LGBTIQ+ List 2023: Lucy Mackenzie McNae, Two and a Half TMs

The LGBTIQ+ List 2023 – IQ Magazine’s third annual celebration of queer professionals who make an immense impact in the international live music business – has been revealed.

The ever-popular list is the centrepiece of IQ’s third Pride edition, sponsored by Ticketmaster, which is now available to read online and in print for subscribers.

To get to know this year’s queer pioneers a little better, we interviewed each of them on the development of the industry, the challenges that are keeping them up at night and more.

Throughout the next month, IQ will publish a new interview each day. Check out yesterday’s profile with Stefan Lehmkuhl, freelance curator & live entertainment consultant at BMG/Ruined My Rainbow in Berlin, Germany.

The series continues with Lucy MacKenzie McNae (she/her/hers), tour manager (Josef, Twin Atlantic) at Two and a Half TMs in Glasgow, Scotland.

Tell us about the professional feat you’re most PROUD of in 2023 so far.
Giving The Ironworks in Inverness the sendoff it deserved with Twin Atlantic before it closed in February was both a really proud moment and also bittersweet. Despite being from Glasgow, I feel like I grew up in that venue, going from being a touring merch manager there back in 2008 through to TM’ing one of the last shows was quite an experience. As a production, we really wanted to lay everything we could on the table for Caroline and the Ironworks staff, who have always made that venue feel like coming home, no matter who I was on tour with, so going back to close out The Ironworks was important to us all.

Name one queer act you’re itching to see live this year.
Peach PRC.

What advice could you give to young queer professionals?
Just be yourself; get stuck into whatever is going on; be helpful; learn how to lift properly; and always have a sharpie.

In terms of challenges in the industry, what’s currently keeping you up at night?
Costs and expectations? Can I say that? Because it feels like everything is going up except the fees and guarantees.

“It feels like everything is going up except the fees and guarantees”

How do you see the live music business developing in the next few years?
I think there will come a point where it starts to even out again soon; live music has become so expensive from all angles that unless we do everything we can as an industry and public to support independent venues, we are going to lose a lot of soul and the training grounds where most bands and crew learn their crafts.

Name one thing you’d like to see the live music business change.
Touring can be rough, the hours aren’t conducive to being able to keep relationships, and at the lower levels, they are so mentally, physically, and financially draining that it can really shut out a lot of people from being able to continue. More support, both financially and also holistically, would really make a difference to crew, sessions, and artists across the board.

Shout out to your biggest ally in the live music industry.
It takes a team to pull everything together so I can’t name just one. Alison Lamb at Modest! Management, Ross ‘Falcon’ Morgan that I started Two and a Half TMs with, and Ross and Sam from Twin Atlantic have all been instrumental in their own ways. And, of course, Cameron Brisbane for being the best photographer I know (not just because he takes photos of the crew).

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