2026 Women Of Live: Leslie McDonogh

Leslie McDonogh
MCD Productions | Promoter (Ireland)

SOME MIGHT SAY | “In our line of work, relationships are everything. It’s not just about collecting contacts – it’s about genuinely understanding what drives people, what they value, and how you can create alignment.”

Some stories just write themselves. Like Leslie McDonogh’s. There’s no way she could have ended up in any other business than this one, since seeing her first concert: U2 on the band’s “Zooropa Tour” in 1993. “My brother took me to the show when my parents were out of town and he was supposed to be minding me at home,” she recalls.

Even as she took a job as cabin crew for airline Aer Lingus later in life, she’d work as security at rock concerts on her days off. Ending up at Ireland-based promoter MCD wasn’t by chance.

“Going to concerts when I was younger and the high I would feel from the music, I just knew that I had to be part of the music business. I did a marketing degree and hounded MCD for work placement; they eventually agreed after me banging down their door,” McDonogh says.

Growing up a huge Oasis fan, it’s not hard for her to pick a highlight from the past year, when MCD promoted the legendary British band’s two Ireland shows at Croke Park in Dublin, Aug. 16-17, which felt “incredibly special, both personally and professionally.”

One of the shows McDonogh worked on early in her career was Dermot Kennedy at the 300-capacity Sugar Club on Leeson Street in Dublin in 2016. This year, almost exactly a decade later, Kennedy returns to the Irish capital to perform two nights at Aviva Stadium, July 11-12. “To now bring him to stadium level is incredibly special. He will be the first Irish solo artist to headline two nights at Aviva Stadium Dublin,” she says about the full-circle moment.

Long-term relationships like these are the result of McDonogh’s business philosophy. “I believe as long as we’re serving the best interests of the artists we promote, everything else will follow,” she says, which includes “looking after the creative and artistic endeavors of the musicians first and foremost. If musicians feel supported creatively and strategically, longevity follows.”

And she continues, “In our line of work, relationships are everything. It’s not just about collecting contacts – it’s about genuinely understanding what drives people, what they value, and how you can create alignment. That kind of network becomes the foundation for a long-term career.”