A quick review of the 1st Mag Bash show, held in Coventry, UK.

Arrived at the Venue in time to see the dentist (2:30 - geddit?). It was a chilly wet miserable day, but inside it was dry and warm with a very positive atmosphere.

Having paid the entrance money of ?3 ukp, and got a sticker to tell everyone who I am. (not much point really since everyone knows me) - I entered the hall, to be greeted by groans, followed by "Oh god, what you doing here?" - And that was just Rigo!

But I digress, the main hall itself, was a bit titchy, in comparison to the size of the Big Bash venue, which in turn was titchy compared to the WOA-SE venue, which in turn was titchy compared to the Novotel in Hammersmith.
- but such is the size of the Amiga community nowadays, if we don't start getting people back, we'll soon be holding a show in a phone booth! Not that in anyway thats is MAG's fault.

However, those that had made it, were doing their bit to try and revive our favourite computer platform, in attendance was the UK's premiere Amiga retailer, Amigakit. (of course they are also the only UK Amiga retailer, but shush!) As you can see, they were a bit stumped by a customer asking them if they had any add ons for a commodore vic-20! Bet they did a bit of trade though!

Next to Amigakit, and heading towards the centre stage, was the Hyperion table, which consisted mainly of Rigo and his SAM440EP, Plus Hyperion's Everett Carlton, who was doing his best to blend into the background in a desperate bid not to be deluged with court case questions!
Seriously though, it was nice of Hyperion's top brass to come over to the UK and say hi, its been a long time since the UK has had any official representation from the leading player on the Amiga scene.

I have never met Everett in person before, but I found him to be a very friendly and easily accessible person. He was happy to talk to anyone and everyone, he mingled with the crowd and generally was very amiable.

At this point I should add that I did take a photo of him and Swoop, but alas, when I got it home it came out blurry! (I am crap at photography) Sorry guys!

Generally though, there were a good 30 people in the main hall at any one time, I believe the final total of people through the door was about 50 at the end of the day, but it is always nice to attend this type of venue and say hi to a lot of old faces that one hasn't seen in a long time and yet, even to this day there were some people in there who I had never met before, so it was nice to see a couple of fresh faces.

Luke Stowe (blurred person in photo) and his crew did a superb job given that it was their first time at hosting an Amiga show. As with all Amiga shows there was a raffle with the winner getting a nice new SAM board with OS4. It went to a new Amiga user with who turned up at 4pm and who I only know as "Mouse" on IRC. Congrats to him!

It was also nice to see fellow ANT member, Chris Handley finally getting his hands on Amiga hardware after using emulation for so many years.




Finally, before I left, I was able to watch Rigo, do a very polished presentation of the new SAM board running OS4.1 on the main stage, it really was very polished, the place was very quiet as everyone listened intently.


All in all, a nicely done show, I just wish more people had turned up, over the years the Amiga community has shrunk in the UK, but it isn't that small. Well done to all involved on putting Amiga UK shows back on the map.