By Sophia Boothby

From Radiohead to U2, lighting engineer Blaine Dracup shares the reality of life behind the scenes on global tours, creating legendary set ups one spotlight at a time whilst highlighting the immense pressures that comes with working with some of the most famous bands of the century. 

Blaine Dracup started his career in the lighting industry straight out of university; his first job was with a company called Light and Sound Design who took him to the Olympics. However, that was only a taste of the career and accomplishments Blaine was yet to take on.

Blaine continued to work there for a few years, he said: “I kept going out and fixing other people’s problems, like Tina Turner and ACDC. It was always simple problems. I thought, if I was here, these problems would never happen, and all these people were having more fun and earning more money than me. So, in 1994 I went freelance.”

Prince, whose 1984 album Purple Rain sold over 25 million copies worldwide and redefined music as the world knew it, gave Blaine his first freelance gig, taking him all over Europe for three huge tours. 

His career only took off from there. In 2003 Blaine worked on a Paul McCartney show that took place in the Red Square in Moscow. The first time a Beatle performed in Russia. Blaine said: “My wife’s a nurse and she does something most people consider reasonably important and something that matters, but what I do is fluff. But during that McCartney performance, there were Russians crying in the audience. They thought they’d never see a Beatle.

“They said their music had kept them sane in the hard times, and we never thought we’d see a Beatle. So that almost gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside that sometimes what we do isn’t just fluff. It was an important thing for that country at the time. 

“I remember when Putin came along to the show, McCartney played their song ‘Back in The USSR’ for him when he arrived.”

But it doesn’t all run smoothly, Blaine mentioned he expected to be astonished by Beyonce and whilst he thinks she is very talented, allegedly the way she tours he found ‘simply appalling’. He recalled people coming onto set in the morning and walking off by lunch. 

When I asked what Blaine’s highlight of his career was, he couldn’t name just one, however he spoke of taking part of David Bowie’s last tour before his death in 2016.

Blaine toured with Bowie on numerous occasions, he said: “David Bowie was astonishing just because of him.

“We ended up having a chat about his voice once, asking me what I thought, that was surreal. Having just a regular, what’s the weather chat with Bowie about his voice, that would be a highlight.”

Throughout Blaine’s career he’s followed large names. Between 2009 and 2011he joined the 360 tour with U2 that ran for two and a half years, he said: “What I built for U2 came in 17 sections, and basically there was an arena’s worth of lighting, just in that, and I received all the sections empty in a place near Birmingham, but spent probably about two months filling it with lights.

“We delivered well, so that was why that was such a good one for me. It was so big, it’s never been done before, and I was involved from the beginning to the very end.”

U2 was what Blaine believed to be his biggest tour but when I asked what the highest pressure the industry had put on him he answered Radiohead 2012, explaining to me the technical side of the work was relentless, he said: “I never really managed to get on top of, and it just kept moving and kept moving but the challenge of building something new is great but it’s always hard work. 

“There’s always unknowns, but you tend to get to a point where you effectively win, you know.”

Radiohead has remained Blaine’s favourite band to work with, but in 2012 he landed himself in the middle of a tragic accident that rocked the band for years to come.

“It was dreadful, absolutely dreadful.” This is how Blaine Dracup described the feeling of when a fellow colleague died in a stage in one of the notablyhardest times in his longstanding career as a lighting engineer. 

Blaine said: “During the 2012 Radiohead tour, the roof collapsed in Canada and killed somebody.

“Dealing with the aftermath of that, obviously, was challenging, it was a work colleague, you know, there were other people that knew him better than I did, but then getting things back running again a few months later, that was challenging, both from a technical point, trying to rebuild stuff that crashed, but then just the band themselves were never comfortable walking under it ever again.

“I noticed something that I’d levelled earlier was not level anymore while I was on the stage, and then behind me I heard a noise, and the next thing I knew, I was off the stage. I just ran; I was on stage when it happened. I was one of the lucky ones. 

“Two people were injured quite badly, and then the drummer tech, Scott, was on the drums in the middle of the stage; there was nowhere for him to go. The stage collapsed through no fault of our own, but it was dreadful, absolutely dreadful.”

He has continued to work with Radiohead in the years that followed, and still speaks highly of them, describing them as some of the nicest people he’s ever worked with.

Throughout the highs and lows of his career Blaine spoke to me about the behind the scenes, how a job that requires travelling the world and up to 18 hour days has affected his home life and family. He said: “I met my wife when I had this career, so she knew what I was like, I have a daughter as well. 

“They get involved where they can you know, wherever possible they come out to visit when I have time off work.

“Throughout my daughter’s childhood I was either fully missing or fully present, which, again, it’s not for everybody, but it works well for us. 

“It’s just a different balance. It’s not the sort of the nine to five Monday to Friday balance and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” SB

Featured image via Blaine Dracup