Bono led mourners at Glen Hansard’s funeral.
The U2 frontman was among a host of celebrities who joined the late musician’s family and friends to mourn his passing on Tuesday (Aug 4), with hundreds of people gathering at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin to bid farewell to the Oscar-winning singer, actor and activist following his death in a motorcycle crash last week.
Glen, who died aged 56, was celebrated during a public funeral attended by Bono, Steve Coogan, Eddie Vedder, Angeline Ball, Imelda May, Victoria Mary Clarke, Gerry Adams, Chris O’Dowd, Hozier and many of the artists and collaborators who shaped his career.
Best known as the frontman of The Frames, one half of The Swell Season alongside Marketa Irglová, and for starring in The Commitments and the Oscar-winning musical film Once, Glen was also recognised for decades of activism on homelessness, housing and humanitarian causes.
His funeral followed a public wake at the Irish Museum of Modern Art that drew more than 11,000 mourners, while thousands more lined the streets and watched the service on screens outside the cathedral.
Opening the service, the Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Very Revd William Morton, said: “We have come here today to remember before God our dear brother Glen and to give thanks for his life.”
The ceremony featured performances from Glen’s closest collaborators, including Eddie and Marketa, who sang The Song of Good Hope, while Bono performed an extended poem before breaking into U2’s Beautiful Day.
The service concluded with Bob Dylan’s Forever Young being played as Glen’s coffin left the cathedral.
Glen’s widow, Maire Saaritsa, led the family tributes, thanking her late husband “for the life we shared, searching for truth and beauty side by side”.
Holding back tears, Maire said although their son, Christy, three, was not present because “he is too young to witness or understand an event of such scale”, his “bright spirit he inherited from his father is with us”.
Bono arrived alongside his wife, Ali Hewson and daughters Jordan Hewson and Eve Hewson, having already paid tribute to his longtime friend following news of his death.
In a statement released last week, Bono said: “Sometimes I would wonder if Glen Hansard really existed… seriously, he was such an angelic presence… not otherworldly… in fact, very present this presence.
“A smiling rascal if you needed him to be… this most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun… no airs, plenty of graces.
“He really was who you thought he was. He could never walk by a person living rough without checking they were OK… and more than that, he worked very hard so that less people had to live on the streets in the first place.”
Angeline, who appeared alongside Glen in Alan Parker’s 1991 adaptation of Roddy Doyle’s The Commitments, was among the first mourners to arrive.
Glen’s role as guitarist Outspan Foster in the film introduced him to international audiences long before Once earned him an Academy Award for Falling Slowly, the song he co-wrote with Marketa that won Best Original Song in 2008.
His work with The Swell Season and acclaimed solo albums, including Didn’t He Ramble, cemented his reputation as one of Ireland’s most respected singer-songwriters.
Steve Coogan, who worked with Glen on an experimental stage adaptation of Philomena, joined fellow actors and musicians paying their respects, while Imelda attended after remembering her friend of more than three decades.
Victoria returned a day after leading mourners at Glen’s public wake, where his wicker coffin lay in repose alongside two of his guitars.
Throughout his career, Glen remained closely associated with Dublin’s annual Christmas Eve busk for the Simon Community, an event he transformed into one of Ireland’s best-known festive traditions.
Beyond music, he campaigned on homelessness, Ireland’s housing crisis and support for Ukraine, recording Take Heart with Marketa, Bono and Ukrainian refugees following Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Only weeks before his death, Glen had completed a homecoming performance at Dublin’s Trinity Summer Series while continuing to promote his Don’t Settle releases and an Irish tour.
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