Folk singer Dolly Mavies, whose real name is Molly Davies, said she and her band pulled out of a gig in Daylesford after hearing that US Vice President JD Vance might show up. She said it was a small action, but the story spread quickly and turned into headlines around the world.
She explained that her band grew suspicious when they arrived and noticed a heavy security presence that did not normally happen there. Mavies said there were convoys of police motorbikes and large cars around the farm shop venue. That was enough for them to decide not to play.
It was later confirmed that Vance never planned to attend the event at all. Still, the attention brought Mavies a huge surge of new social media followers and messages of support. She said she was overwhelmed by the comments coming in from people around the globe.
Mavies told an interviewer: “Obviously, there’s an overwhelming sense of support in America… I think for a lot of American people there’s a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of people are scared, and it was amazing to feel like they’d been heard.”
She also answered critics who accused her of doing it as a stunt. She said: “We definitely didn’t do that at all. If we were that clever we would have done something before now.”
The singer, who released her debut album The Calm & The Storm last year, admitted that some people were upset. She said: “Nobody’s ever going to agree with everybody, and that’s totally fine. It riled some people up and that’s for them to decide… but I do think it’s really interesting because in the grand scheme of things we just chose not to do something. We could’ve done something much more extravagant… leaving is the most peaceful way of protest in some way.”
Meanwhile, JD Vance and his family were in the Cotswolds for their summer break away from Washington D.C. He took part in different visits and events but there was no sign he ever planned to be at the gig. Even so, the move by Mavies kept building momentum online, especially in the United States where many people said they related to her concerns.
