“The artists live their life, and I live my laundry life.”

BERLIN — One afternoon in November, Hans-Jürgen Topf walked through the backstage area of the Mercedes-Benz Arena, where dozens of crew members were unloading the equipment for the final stop of U2’s “Experience + Innocence” tour. After enthusiastically greeting and hugging several of the workers, Topf, 62, came to a sweltering room filled with humming washing machines and dryers. The world’s top specialist for tour laundry, Topf has traveled with many of the world’s biggest music acts, including Madonna, Pink and Beyoncé. As tours have become bigger and more professionalized, their logistics have become increasingly daunting. The U2 tour, which lasted about seven months and spanned two continents, included roughly 150 people, all of whom needed food, housing and clean clothes.

Source: www.nytimes.com