The spotlights shining on your favourite pop stars don’t just light themselves. Screens, lights, sound, visuals – everything has to be perfect before a performer steps on stage.
At Marlay Park in Rathfarnham, Dublin, it is Tom Walsh, head of music and touring, who makes the magic happen on stage.
“I’ve worked Marlay Park for years. It’s not like a typical festival,” Walsh says. “It’s a series of headline shows; it really is more than your stereotypical festival.”
Walsh and his team have perfected installing infrastructure and equipment needed to accommodate every kind of artist who comes to perform at the venue, even at a moment’s notice.
Behind the scenes at Marlay Park for Florence + the Machine. All photographs: Nick Bradshaw 
Florence + the Machine’s gear 
Working the desk 
The view from the side of the stage 
Overseeing the show
On the day of a concert, artists may want aspects of the performance changed, with last-minute requests such as “someone wanting us to play a video or stick a logo up on the screen”, Tom says.
“We put everything in and when the headliner shows up the night before – or even the morning of – the show with their own show specific equipment, we can integrate that seamlessly to ensure they’ve a good experience.”
When Florence + the Machine performed at Marlay Park last Sunday, there was much to prepare.
“We removed this huge portion of the upstage screen the morning of, and we integrated all of their additional camera systems,” Walsh says.
“We’ve got good relationships with a lot of touring crews so we can communicate with those guys in advance of the shows. It’s a huge industry, but a very tight-knit one at the same time.”