Progression Tour 2014

Edit note: I was too busy "fan girling" over I Killed the Prom Queen to take any photos... my sincere apologies. Text heavy.

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The Progression Tour arrived in Preston Friday night to play at 53 Degrees, the UCLAN Student Union venue.

First up were the German-greats Caliban, whose discography spans almost two decades. Unfortunately, their deeply-rooted history in metal was not greatly admired by the early static crowd that had filled into the club as only a handful seemed interested. And whilst their set did not include personal favourites like "Nothing Is Forever", "A Summer Dream", or "I Will Never Let You Down", their set was constructed like a story, much like recent effort Ghost Empire. The five-piece played tracks such as "King", "We Are the Many", "Chaos Creation", and "Wolves and Rats". For an opening act, they were tremendous -- a massive name in metal, very professional, and tried a countless number of times to engage a difficult audience. Andreas Dorner and Denis Schmidt's vocals were spot on. The way in which Dorner sings seems so emotionally invested and Schmidt makes the huge choruses on the albums really come to life -- they sound massive.

Next up were I Killed the Prom Queen, a total surprise to me as promos I had seen had inconsistently had them listed and also not listed so when I saw Jona's Caparison guitar I knew what I was in store for. It was the culmination of what had been ten years in the making. It was a return back to those moments in high school walking the halls listening to IKPTQ in 2-3 minute bursts between bells. Their reunion in 2011 made it all possible. From their latest effort Beloved, the band played the likes of "Thirty One & Sevens", "Brevity", among a few others (drawing a blank on names). Though the ones they did play have made me fully invest time into Beloved. Of the old Prom Queen, they played "Sharks in Your Mouth" and "Say Goodbye", which are arguably their most recognisable songs alongside "Your Shirt Would Look Better...". Jona Weinhofen is one of the most gifted guitarists out there. The ability to play riffs and leads with precision is one his best talents and it in turn makes the rest of the band very regimented in their playing. Jamie Hope's vocals are very unique and raspy. Overall, he has a good range of highs and lows. They are definitely a must see band under this latest lineup.

The Devil Wears Prada hit the stage third and the energy that had built up during Prom Queens' set carried over. The Dayton, OH outfit played through a solid mix of the last three (four if you count the Zombie EP) albums -- including "Assistant to Regional Manager", "Danger: Wildman", "Dez Moines", "Escape", "Mammoth", "War", and "Sailor's Prayer".  Correct me if I'm wrong, but for "War", Mike Hranica jumped out into the middle of the pit as the crowd engulfed him to sing along. TDWP added so much energy to the show, which was something expected from seeing live videos on YouTube so they definitely lived up to the billing. I have always felt that Daniel Williams was a solid drummer and he proved that one-hundred-percent.

For a show that had four could-be headliners on the bill, The Ghost Inside must have won the contest of spoons or something. LA's finest entertained the crowd with the tracks (of course in no particular oder), "Unspoken", "Between the Lines", "Thirty Three", "Provoke", "Faith and Forgiveness", "Destined", and "The Conflict". The group encored with "Dark Horse", It was a solid crowd showing for TGI.

Overall, the show was worth the £20 note -- for FOUR headlining bands in their own right, you got your money's worth. Throughout my time in England I have gotten accustomed to these Student Union gigs and it is a very cool concept that is put on as they're accessible to a variety of people.

Reading & Writing Poetry Portfolio

I have been asked by my mother (ugh ;D) to share a selection of my poems that I submitted alongside a critical reflection and synoptic evaluation to make up my Reading & Writing Poetry portfolio at MMU. None of the five poems I submitted have been marked yet, but they were the ones I felt best reflected what I learnt throughout the unit this past year. Each year I find new ways to be able to express and organise thoughts. But through it all I continue to be heavily interested in poets like William Carlos Williams, Charles Reznikoff, Czeslaw Milosz, and Charles Olson.

One area my poetry has improved most is its ability to harness most of the emotion from what is observed. In an interview with Contemporary Literature, Reznikoff said:

"The feeling is there in the selection of the material; you pick things that are significant -- that's your feeling. You don't go into the feeling; you portray it as well as you can, hoping that somebody else reading the poem will get your feeling." -- in my annotation, I responded: whilst the submitted collection of poems at times subjects itself to an importation of my own feelings, I tried to strictly abide by writing what was observed by letting the emotion come from what was already there.

Overall I am quite pleased by what I was able to achieve in year three of my own poetry writing. I believe my works have come an incredible distance from where they were many full moons ago as a study abroad student in 2012.

The first poem "Rivers Under the Sea" is as conversational as possible. It went through minimal drafting so as to not lose that bit of expression.

The second poem I have posted is one of my Reznikoff, Olson, and WCW influenced poems with several parts to it that create a dialogue with my journey into university. There a some abstractions, but for the most part it remains observational.

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Edit note: My apologies if the second poem is too small. It was the only way I could get it to fit onto a screen shot. The format of the poem is a bit strange and Blogger makes it difficult to indent things even with knowledge of HTML.

Widnes Wild 4v4 Summer Cup

Last night was the first, and hopefully annual, 4v4 Summer Cup hosted by NIHL2 side Widnes Wild. It has been designed as almost a NIHL-wide showcase and also to be used as a Wild recruitment programme. They begin their trial period later this month for the 2014/15 year. I was asked by Ben Brown (Widnes) and Tom McDonald (Widnes) to feature with their team HUGE Fries in the competition. Teams are made up of four League and two Rec players -- a total of 10 teams were in the competition with Group stages taking place over the course two nights. Each group would play four Group games on the night.

The tournament was set up as 4v4 games consisting of one 10-minute period per game. Other minor blips to the rules were no offsides, no icing, and no faceoffs after goals. Games were fast and furious, that is, until the final few games of the evening when legs made way for tiredness.

Since it was a quasi-NIHL showcase the standard of the tournament was fantastic. Several partaking in the have represented Team GB at various levels so it was nice to get out on the ice and test my own game against theirs.

Widnes do a great job overall at connecting with their fan base. A solid number turned out for the event and stayed for the duration. They do love their ice hockey that way.

HUGE Fries won all four games, thus we advance to the finals on June 22 at 5PM. Star of the Group round was definitely Max Drakeley.

HUGE Fries:
Tom McDonald (Widnes)
Richard Charles (Widnes)
Max Drakeley (Minotaurs)
Tom Wilson (Rec)
Allen Gunn (Rec)
Ben Brown (Widnes)

SaintsFC v. Man Utd -- Final Day

#nofilter

If you believe the papers Lallana and Lovren are off to Liverpool, Shaw to United, Pochettino to Tottenham, and a host of others are set to leave the south coast in the summer -- for now, Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, and Luke Shaw are on the plane to Brazil as Southampton players. Hopefully the return as such... fingers crossed.

The 2013/14 Premier League campaign drew to a close with Sunday's visit of United at St. Mary's. It would be the second time this season that the crew from Manchester would be seeing a Manchester team after a four-hour journey. Seems fitting. This year there was no drama for Southampton, no threat of relegation. It was all but a celebration of a successful 8th-place finish with a club-record of 56 points.

On the other boot, United's 7th-place finish is their worst in Premier League history. The Manchester side will also be missing from European competition of the first time in 25 years. These facts were met with resounding praise from Saints fans who welcomed United with their rendition of "Glory Glory Man United", singing loudly, "Who the f**k are United? ... as the Saints go marching on-on-on!"

Lambert opened the scoring near the half-hour mark when he cooly finished 1v1 against de Gea -- after, of course, bloodying up Vidic (photos of a visibly angered Nemanja Vidic can be seen on the Daily Mail).

Unfortunately, United's £37 million man Juan Mata cancelled out Lambert's goal with a curling free-kick that froze poor Artur Boruc to his spot. It must've been the vodka slowing his reactions.

The lap of appreciation following the game got a bit emotional -- totes emosh as Mackinnon said (distinct chuckle, short pause followed by, "did you really just say 'totes emosh'?"). If it is in fact the last time we see several of these players in a Saints uniform it was a good'un. But please, don't Lebron James us for Champions League football...

Southampton FC 1 (Rickie Lambert 28') : Manchester United 1 (Juan Mata 54')

Southampton starting XI: Artur Boruc, Nathaniel Clyne, Luke Shaw, Morgan Schneiderlin, Jose Fonte, Dejan Lovren, Jack Cork, Victor Wanyama, Rickie Lambert, Steven Davis, Adam Lallana.

Subs: Paulo Gazzaniga, James Ward-Prowse, Guly do Prado, Calum Chambers, Jos Hooiveld, Harrison Reed, Sam Gallagher.

Manchester Utd starting XI: David de Gea, Chris Smalling, Patrice Evra, Shinji Kagawa, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Adnan Januzaj, Darren Fletcher, Robin van Persie, Juan Mata, Danny Welbeck.

Subs: Ben Amos, Michael Carrick, Ashley Young, Tom Cleverly, Antonio Valencia, Tom Lawrence, Chicharito.
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Edit note: This would have been posted Sunday, but after traveling up and down the M6 twice that weekend, the Saturday for ice hockey, and an exam on the Monday, I was a wee bit tired and preoccupied with other things.

Southampton FC at Swansea City

I can finally check-off "Witness a Southampton victory" from the things to see list -- after three long years of waiting. To be honest, the way the match was going, it seemed as if it the wait was going to continue. That is until Rickie Lambert's shoulder got the ball across the goal line at the death after a rather uneventful match to that point. But for £5 and nothing much to play for for either side table wise you couldn't really have asked for more.

The main excitement during the match came when it was clear that Swansea's derby rivals, Cardiff City, were on their way back to the Championship having gone down 1-0 at Newcastle after 17 minutes. Cardiff would go on to lose 3-0.

For Southampton, the trip to Swansea was treated as a celebration and a thank you to supporters for traveling to away games. Free scarves were laid out before everyone arrived, free player masks were presented at the gates for #sfcselfie, and a meal ticket for food at the game were included in the £5 ticket.

Overall, the hospitality at the Liberty Stadium was fantastic. By far one of the easiest stadiums to get to and areas to leave.

Swansea was also the first trip in my Southampton career that I did not fall asleep once on the ride to the stadium. I typically am out long before we hit the motorway. Although it would have been difficult to fall asleep on the final day of the Championship's season, which saw Birmingham City escape relegation in the 93rd minute, sending Doncaster down to League One who lost at league winners Leicester City. Former Saints gaffer Nigel Adkins saw his side knocked from the final playoff spot at the hands of Brighton. The car was definitely abuzz with football talk for a majority of the 3 1/2 journey to South Wales.

The Saints win does see the club surpass its old 38-game points total of 52. The club has 55 through 37 games.

Swansea City 0 : Southampton FC 1 (Rickie Lambert 90')

Southampton FC Starting XI: Artur Boruc, Nathaniel Clyne, Jose Fonte, Dejan Lovren, Luke Shaw, Victor Wanyama, Jack Cork (-> Reed), Morgan Schneiderlin, Steven Davis, Adam Lallana (-> Lambert), Sam Gallagher (-> Ward-Prowse).

Subs: Paulo Gazzanigo, Rickie Lambert, James Ward-Prowse, Guly, Calum Chambers, Harrison Reed, Jos Hooiveld.

Swansea City Starting XI: Michel Vorm, Dwight Tiendalli (-> Taylor), Jordi Amat, Ashley Williams, Ben Davies, Jonjo Shelvey, Jonathan de Guzman (-> Dyer), Pablo Hernandez (-> Emnes), Leon Britton, Wayne Routledge, Wilfried Bony.

Subs: Gerhard Tremmel, Neil Taylor, Kyle Bartley, Jay Fulton, Nathan Dyer, Marvin Emnes, Alvaro Vazquez.

Oh, and Swansea f***ing hate Cardiff City.
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Edit note: You may recall my Birmingham away post, the Snowless Draw, from February 2012 where Mack and I were asked by Sky to walk through the gate for their pre-match footage.

A refresher if need be:

Well the acting duo was back at it again and on full display during Match of the Day in the slightest of slight, the minuscule of minute ways away to Swansea.

Look for the arrow for a bit of a laugh: