Whenever Manchester United lost a game, Paul Bonney expected some prank on his drum kit, set up by his band’s technician, and his best friend, Scott Johnson.

On one such occasion, Bonney’s band, The Australian Pink Floyd Show, opened their elaborate tribute show with “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” a song that begins slowly with guitar and keyboards. Then Bonney started drumming the floor tom before moving over to his snare drum, at which point the rest of the band, and the light show, exploded to life.

There, taped across his snare drum, was the latest score of the Manchester United loss.

“So I’d be playing in front of 10,000 people and laughing to myself,” Bonney said from Manchester. “He loved to take the mickey out of me when we got beat. He can’t help himself.”

Johnson, 33, died Saturday when the stage collapsed before a Radiohead concert at Downsview Park, crushing him underneath, just hours before the show was to begin. The Ministry of Labour continues its investigation into the accident.

Johnson grew up in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, in England, where his parents, Ken and Susan, live. He was their only child.

He worked at Electro Music for 10 years, starting as a 13-year-old, when he was there for two weeks as part of his school program. Then the store hired him to work in their drum section on Saturdays and full time when he finished school.

From there he went to work with his friend’s band, Longview, which is where he met the members of Keane, for whom he’d go on to work with when they exploded internationally.

When he was with Longview, he got his first big break, touring as drum technician with Australian Pink Floyd, which was playing in front of thousands throughout the United Kingdom.

All the while he continued to play drums in and around his hometown.

“I’m surprised he’s a drum tech and not a drummer in a major band,” Bonney said.

But as a drum tech, to use the language, he was considered a rare talent, which led to his work with Radiohead, one of the biggest bands on the planet. He added Radiohead to his resume earlier this year.

“Tuning a drum kit is a very difficult skill,” Bonney said. “There’s drum techs out there who just set the kit up, but to have it tuned perfectly every night is a highly trained, highly skilled talent, and he had them perfectly tuned.”

Bonney and a friend bought tickets to visit Johnson next week in Bologna before taking in the Radiohead show in early July. There they planned to dine on Johnson’s favourite meal, margherita pizza and Peroni beer.

The last Bonney heard from his friend was in an email the day before he died.

“When did you start doing studio sound?” read the subject line.

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“Saw your ugly mug on tv in Canada last night and thought I had not sent you any abuse for a while!” Johnson wrote.

Attached was a picture of a chimpanzee, standing on a chair in a T-shirt and overalls, working sound controls in a studio, Johnson taking the mickey out of Bonney for the final time.