Gig Review - The Offspring - Manchester Academy 26th August

So last night The Angry Budgie went to The Offspring gig at the Manchester Academy, The Offspring are defiantly my favourite and any chance to see them live I will take. The venue was the refurbished Academy 1, very nice it is too! Except last night im sure it was a thousand degree's in there!

Date: 26th August
Venue: Manchester Academy
Band: The Offspring

One thing your always assured with The Offspring, is they will put on a good live show, we had previously seen The Offspring touring Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace when they headlined Download 2008. This was the band touring the album in Manchester for the first time. Already there are some songs on R&F R&G which are Offspring classics. Hammerhead springs to mind!

The boys put on a great set, including all the obvious hits, Smash, Self Esteem, Kids Aren't Alright and All I Want. Thankfully 'Noodle's' has cut his hair, the long hair just didn't suit him at his age! Highlights of the set were defiantly The Kids Aren't Alright and Can't Get My Head (Around You)! Though a special mention has to go out for a beautiful rendition of Gone Away by Dexter on the piano!

Money well spent in my eye's for a great show!

A few more gig's lined up for The Angry Budgie include: Five Finger Death Punch, DragonForce and 'A'!

Fun times ahead!

LSU - Fighting Tigers

As mentioned in a previous posting The Andgyr Budgie is branching out and will bring you all some Collage Football from the US of A. This season the Florida Gators will be gracing these pages! Anyway after a good chat with a good friend of mine in New York, a second collage football team will be appearing on The Angry Budgie. So TAB will be adopting the LSU Fighting Tigers, based in Baton Rouge. Should make for some intresting reading as LSU and the Gators are massive rivals. With many people already pinpointing the October 10th game in Baton Rouge vs the Gators being a deciding game of the season!

Playing out of Tiger Stadium, otherwise known as Death (or Deaf) Stadium, LSU play in front of 92,400 fans in the SEC. During a 2007 game versus the Gators the crowd managed an incredible 130 decibels. The stadium has also seen the famous 'Earthquake' game versus Auburn in 1988, when Tommy Hodson threw a complete touchdown pass to win the game. The Louisianne Geological Survey recorded a legitimate earthquake.

Anyway onto LSU, if you have a spare moment take a look at the following video, it has the highlights from the LSU v Gators game from 1997 which hit 130 decibels:



As with the Gators, from the 5th September The Angry Budgie will be covering the following 12 games for LSU:

September 12th, vs Vanderbuilt @ Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge.
September 19th, vs UL-Lafayette @ Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge.
September 26th, vs Mississippi State, Starkvill.
October 3rd, vs Georgia, Athens.
October 10th, vs The Gators @ Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge.
October 24th, vs Auburn @ Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge.
October 31st, vs Tulane @ Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge.
November 7th, vs Alabama, Tuscaloosa.
November 14th, vs Louisianna Tech @ Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge.
November 21st, vs Ole Miss, Oxford.
November 28th, vs Arkansas @ Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge.

In my conversations with my NY friend, it is evident the passion all fans display for their collage teams, and each team has their own distinguishing feature. Be it a song, or mascot or movement, with this in mind im going to work on a post that will try its best to shed some light on all these things, and Collage Football its self.

So there we go everyone, roll on September! GEAUX TIGERS!

New for the 09/10 Season

Ok so with the end of August upon us and the hockey season fast approaching, I thought I would do a post outlining what I intend to do for this new season. I would also like any input from you out there in readerland! So ill set out what I plan on doing, then, if you have any thoughts send them to The Angry Budgie email account shown above right, and you never know, I may even use those ideas!

The major innovation for the new season will of course be in-game live updates courtesy if The Angry Budgie's twitter account. You can click on and follow TAB on twitter using the link above.So onto the game coverage, as with last season ill plan to structure it as follows:

• Short Introduction on the game, possibly including a comment on the previous away game.
• First Period review.
• Second Period review.
• Third Period review.
• Verdict.
• Attendance.
• Youtube link to Phoenix TV highlights (hoping that the Phoenix webmasters do the same highlights package as before!).
• Link to MEN article on the game.

So that's the plan, if you have any thoughts or comments on how I could improve the coverage please let me know!

Also, as The Angry Budgie will also be covering US Collage Football with the Florida Gators, ill try and do game reviews much the same as my hockey reviews. This is where TAB could use some help! As I cant see the game live, ill be basing my reviews on youtube footage, and highlights from the Gators website. If there is anyone out there with knowledge of good websites and/or reviews of collage football I would appreciate any links you can think of!

Exciting times ahead for The Angry Budgie, I just hope you all will enjoy what you read!

Ill try and get a season preview online before the 20th September, but The Angry Budgie is going on tour early september which will affect what I can do! Will be nice to get a holiday in before hockey madness starts!

Anyway I hope you are all enjoying your summer! Roll on September!

Manchester Phoenix Inaugural EPL Roster

Right so with today's news that the Phoenix have added 6ft Defenceman Andre Mattson the Phoenix now have a full roster. So without further ado here it is:

Netminders

Steve Fone / England
Adam Summerfield / England

Defence

Carl Graham / England
Luke Boorthroyd / England
Joe Graham / England
Ben Wood / England
Andre Mattsson / Haiti

Forwards

Adam Walker / Scotland
Tony Hand / Scotland
Ian Bowie / Scotland
James Neil / England
Robert Lachowicz / England
Greg Wood / England
Jakko Hagelberg / Finland
Andre Payette / Canada
Ed Courtney / Canada

So that's it a nice mix of youth and experience, im so chuffed the club have managed to hold on to Adam Walker and Luke Boothroyd. Both players could have stayed in the EIHL, and Carl too he will develop so much this coming season! I dont know much about the lads who have come across from Nottingham, but the Panthers have a great youth development system in place they always churn out good young players!

Then Payette and Courtney, don't need to say much about them! The only thing I will say is, in previous seasons they are both players I would rather have on my team then playing against us!

So The Angry Budgie is genuinely looking forward to the new season! Bring it on!

Manchester Phoenix Inaugural EPL Fixture List

The fixtures have been decided and for their first season in the EPL, the Phoenix will kick off with an away trip to face the Bison on the 19th September, before hosting the Swindon Wildcats in the curtain raiser at the Ice Dome.

The full fixture list can be found on the Phoenix site, but The Angry Budgie has fixtures listed below:

September 2009

Saturday 12th 19:30 Sheffield Scimitars War of the Roses Away
Sunday 13th 17:30 Sheffield Scimitars War of the Roses Home
Saturday 19th 18:30 Basingstoke Bison EPL/Cup Away
Sunday 20th 17:30 Swindon Wildcats EPL/Cup Home
Saturday 26th 19:30 Sheffield Scimitars EPL/Cup Away
Sunday 27th 17:30 Milton Keynes Lightning EPL/Cup Home

October 2009

Saturday 3rd 17:45 Swindon Wildcats EPL/Cup Away
Sunday 4th 17:30 Romford Raiders EPL/Cup Home
Saturday 10th 19:00 Sheffield Scimitars EPL/Cup Home
Sunday 11th 17:30 Peterborough Phantoms EPL/Cup Away
Saturday 17th 18:30 Slough Jets EPL/Cup Away
Sunday 18th 17:30 Basingstoke Bison EPL/Cup Home
Saturday 24th 18:00 Bracknell Bees EPL/Cup Away
Sunday 25th 17:30 Slough Jets EPL/Cup Home
Saturday 31st 18:30 Basingstoke Bison EPL Away

November 2009

Sunday 1st 17:30 Swindon Wildcats EPL Home
Saturday 7th 17:30 Bracknell Bees EPL/Cup Home
Sunday 8th 19:00 Milton Keynes Lightning EPL/Cup Away
Saturday 14th 19:00 Peterborough Phantoms EPL/Cup Home
Sunday 15th 17:30 Sheffield Scimitars EPL Away
Saturday 21st 17:15 Romford Raiders EPL/Cup Away
Sunday 22nd 17:30 Milton Keynes Lightning EPL Home
Saturday 28th 17:45 Swindon Wildcats EPL Away
Sunday 29th 17:30 Basingstoke Bison EPL Home

December 2009

Saturday 5th 18:00 Bracknell Bees EPL Away
Sunday 6th 17:30 Milton Keynes Lightning EPL Home
Thursday 10th 20:00 Peterborough Phantoms EPL Away
Saturday 12th 19:00 Guildford Flames EPL/Cup Home
Sunday 13th 17:15 Romford Raiders EPL Away
Saturday 19th 18:30 Slough Jets EPL Away
Sunday 20th 17:30 Sheffield Scimitars EPL Home

January 2010

Saturday 2nd 18:30 Basingstoke Bison EPL Away
Sunday 3rd 17:30 Slough Jets EPL Home Buy Tickets
Saturday 9th 19:00 Peterborough Phantoms EPL Home
Sunday 10th 17:15 Romford Raiders EPL Away
Saturday 16th 18:00 Guildford Flames EPL/Cup Away
Sunday 17th 17:30 Guildford Flames EPL Home
Saturday 23rd 19:00 Milton Keynes Lightning EPL Away
Sunday 24th 17:30 Swindon Wildcats EPL Home
Saturday 30th 18:00 Guildford Flames EPL Away
Sunday 31st 18:00 Bracknell Bees EPL Away

February 2010

Saturday 6th 18:00 Guildford Flames EPL Away
Sunday 7th 17:30 Romford Raiders EPL Home
Saturday 13th 18:30 Slough Jets EPL Away
Sunday 14th 17:30 Guildford Flames EPL Home
Sunday 21st 17:30 Basingstoke Bison EPL Home
Saturday 27th 19:00 Milton Keynes Lightning EPL Away
Sunday 28th 17:30 Slough Jets EPL Home

March 2010

Sunday 7th 17:30 Peterborough Phantoms EPL Home
Saturday 13th 19:00 Sheffield Scimitars EPL Home
Sunday 14th 17:30 Bracknell Bees EPL Home
Thursday 18th 20:00 Peterborough Phantoms EPL Away
Saturday 20th 19:30 Sheffield Scimitars EPL Away
Sunday 21st 17:30 Romford Raiders EPL Home
Saturday 27th 17:45 Swindon Wildcats EPL Away
Sunday 28th 17:30 Bracknell Bees EPL Home

So there we go, the first season in the EPL, the curtain will fall against the Bees. Hopefully that fixture on the 28th March will not be the end of our season!

Reverse Graffiti

Today's post continues the rather random nature of this summers postings, you can tell its the hockey off season!

Anyway a particular forum I frequent saw a thread started about reverse Graffiti, this is where people go around finding dirty/mucky walls and cleaning them to make various patterns! Having been to Japan Graffiti can be done beautifully, and revers Graffiti can be added to that list!

So if you have a moment or two, click on this link and have a mooch for yourself!

Reverse Graffiti!

A Walk on the Wild Side

So over the weekend while at the gf's I saw a fantastic advert for an up-coming comedy series on the BBC. Basically a group of well known comedians have re-done voice overs for various wildlife documentary pieces.

Think of the usual stuff David Attenborough and all his nature documentaries, then think of the likes of Jason Manford, Rhod Gilbert and Jason Richardson doing the voice overs. Please take 47 seconds of your day to view the following clip its fantastic:



In other news, Tony Hand has said that the Phoenix have a contract out with an import defencemen. So in the next week or so an announcement will be forthcoming!

Concorde has landed - Ed Courtney signs for the Phoenix!

Ok yes so spend the next couple of moments thinking up all the 'big nose' comments you can think of! Its fun!

I must admit to being a little shocked by this signing, but what a capture. Other than Mr Hand, Ed Courtney is probably the next best player to have fraced the UK game. In the same vein as Tony, Ed has the hands and hockey mind to match the best in the game. Any guy who was good enough to ice with an NHL side, the Sharks in Ed's case, is good enough for me!

Ill admit during his time in opposition, I took great pleasure in handing out my own comments to Mr Courtney, but I can assure you readers that is only down to jealousy! Lets face it, you would rather have Ed on your side than against it! My shock reaction mainly boils down to already having a player of 'advanced age' on the side. But trade that against what he can do, plus Mr Hand is no slouch, to have both on the same team is exciting for us Phoenix fans!

Just imagine, opposition players getting sick and tired of seeing Tony on the first line tearing them apart, only to have Ed Courtney jump over the boards to carry on the assault! The more and more I think about it the more excited I get!

Plus, it adds a whole wealth of hockey knowledge to the club. This will help the young British contingent immensely. Not only that but the junior clubs are sure to benefit from having Tony and Ed in the same club!

This season is going to be exciting!

The Florida Gators

Those of you who know me will also know, along with hockey im an American Football fan, my team of choice - The Florida Gators. Based in Gainesville rock city the Gators play out off
the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium or 'The Swamp'.

I know American Football is really just a soft version of rugby but I do enjoy watching it, plus I find it amazing that the Gators, who are a university team, play in front of regular 90,000+ fans a game!



So beginning the 5th September, ill start doing as good a game review as I can for each of the Gators 12 regular season games. This is, of course, in addition to my regular game reviews for the Phoenix' upcoming debut EPL season!

The Gators 2009 season is as follows:

September 5th, vs Charleston Southern @The Swap, Gainesville.
September 12th, vs Troy @ The Swamp, Gainesville.
September 19th, vs Tennessee @ The Swamp, Gainesville.
September 26th, vs Kentuky in Lexington.
October 10th, vs LSU in Baton Rouge
October 17th, vs Arkansas @ The Swamp, Gainesville.
October 24th, vs Mississippi State in Starkville.
October 31st, vs Georgia in Jacksonville.
November 7th, vs Vanderbuilt @ The Swamp, Gainesville.
November 14th, vs South Carolina in Columbia.
November 21st, vs Florida International @ The Swamp, Gainesville.
November 28th, vs Florida State @ The Swamp, Gainesville.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere come the Gators!