some impressions from the Evoke 2025 by Ghandy of Nukleus, images by various sources.
Admittedly, I only went to Evoke on Friday evening because it was so damn hot. As I couldn’t find a dog sitter, I took my dog with me. As it was too loud in the hall and too hot outside during the day, I didn’t drive to Cologne until around 8 p.m.
To be honest, the Evoke plays a minor role in the Amiga scene. This demo party has its roots in the PC scene, which is why they could never bring themselves to hold a pure Amiga competition. Around 15 years ago, when I asked Tobi (XXX of Haujobb) about this, he told me that I would have to guarantee him three Amiga demos. Only then would he be willing to open Evoke to an Amiga competition. Of course, I couldn’t do that, which he knew. Nevertheless, many active and former members of the Amiga scene attend every year to meet up again. The Amiga productions compete with those running on completely different hardware. In my opinion, that’s not fair. But let’s leave it at that — they don’t want an Amiga competition, and that’s just the way it is. I came to terms with it at some point.
They’ve let Hardy back into Evoke again!
Around 500 people were present, and by and large, two-thirds of them were the same audience as every year. Many visitors were aged 50 and over, but there were also some younger participants. It was great that Hardy from Lemon., Genesis Project, TRSI etc. was allowed back into the party place. The reason for his ban in recent years was absurd, in my opinion. Years ago, he behaved badly towards a woman at Discord while being drunk. However, I cannot fathom what that has to do with being banned from a real event. I could have understood it if he had misbehaved at Evoke. But not like this. Anyway, after some discussion at the entrance, they let him in. It was clearly important to him to be able to attend again and as he didn’t cause any troubles at the party, it was a win-win-situation for everybody. Update/correction: It wasn’t only his behavior at Discord or Pouet. There has been also a physical sexual harassment incident involving a female member of the orga crew by Hardy back at Evoke 2019.
A comparison of Amiga and C64 parties
The statements made by Steel, a C64 musician from Success and The Ruling Company, were quite interesting. Evoke was the first party he had attended that did not focus on the C64. Steel made friends immediately and was surprised by the tolerant and open atmosphere at the party, which excluded no one. However, he also said that, on average, the entries for the competitions were not as good as at C64 parties. He added that C64 sceners tended to pay more attention to details and made it with more heart. Steel organises the popular X Party for C64 only in the Netherlands with some other group members. I can’t judge that — I have no idea about the quality of pure c64 compos. But I would like to highlight the winning image by Elko/TRSI, which I found really noteworthy. ‘Unfinished Business‘ is simply great! But probably Elko will never paint on or for the Amiga again as I heard, which would be a pitty!
The death of StingRay was a frequent topic of conversations
Incidentally, the surprising death of StingRay last year was a frequently discussed topic. Not only that, but the fact that no one knew he had died for almost nine months was also discussed. The cause of his untimely death was revealed more by chance than anything else. Yes, we older sceners are losing our friends more and more frequently; several have passed away in recent years, but StingRay was far too young to leave this world. Many Visitors were still truly stunned by this.
The drone show was a real highlight
Without a doubt, one of the absolute highlights on Friday was the drone show, which fascinated us all. It was incredible to watch 100 drones recreate lettering and individual demo effects, glowing in different colours. It would be great if there were another drone show next year. Another surprise was Creepy‘s visit. He used to be in the relatively unknown demo group Trackers from northern Germany. He also wrote the source code for the first Faith crack intro and for the Horrorpack menu. You probably know, this was my pack when I was a mailswapper in the mid 90s. By the way, that was Creepy’s first demo party after a huge break of around 30 years!!!
A TRSI member’s identity was revealed by accident.
One person, whose name we would rather not mention here, really let the side down. Alcohol may have played a significant role in this incident. He submitted an entry for the OGG/MP music compo on behalf of Coolcat of TRSI without consultation, and he even used his real name, which was displayed on the big screen. Coolcat, who has never been a musician, was understandably astonished. Worse still, commercial samples were used, resulting in the song being disqualified. The rules clearly state that no material from works licensed by GEMA may be included.
Some thoughts on the competitions
Speaking about Amiga releases, two ECS and one AGA demo was submitted to the Alternative Demo competition. The winner was ‘No CPU Challenge’ by Demostue Allst★rs, who are planning to organize a No CPU competition at Gerp party next year. This means that the effects must be generated by one of the other chips built into the Amiga, but not by the Motorola 68000 series chip. Oh wow, hold my beer! More details can be found here. But most entries were done on the C64.
It is also worth mentioning the invitation intro to Deadline 2025, created by Bodo of Rabenauge for Gnumpf Posse on a Commodore PET. Wow, that’s a machine that’s rarely used for demos!
I then drove back to Düsseldorf in the middle of the night with Lincoln’s sister Bianca, my dog and Steel. It was nice to see all the familiar faces again. Many visitors were unfortunately only there on Saturday, so I missed them, but I’ve had enough impressions for now. We’ll probably see each other again next year.
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Posting this anonymously because the involved persons have been dragged to the mud enough already…
“Years ago, he behaved badly towards a woman at Discord while being drunk. However, I cannot fathom what that has to do with being banned from a real event”
This was not the reason he was banned from Evoke. The reason was that he indeed misbehaved (and that’s phrased mildly) towards a woman in person, that he flat out refused to admit multiple times that he fucked up, and that he publicly threatened violence against people at Evoke who would bring that topic up. It’s all archived in several Pouet BBS threads from the last years, have fun looking it up.
I have included an update:
Ot wasn’t only his behavior at Discord or Pouet. There has been also a physical sexual harassment incident involving a female member of the orga crew by Hardy back at Evoke 2019.