Tune in, Drop in, Join Happening 44.

(London): Happening 44, [1967]. First edition. Flyer / poster. Measures 24cm by 19.5cm. Very rare mini poster for two events at Happening 44. Happening 44 was a short-lived psychedelic club at 44 Gerrard Street, London W1 (it only lasted a few months). The premises at 44 Gerrard Street had previously been associated with live music and youth culture, including earlier iterations as a branch of the influential 2i’s Coffee Bar. In the spring and early summer of 1967, the space was run as Happening 44 by Jack Braceland, a pioneering British light-show artist, and became known for its psychedelic décor, strobe lighting and multimedia “happenings” that blended music and visual spectacle. Happening 44 featured performances by key underground and emerging acts of the period, including Soft Machine, Pink Floyd and Fairport Convention, among others. The club offered all-night events on Thursday and Saturday evenings, combining live groups with light shows and a free-form atmosphere characteristic of London’s rapidly evolving counterculture. In the late 1940s and 1950s the premises had hosted a long-running jazz club run by George Melly and Mick Mulligan, it was here, according to Melly’s recollections and local history accounts, that the UK’s first “all night raves” were held and the term “rave” in the sense of a wild party or all-night dance event was coined. This poster is for two events one on Saturday the 27th of May that featured Brothers Grimm, Social Deviants (Mick Farren) and Sensory Armada and the other featuring an early performance by Canterbury based Soft Machine (named after the William Burroughs novel), one of the first British psychedelic acts, and later pioneers of progressive rock and jazz rock. Along with Pink Floyd, they became one of the major resident bands at the UFO Club, and played other London clubs like the Speakeasy and Middle Earth. According to Wyatt, the Soft Machine received negative reactions when playing at venues other than these underground clubs; this led to their penchant for long tracks and segued tunes because continuously playing deprived their audiences chances to boo them. They released their first single “Love Makes Sweet Music” in February of 1967. The events offered ‘groovy food’ ‘fantastic decorations’ ‘strobes’ ‘discs’ and slides by Ron Henderson and the Fiveacre Light Show. A very good example of this rare poster.