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Tom Bairstow is a man in a hurry as he travels across Europe delivering contrasting shows for the biggest names in entertainment.
“We’ve just completed a totally unique experience for the gaming community, the first ever Playstation | The Concert Tour, which featured some of the most iconic soundtracks and visuals of Sony Playstation’s back catalogue over the years. It’s been a first ever and something quite fascinating to be involved in,” says Bairstow who has just finished a sell-out music tour across Italy with one of Italy’s biggest stars, Cesare Cremonini , including an “epic” show at the San Siro stadium.
The Journey
It’s been quite a journey for Bairstow, who began his own live music career in a band 20 years ago when he toured his native northern England towns and cities in the back of a camper van.
Growing up in the two large Yorkshire cities of Bradford and Leeds, Bairtsow and his bandmates worked hard to achieve commercial success but soon came to the realisation that despite playing a number of prolific gigs, there just was not enough cut through for a northern alternative rock band.
But Bairstow had a taste, especially for live shows, and once he came to terms that he was no longer going to be a rock star in the music industry, he could find his own north star through his combined interests and growing expertise.
“Gigging hard with a band taught me a lot about the live industry. I’ve always had a fixation on music, design, technology, and film-making, and once I’d stopped playing in the band, I became more interested in the relationship between these industries and how I could play my part.”
Once he switched the drumsticks for a laptop, Bairstow quickly found a love for creating visuals for live concerts.
“I wanted to remain a part of live shows. At the time, it was very niche, and not many artists were using screens in their shows. However, I entered the industry at a time when video walls, screens, and projection were becoming more and more a part of the visual experience behind touring artists.”
The X Factor
As the popularity of television entertainment shows such as The X Factor swept across the world, Bairstow found himself working with successful artists who emerged from these formats. From 2009 onwards, the likes of One Direction, Little Mix, and Olly Murs transitioned from talent show hopefuls to global superstars and Bairstow was right in the mix of it, as he was tasked with creating the visuals for One Direction’s first US shows in Connecticut and at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
“Being at those shows was an incredible experience. To witness such a young crowd who went totally wild for them was like nothing I’d seen before. It was total hysteria from thousands and the noise was deafening. It certainly gave me a buzz to be part of it and gave me more stimulation to create even better visuals and experiences for audiences.”
Bairstow was grateful for this breakthrough opportunity through a company called Production North, and it was his experience with them which helped him to understand the creative process for live shows, to understand the impact of visuals and the variety of ways to use a video screen to elevate a show.
“I was hooked and decided that I needed to focus 100% on a career in this industry. So I went from juggling a lot of bar work to paying the bills and scraping by in Leeds, and decided to head south to London in 2010 to further my career and set-up my own freelance venture. Things continued to progress at pace from thereon in.”
NorthHouse 2012
The move south worked out well for Bairstow, who was picking up work as a solo visual artist and video designer. Yet there was a bigger opportunity as he knew that if he grew a team, he could be involved in even bigger events, so he formed his own design studio, NorthHouse, in 2012 and began to gradually build up a team.
In just three years, by 2015 and 2016, NorthHouse was working with Coldplay, and contributing to the Super Bowl halftime show with Coldplay, Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, and Mark Ronson.
“At that point we were still a tiny team of full-timers but expanded with freelancers. We continued an upward trajectory until lockdown when they were only five full time staff with minimal freelance support.
And then came the global Covid 19 pandemic, which changed everything for NorthHouse and would test Bairstow’s resolve as an entrepreneur.
“Lockdown was a real pivotal moment for us. Of course, it was horrendous on so many levels! The stress was brutal and multiple shows were cancelled one by one for us through March and into April. But in times like this, people pull together and challenges can be overcome!”
The time away from the cut and thrust of live shows allowed Bairstow and his team to test new skills and dream up new ways to create experiences. It was this diligence that paid off when lockdown restrictions began to lift.
“The team spent a lot of time learning new skills whilst I focused on our brand and just reaching out to as many new and old clients as possible. It was desperation but it carved out a whole new path for us.”
In September 2020, NorthHouse was commissioned to develop an augmented reality awards show in (mostly empty) La Scala, Milan. This groundbreaking show digitally brought together global awardees and speakers into the real venue in Milan, with a tiny onsite team due to Covid restrictions.
Clever technology
It proved to the industry that despite being hamstrung with restrictions, through creativity and innovative use of design and technology, shows could go on.
When the second lockdown was lifted, NorthHouse, now a trusted supplier for Coldplay, formed part of the live design team for the band’s new album campaign for Music of the Spheres with a year of promotional shows around the world before commencing the worldwide tour that still runs today.
These started at the iconic Roundhouse in London and ended in Dubai, at the giant Al Wasl dome, one of the first mega spherical venues built a few years before the Vegas sphere.
“We don’t need to tour with the shows, but we spend months conceptualising, designing and creating them in the studio beforehand and then tweak and refine through rehearsals and into the first couple of shows. So once the opening shows are done, and we know it works well, we hand off to the touring production team who ensure smooth running of what we’ve created.”
NorthHouse continues to be part of the design team behind Coldplay’s current world tour – which started in Costa Rica back in April 2022, where Bairstow and the team were present as part of the rehearsals before launching it around the world.
The Queen’s Jubilee at Buckingham Palace
“So some of the team were in Costa Rica with the band and crew and then headed back home to then embark on the Queen’s Jubilee Party at the Palace that many of the team had been working on back in the London Bridge Studio.
“What we did at Buckingham Palace changed the game for us! It was such a huge moment. To be part of that iconic show, to be part of history and I was so proud of the team as we pushed the boundaries of creativity and technology on that one!”
As NorthHouse creativity was watched by billions across the world, offers to work with the biggest brands came flooding in.
Since then, NorthHouse has created the visuals for multiple Disney shows across Hollywood, Paris and Riyadh, designed a VVIP private royal event in Saudi Arabia and followed up from the success of the Queen’s Jubilee by illuminating another iconic British landmark – Windsor Castle – with projection visuals for the Kings Coronation Concert.
Now NorthHouse is entering a whole new phase of growth. Operating from the London Bridge studio with a team of 22 full time employees, Bairstow is looking to grow with the scale of their projects with more creative, technology and production roles.
“We’ve expanded our services to encompass all parts of the creative, design and technical offerings for a live experience – from creative direction and consultancy to show and stage design, visual art and design, projection and screen design, augmented and virtual reality, and everything that comes within multimedia technology from technical consultancy to technical production.”
Plentiful Opportunities
“At the same time, we’ve noticed such an incredible shift in our industry for where media, projection and screen tech is used and we have requests for projects that range from theme parks and attractions, immersive experiences for brands and musicians, multimedia-led theatre, permanent multimedia art installations in destinations, large public spaces and offices.
“For example, we’ve created quite a few big shows and experiences with Disney, and one show in particular launched at Disneyland Paris earlier this year and will hopefully run each and every night for the next few years! We’re doing a lot more in the sports world also as we have got some very interesting potential projects coming up in the Sports Entertainment sector.
The opportunities are plentiful for NorthHouse as they are currently working on projects in the US, Europe,Asia, the Middle East and with potentials in India.
“We have a few shows and events in the US later this year, one of which is aligned with a very good cause for people and the planet and it’s always so rewarding to have that depth behind a creative venture. I’m heading to various parts of Asia including Macau, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka to discuss potential opportunities.”
“Yes I’m in a very fortunate position where I get to work with my amazing team, clients and friends on these epic live shows and experiences. It’s amazing to see an idea grow into something that connects thousands of people, and the same applies to growing this company,” says Bairstow enthusiastically. “It’s actually been a relatively steady growth in many ways but we do seem to have bounced from one ridiculous opportunity to the next along the way – and I do often need to remind myself of what we’re creating and what we’ve achieved when I’m so deep in the projects or focusing on the next steps. Usually these moments come when a project first goes live and you get to see and feel if through the audience perspective – and tonight when I arrive at the San Siro and there’s 60,000 fans packed into giant stadium, I know that atmosphere will be electric and it’s just so rewarding to know you’ve been a part of that”
Live shows and live music in particular will always be at the heart and soul of NorthHouse whose unique creative offering will continue to fuse visual art, design and multimedia technology.
