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.”