The Ninth Delia Happening

Presenting our Ninth Happening, a return to the grand space of St John’s Church Nave for the third summer running. It’s our usual eclectic line-up with home-grown  country, folk and Americana from Magic Car, experimental post-rock and trip-hop trio Foule, energetic space meditations from Sonder Kraft and Alucidnation’s aural architecture. Plus the Friends of Delia, value-priced bar, all-new bake sale, and now-legendary raffle.

SATURDAY 11 JULY 2026
Doors at 7.00pm, show starts 7:30pm

St John’s Church
Carrington, Nottingham

Magic Car

Another Nottingham cult band, operating under-the-radar with an if-you-know-you-know fanbase, and beloved of Whispering Bob Harris. Magic Car are a British Americana, country and folk rock band formed by the actor Phil Smeeton (songwriter and guitarist) and Hazel Atkinson (vocalist), and featuring Torn Sail and Brown Fang's John Thompson on bass guitar. Signed to the independent record label Tiny Dog Records they have released four albums -- Yellow Main Sequence (2001), Family Matters (2005) and European Punks (2002), a joint album with Scott 4. A fourth, Meteorites was released in 2016.

Foule

Foule are an experimental post-rock / trip hop trio formed in Nottingham and signed to Running Circle Records. Performing as a three-piece, Foule's immersive live sets move between rhythm-driven passages and slow-building crescendos. Their sound draws from both post-rock and experimental music, creating performances that feel physical, atmospheric and unpredictable.

Sonder Kraft

Sonder Kraft says: "Starting somewhere and ending up somewhere else, the Sonder Kraft is my little safe space/spaceship combining guitar fx pedals a loop machine and a sequencer to allow a free flowing improvised situation. Sometimes a meditation and sometimes driving and energetic".

Alucidnation

Bruce Bickerton [aka Alucidnation] has been writing and producing music since heady days of the early 1990's. Moving from classical piano to studio engineer, the ambient house boom took Alucidnation to Big Chill Festivals in the UK, Greece and also in Goa. Bruce released two critically acclaimed albums on Big Chill Recordings; Induction and Get Lost.

£DONATION TICKETS?

Gigs used to be pocket-money prices, and accessible to pretty much everyone (like many things). Not anymore – a ticket for a tribute band at the Rescue Rooms is £25.00, while benefits people can’t live on and a lack of accessible space means the free party scene has all but disappeared.

We’re part of a movement trying to do something different, trying to give a platform for new, eclectic artists, and trying to make a positive contribution to local music, arts and culture. And we need your help.

Most shows have a fixed ticket price, so why do we do £donation tickets, and how much should you donate?

First, Delia is a “for love” thing… like many independent music ventures it costs the founders money and time, and we’re fine with that. We’re here to put music we believe in out into the world, both on record and live, and we love the possibility, the opportunity, the creation of something new, the people, connections and moments of chance… it’s a risk, but that’s part of the joy.

It’s a risk for the audience too. We’re asking you to step out of the corporate gig machine (always hard, especially in Nottingham) and roll the dice on the unknown and unfamiliar that might not be your thing, or might be great. People say we’ve been great so far, and we've sold-out eight Happenings in a row,  but this is an experiment, we’re putting our faith in the magic of the musical universe. Sounds like hippy bullshit, but that comes with the territory of something called a Happening.

Secondly, we need to pay our venue and tech, and we want to pay our performers at least expenses and minimum wage, hopefully market rate. Anything left over helps for next time. And we’re pushing against a world where the tech industrialists want you to think of music as valueless “content”. Excuse us, but no thanks. This is where you come in...

We’d love you to come. We’d really love you to come if live music is normally outside your budget by grabbing a free ticket...

…but this relies on some generosity. Our average donation is £9.50, and at this level we can pay a fee and travel for our artists plus venue hire and equipment hire, and a thank-you drink for all our on-the-night volunteers. That's the average, but doesn’t mean most people donate £9.50, or that’s what we expect.

Some people put in more than £9.50, some people put in more than £25.00, and we salute you, you’re holding the door open for others, and helping lower the risk for future Happenings. Plenty put in a fiver which is cool, but if a fiver is a stretch, we’d prefer you to donate less, or come for free. Alternatively, if you spend a fiver a day on coffee, think about the power of contributing a bit, or quite a bit more.

Your choice, no judgement, all love from Delia.