold

Nashville, Tennessee, United States | SELF

Nashville, Tennessee, United States | SELF
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"The Crowd Concert Review – Nashville’s Party Rock Band – Nashville, TN – Douglas Corner Café"

On Friday December 9th 2011 something happened at a music club in Nashville, TN that members of the party rock band from the 80’s, The Crowd, thought would never happen… a reunion show!

Two members of the Concert Blast team, Mike Arnold and Tom Thompson, were part of the rock band that began performing cover songs at parties in the early 1980s, decided to write and record a few original songs, had those originals played on the radio and began thrilling crowds at the private parties, rock clubs, colleges, and music festivals. Now in 2011 the guys returned to a rock music club in Nashville, TN, Douglas Corner Café, to perform a reunion show to celebrate their first gig from 30 years ago. Also joining the reunion on stage was Tom’s twin brother and bassist of the band, Jim Thompson, the latest lead guitarist, Gary Conn, and the original lead guitarist, Dwayne Smith.

Once the doors opened at Douglas Corner Café, every seat in the house became immediately filled as the club became Standing Room Only. The band was in full form performing two sets of the songs they used to perform in concerts and parties along with a few surprises.

Set One contained most of the songs the band would perform at a rock club from their hey-day, while Set Two was more of the party set from their first show while ending with a Rock and Roll Blow Out!

The band hit the stage in non-stop Rock and Roll style with a recorded Intro Soundtrack that would bring any rock audience to their feet which included the beginning part of “Boys Are Back In Town” by The Busboys, then the mixed music sounds from the keyboard portion of The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” blended with one line clips from various classic rock songs including, “We Will Rock You” (Queen), “Blitzkrieg Bop” (Ramones), “Boys Are Back In Town” (Thin Lizzy), “Footstompin’ Music”(Grand Funk Railroad), “Rock and Roll” (Led Zeppelin), “Hello Hurray” (Alice Cooper), and “Everybody Rock and Roll The Place” (Eddie Money). The music mix closed out with an announcement of Welcome the band to the stage followed by loud Thunder as lead Guitarist, Gary Conn stood front and center of the stage playing the intro licks to The Romantics, “What I Like About You”. This version also included a verse of John Mellencamp’s, “R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A”. This song was followed by another crowd pleaser while Mike Arnold screamed, “Going to a Party!” as the intro to Cheap Trick’s, “California Man”. The rock was rolling as the band continued without stopping with drummer Tom Thompson pounded out the intro to the next song while Mike Arnold took the enthusiastic audience to the next level by yelling, “It’s Party Time in the Music City!”. Tom’s ?rhythmic drum beats were joined with Jim Thompson’s bass licks and Gary Conn’s guitar work which led into the 60’s classic party song, “Mony Mony”… and this was just the beginning of the two hours of rock music fun to come.

The band finally stopped the music long enough for Mike to say hello as he welcomed everyone to 1981. He continued to introduce the first original song of the evening which was written by Tom Thompson, “Crazy About You”. Jim Thompson then took over the lead vocals by singing the rock classic by The Beatles, “Saw Her Standing There”.

Mike mentioned that he left The Crowd in 1985 to start his own band, Mike Arnold and the Music City Rockers, but Tom, Jim, and Gary continued playing as a three piece and recorded a self-produced CD. Mike left the stage as the trio performed two more originals, “Tonight” (the only slow song of the night) and “Fantasy Girl”.

Before Mike Arnold returned to the stage, the guys paid a tribute to his birthday by performing a small part of The Beatles Classic, “The Birthday Song”. When Mike returned to the stage, he lead the next song with the guitar riffs from The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man”. The show continued with Gary Conn leading the guitar riffs from another 60s classic, “Good Lovin’”. Mike mentioned, “It’s time to visit the 80s again. Here’s a song you may have heard on a commercial”. Mike and Jim shared vocals on the classic, “Melt With You”.

Set One closed out with Jim Thompson on the lead vocals while the band performed a song written by Jim, “Alone With You”.

Set Two began with a Sing-Along as Mike led the audience into a few sections of “NaNa Songs”. These were “Hey Hey Goodbye”, “Lovin-Touchin’-Squeezin’”, and “Hey Jude”. Then Mike’s sing-along included songs he sang at church, “Let It Be” and “I’ll Fly Away”. Mike changed his character, but told the audience to not take him serious as he changed his voice to match the song, “Love Shack”. Those in the audience that night were singing and/or laughing all in fun.

Another surprise happened as bassist Jim Thompson jumped on the drums, drummer Tom Thompson picked up the bass and demanded lead guitarist Gary Conn to take the stage as Tom led the audience into clapping and singing along to BTO’s “Takin’ Care of Business”.

After the surprise Sing Alongs, original lead guitarist Dwayne Smith joined the band on stage to perform the older songs the band would play at parties, “Louie Louie”, “Wooly Bully”, “She’s So Cold”, and the first original song the band recorded. A song that Dwayne wrote and sang lead, “I Don’t Wanna Hear These Things”. The party continued with the Number 1 all time requested song of The Crowd, “GLORIA”. Before Dwayne left the stage, he thrilled the audience by singing the Southern Rock Classic, “Can’t You See”.

It was now time to get back to the rock set with Mike leading the band (and audience) into another 60’s classic, “Land of 1,000 Dances”. Gary Conn then led the crowd with his guitar intro into U2’s “I Will Follow” followed by Tom pounding out the introduction of the final song of the regular set, Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Nite”.

The Crowd thanked the crowd for coming out as they continued to cheer. Mike then said, “This is the part of the show when the band leaves the stage and the audience yells for more for an encore, but we are just going to stay and perform a few more songs.” The fans loved it as they perform an original sang by Jim, “Without You”. The last two songs of the night were also the first encore the band received as they performed in a rock club for the first time, two Beatle songs, “Hard Day’s Night” and “Twist and Shout”.


Everyone in attendance had a great time and The Crowd (the band) had just as much fun.

There were well over a dozen people taking photos of the band at the end of the show as the band members lined up and posed with their arms around each other’s shoulders. What a great show and a fun night for everyone. Even the bartenders and club owner wants the band to return to perform more often.

Special Thanks to Subway (2100 8th Ave S. Nashville, TN) for sponsoring the band’s show and providing a place for a pre-show meet and greet.

There have been many requests for the guys to perform again… and soon!

Who knows what the future holds, but one thing is for sure, if the fans demand it (like they did this reunion) there will be more shows!

- Concert Blast - www.concertblast.com


"The Crowd Reunion Show Announcement – Nashville, TN – Douglas Corner Cafe – 12/09/2011"

1980 four friends got together to practice their instruments they were learning to play. Within one year they decided to perform at a party. That party led to another party, which led to another party, which led to another party and on and on… This band of four friends that grew up together was known as “The Crowd” (Mike Arnold (of Concert Blast), Tom Thompson (of Concert Blast), Jim Thompson (Tom’s twin brother), and Dwayne Smith). In the early 80s, The Crowd became known as Nashville’s Party Band as they not only performed at parties, but also at various nightclubs, colleges, and music festivals in the middle Tennessee area.



With the popularity of Facebook, old friends of the band suggested a reunion show. After discussing this idea, Mike Arnold, Tom Thompson, Jim Thompson, and Gary Conn, along with original guitarist Dwayne Smith (who will join in for some songs at the half-way point of the show) all agreed for a one night performance for old times sake to celebrate their first gig 30 years ago.

They discussed a set list, got together for a practice, contacted a club, and now will perform that show on Friday December 9th 8pm at Douglas Corner Café in Nashville, TN.

FYI…
This show will be a Rock Show and not an oldies show. The guys will pickup the party-style energy of their live show right where they left it in the 80s. Those in attendance are expected to get up and dance, sing along, and enjoy a fun night of 60s, 70s, and 80s party rock music with a handful of originals thrown in.

WARNING…
This Show is expecting to be SOLD-OUT so attendees must be in line when the doors open at 8:00pm to have a better chance of getting in. The club only holds 125 (packed to the max with SRO) so get there early!
The Cover Charge is only $5. The venue sells food and drinks. The doors open at 8pm and the music will begin at 9pm Sharp!

We Hope to See You There!
Mike Arnold, Tom Thompson, Jim Thompson, Gary Conn, Dwayne Smith

HISTORY OF THE CROWD
The band “The Crowd” began from an idea that Mike Arnold’s guitar instructor had back in 1980.

Bob DiPiero (one of Nashville’s most successful songwriters) challenged Mike by suggesting him to start a party band playing fun simple music.
Mike told this to a few friends who decided to begin to learn how to play and in 1981 The Crowd played their first gig at a party with Mike Arnold, Tom Thompson, Jim Thompson, and Dwayne Smith in the lineup. From someone being at that party led to another party gig and another and another and…

The guys wanted to experiment in writing some original songs so they went to a Nashville recording studio to record four songs, two originals (“I Don’t Wanna Hear These Things” and “Without You”) and two covers (“Street Fighting Man” and “Land of a Thousand Dances”)

With guidance and direction from Mike’s new guitar instructor and local rock musician Frank Harwell, Mike took the two originals to Vanderbilt’s rock radio station 91-Rock WRVU-FM. The two originals began receiving airplay and began receiving many requests that made their 2 original songs to the Top 5 request list of the day on many occasions.


A photo from Nashville's main newspaper, The Tennessean, to promote one of their shows at Nashville's rock club, The Cannery, back in the early 80s. (left to right: Chris Moran, Jim Thompson, Mike Arnold, and Tom Thompson)
With their songs now on the radio, the clubs were calling to book the band. Their first club gig was performing an opening slot for a band from Atlanta called The Night Porters at Nashville’s Rock Club, Cantrell’s. On this first club set The Crowd received a surprising encore and the owner of the club told the booking agent to book them as a headliner.

Lead Guitarist Dwayne Smith left the band to enjoy more family time while the guys welcomed new guitarist Chris Moran from the popular regional band from North Carolina “The Accelerators”. Chris stayed with the band for about a year before moving back to North Carolina and local lead guitarist Gary Conn joined the guys.

The band’s live show attracted the attention from popular local main-stream rock DJ Patti Murray from 103-KDF (at that time WKDF was a Rock station format) and began booking the band on several occasions.

The Crowd was the first band to perform at the Exit In during their re-open phase to prove to the new owner he could have a good business by having live music instead of just a restaurant. This also led to Mike Arnold helping the re-opened historic club with booking popular local music acts.

Mike left The Crowd in 1985 to start his own band, Mike Arnold & the Music City Rockers, but The Crowd continued as a three piece with band leadership from Gary Conn. They continued writing songs and recorded a self-produced CD before calling it quits in 1988. Mike continued performing with his band until 1990.

- Concert Blast - www.concertblast.com


Discography

Current Self Promoted Music:
I Don't Wanna Hear These Things
Without You
Tonight
Crazy About You
Fantasy Girl
Alone With You
Much Too Young
Land of 1,000 Dances (cover)
Street Fighting Man (cover)
Mony Mony (live cover)

Photos

Bio

The band "The Crowd" began from an idea that Mike Arnold's guitar instructor had back in 1980.

Bob Dipiero (one of Nashville's most successful songwriters) challenged Mike by suggesting him to start a party band playing fun simple music.

Mike told this to a few friends who decided to begin to learn how to play and in 1981 The Crowd played their first gig at a party with Mike Arnold, Tom Thompson, Jim Thompson, and Dwayne Smith in the lineup. From someone being at that party led to another party gig and another and another and...

The guys wanted to experiment in writing some original songs so they went to a Nashville recording studio to record four songs, two originals (“I Don’t Wanna Hear These Things” and “Without You”) and two covers (“Street Fighting Man” and “Land of a Thousand Dances”)

Mike took the two originals to Vanderbilt University's rock radio station 91-Rock WRVU-FM. The two originals began receiving airplay and began receiving many requests that earned their 2 original songs to be in the Top 5 request list of the day on many occasions.

With their songs now on the radio, the clubs were calling to book the band. Their first club gig was performing an opening slot for a band from Atlanta called The Night Porters at Nashville’s Rock Club, Cantrell's. On this first club set The Crowd received a surprising encore and the owner of the club told the booking agent to book them as a headliner.

The band’s live show attracted the attention from popular Nashville main-stream rock DJ Patti Murray from 103-KDF and began booking the band on several occasions.

Lead Guitarist Dwayne Smith left the band to enjoy more family time while the guys welcomed new guitarist Chris Moran from the popular regional band from North Carolina “The Accelerators”. Chris stayed with the band for about a year before moving back to North Carolina and local lead guitarist Gary Conn joined the guys.

The Crowd was the first band to perform at Nashville's legendary nightspot, the Exit In, during their re-open phase in 1984 to prove to the new owner, Mike Tidwell, he could have a good business by having live music instead of just a restaurant. This also led to Mike Arnold helping the re-opened historic club with booking popular local music acts.

Mike left The Crowd in 1985 to start his own band, Mike Arnold & the Music City Rockers, but The Crowd continued as a three piece with band leadership from Gary Conn. They continued writing songs and recorded a self-produced CD before calling it quits in 1988. Mike continued performing with his band until 1990.

With the popularity of Facebook, old friends of the band suggested a reunion show, after discussing this idea, Mike Arnold, Tom Thompson, Jim Thompson, and Gary Conn, along with original guitarist Dwayne Smith all agreed for a one night performance for old times sake.

They discussed a set list, got together for a practice, contacted a club, and performed that show on Friday December 9th 2011 at Douglas Corner Café. To everyone's surprise, the club was packed and the fans kept yelling for more. Today fans are still requesting more shows and now The Crowd is booking high energy shows for 2012.

The Crowd is looking to book opening slots for national/regional established rock bands, music festivals, clubs, and parties.

Contact The Crowd: TheCrowdBand@gmail.com