St Jerome’s Laneway Festival‘s Dean Turner Stage takes it name from the founding member and bass player of Australian rockers Magic Dirt, who lost a long-fought battle with a rare form of soft tissue cancer in 2009 at the age of 37.

In addition to playing in a number of bands, Turner produced recordings for the likes of theredsunband, Gersey, and Sons of the Sun under the name Dean Dirt. He was also the manager for another Australian outfit by the name of Violent Soho.

The ‘Like Soda’ rockers were recently in Melbourne — Magic Dirt’s hometown — rocking crowds as part of the latest Laneway Festival instalment and took the opportunity to pay tribute to their late manager on his own memorial stage.

“Took a day off yesterday from recording to go see Violent Soho pay tribute to Dean on the Dean Turner stage at Laneway Festival,” wrote Magic Dirt frontwoman Adalita. “The boys put on an amazing show including a blistering version of God’s ‘My Pal’, especially for the big man.”

Soho unveiled their cover of Australian band God’s 1988 single back in 2009 as part of their second EP, which also featured a cover of ‘Task Force’, a cut from fellow Brisbane rockers Razar. They’ve performed the song at shows on and off ever since.

Took a day off yesterday from recording to go see Violent Soho pay tribute to Dean on the Dean Turner stage at Laneway…

Posted by Adalita Official onSunday, February 14, 2016

“Honoured to be playing the Dean Turner stage tonight at St Jeromes Laneway Festival Melbourne,” the band wrote on Facebook. The reception was glowing, with one commenter writing, “VS killed it and ‘My Pal’ sounded so good. Lost my sunnies in the pit!”

The Dean Turner Stage debuted at Laneway 2012 as part of a collaboration with Turner’s wife and their two daughters. The stage aims to memorialise the contributions that Turner made to the Australian music scene through his “humility, grace and integrity”.

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