Getdown Services|Vanity Fairy
The Booking Hall, Dover, Kent
1st March 2026
Getdown Services, still “Britain’s best band”, came to Kent’s “most independent live music venue”, The Booking Hall, to share some riotous tunes in their own inimitable way. The Bristol boys rocked up at the historic 165-year-old grade II listed former train station on their latest six-date UK tour. As one keen observer commented, “perhaps not one for the musos” but still great fun and good value on a Sunday night in Dover.
Supporting Somerset’s dynamic duo was the very sparkly, very bouncy and very enthusiastic Vanity Fairy, aka Daisy Capri or Daisy Victoria Lawrence. If you can imagine Keith Harris’ Orville meets Hi-De-Hi’s Su Pollard at Baz Luhrmann’s Great Gatsby Party, you’ll be on the right track. Daisy, aside from scattering “porn” cards into the audience and standing on the bar at the back of the room at one point, sang a set of her own Disco tunes. Dressed in a lavishly sequined multi-coloured kaftan, silver disco ball skull cap, red tights and silver pumps, Vanity embodied the spirit of Studio 54’s flamboyant 70’s glamour.
Daisy took time out of her set to explain that she’d been here before, as support for Electric 6 in July 2024. In between the glittery visual spectacle and the largely falsetto delivery of Sentimental Lover, Love Of My Life, Top Of The Pops and Queen Of Queens, Daisy also mused that “if this doesn’t work out I’m going to become a kids entertainer”. As much as the high camp and Hi-NRG set was a curiously enjoyable amuse-bouche, I think the jury’s still out on Daisy’s career path.
Following Daisy’s disco deep dive, and to herald the arrival of best buddies Ben Sadler and Josh Law, came Status Quo’s anthem – Whatever You Want. The familiar tune rang out around Dover’s now packed Booking Hall as Getdown Services took to the stage. The Ant and Dec of Minehead were full of entertaining, boisterous banter with many a comic aside during their 80-minute set.
Josh and Ben talked of moustaches, nipple rash, eczema, Claire Balding and the high percentage of balding men in the crowd, among many other topics, including ticket sales. Having sold out most of their gigs in two or three days, Law and Sadler were perplexed as to why it had taken two months to sell out their Dover show. Prior to the gig selling out the day before, the boys had threatened to stamp on turtles and “Never play a gig in Kent again if Dover doesn’t sell out..[and] write off the entire South East of England”, commenting on Instagram that they were “Selling more tickets in San Francisco for f**ks sake”.
In the end, it didn’t matter; the show was a sellout, and both the boys and the audience seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. “300 people turning up to a gig in Dover on a Sunday in March is a miracle, so well done all….if we had our way, we’d play in Kola [Portsmouth] and The Booking Hall forever and ever until we die”.
Getdown Services treated the well versed audience to many of their most popular tracks, including opener Head Down For The Conversation, an impassioned Evil On Tap and of course cult classic – Crisps. Don’t Cheese Me Off and a very feisty – I’m Not Feeling It ensured maximum audience participation with both Ben and Josh doing their part to ensure everyone was fully engaged. The lads managed to keep their tops on to begin with, but couldn’t resist the baying crowd and succumbed to bare chestedness in the end. (I think it’s fairly safe to say they’re not making the cover of Men’s Health magazine any day soon).
Sadler and Law shared a new warts n’ all song about eczema that included some deft guitar licks courtesy of Josh, before shimmying into the catchy beats of Eat Quiche, Sleep, Repeat and a brief “moving” tongue-in-cheek Coldplay cover – Fix You. I Wish It Didn’t Bother Me gave a rare glimpse into the mellower, more considered side of Getdown Services before the pair resumed ‘normal service’ and belted out their biggest track to date – Dog Dribble as a fitting finale to wrap up a chaotic but very entertaining set.
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All words by Andrew Lockwood. More writing by Andrew Lockwood can be found at his author’s archive.
All photos by Aaron Thompson. AMP Photography
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