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DUBLIN SAID GOODBYE to Glen Hansard this afternoon in a send-off that brought together old friends and basically the epicentre of the Irish music universe.

The location was St Patrick’s Cathedral in the heart Dublin and the charming and underappreciated park next door that also bears the name of Ireland’s national saint.

The park saw people queueing along western edge from early this morning to get access to what was advertised as a public funeral.

There were no limits to who could get inside but the organisers were right in thinking that too many would want to, meaning that two big screens and a bank of speakers were set up next door.

It meant that the park acted as a kind of scenic stage for hundreds to watch the funeral with the cathedral in the background and the sun beating down on them.

The portaloos, hydration station and parched grass even made it look like a festival but that wasn’t the atmosphere.

This was very much a funeral as people stayed still and attentive, looking up at the screens and scanning for faces in the crowd rather than down at their phones.

Some canny mourners brought deck chairs to sit in and even the smell of cigarette smoke brought to mind memories of sitting in a field listening to music.

There were several hundred there even an hour before Hansard’s cortège arrived at the cathedral, but really packed up after his wicker casket had gone inside and people followed the crowd to go next door.

Barriers had been set up along Patrick’s Street and access to the St Patrick’s Close main cathedral door was guarded by security and gardaí.

There was a crowd at the corner of this busy city thoroughfare to get a glance at who was arriving, with the people there a mixture of fans and curious locals who may as well come down for a look.

To get down St Patrick’s Close people had to have a wristband or be on a list that was being checked by the organisers at the gate.

Even though this was a public funeral, priority was given to Hansard’s friends, family and musical colleagues, a collection alone that could fill a cathedral.

There were of course many famous faces to see, with Eddie Vedder, Steve Coogan, Chris O’Dowd among them.

Musicians Hozier, Declan O’Rourke, Jerry Fish and Imelda May were among the first to arrive at the cathedral.

Among the political attendees, Gerry Adams was seen sharing a joke with a garda after he arrived by himself after a private car dropped him off.

Bells

The bells of St Patrick’s Cathedral began to ring at 1.17pm, heralding the imminent arrival of the cortege. Five minutes later a horse-drawn hearse arrived from Dean Street across the road.

There were four horses pulling the hearse but Hansard’s coffin was not inside. Instead, this was carried a couple of minutes later by his loved ones, with his wife Maire walking directly after.

It was not a silent and mournful arrival, at the start of the cortége a man carried a speaker playing music and applause from the crowd shepherded Hansard into the church.

Media had a small section across from the entrance to the church to capture people arriving but there was no access inside for reporters.

As the funeral of Glen Hansard takes place at St Patrick’s Cathedral, large crowds have gathered to pay tribute to the late musician.

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) August 4, 2026

Those unable to get inside are following the service on television screens installed in the park beside the cathedral. pic.twitter.com/qgT9dZafmn

Journalists followed the crowds to St Patrick’s Park to get a sense of the scale of the funeral and how people felt.

For the two hours of the service, the vast majority of those who took time out of their day to be there stayed for the duration.

It was a fusion of people who came with a friend and people who came alone, many of whom made a connection with those standing near them.

You could clearly see numerous people recognising a face and going in for a hug.

There were also others who cared less about the funeral but were just enjoying the sunshine and the buzz.

Some people could be seen doodling, some were journalling and others were standing in quiet recollection.

Service

There were some ripples of applause when The Very Revd Dr. William Morton read his greeting and some scripture but the occasion really took on its surreal atmosphere when the music began.

The whole park, and what felt like the whole of Dublin, fell silent as Hansard’s Frames bandmate Colm Mac Con Iomaire played Port na bPúcai with Séamus Ong and Liam Ó Maonlaí.

As Lisa O’Neill later explained Port na bPúcai means music of the ghosts and she told the story of when Glen Hansard gave her the keys of a house she lived in for seven years, saying as he did so: “Let your imagination grow in this big space.”

She did and the first song she wrote there was called Old Note, which she performed with Mac Con Iomaire.

Hansard’s younger brother Richard gave the kind of moving eulogy that any sibling would give to one of their own, describing Glen as “a son, a brother, and I promise you, a mad uncle”.

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder performed Hansard’s Song of Good Hope alongside Markéta Irglová, while Kerryman Breandán Ó Beaglaoich read a poem named Glen Hansard, remarking that the man himself was “a true Dub”.

Damien Dempsey retold how Hansard used to slag him for being “only half a northsider” because “your da’s from Pearse Street.” He added:

Safe travels Glen. Say hello to Sinead and Seamus and Shane and Christy and all the great soul singers.

Whatever celebratory mood there may have been growing was broken by Glen Hansard’s widow Maire Saaritsa, whose obvious loss reminded everyone why they were there.

Maire spoke through tears about the life they shared and about their young son Christy, who was not at the funeral.

Maire said that he was too young to “witness or understand an event of such scale ” but that “the bright spirit he inherited from his father is with us”.

‘Bono is on next’

The most upbeat moment in the now sun-drenched park greeted the performance of I Can See God by Glen Hansard’s brother Gary, with one or two hands even raised aloft for this performance.

At this point, some of the younger attendees were getting bored by the funeral they had been brought to, perhaps under the pretext that they were going to the park.

One toddler made their displeasure so vocal that their parents packed up and left, while another managed to distract herself by chasing pigeons with a stuffed dog.

One woman sitting alone next to this reporter was startled by her friend who came over with an important update, “Good news, Bono is on next”, he said with a wry smile.

He wasn’t wrong. Bono was indeed up next with a contribution that enters the seemingly endless category that is “Peak Bono”.

The U2 singer whipping out his phone to play a voice message from Patti Smith was definitely entertaining and did add some more stardust to the occasion, but his choice of poem certainly drew some quizzical looks in the park.

Bono recited U2′s anthemic Beautiful Day as a poem and even though it was a factual statement on the skies above it didn’t exactly get the crowd going, inside or outside the cathedral.

In the park, one man holding a sleeping baby on his shoulder was looking around and laughing while mouthing ‘He’s reading Beautiful Day’, seemingly wanting someone else to acknowledge what was happening.

Inside, Bono’s effort to get the congregation to sing a refrain of sorts didn’t exactly catch on either, and at one point he sought a response from his own bandmate “Edge”, who mercifully did so.

Forever Young

Bono, however, was also part of the big, 15-minute sing-song at the end which saw Hansard’s coffin leave the church to a rousing rendition of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young.

This part of the service was the most reminiscent of Shane MacGowan’s funeral, which Hansard of course was the primary band leader for.

This performance was led by Liam Ó Maonlaí but was a veritable who’s who of Irish music and included the likes of Lisa Hannigan, Declan O’Rourke, Imelda May and many others.

After this rousing crescendo and as Hansard’s body left the church, so too did the hundreds of people who had been in the park.

Some hugged as they left and various musicians who were there promised to check out each other’s work.

One such musician Zamo Riffman, who described himself as a “fan and a friend of Glen”, described the service as a perfect “moving, beautiful tribute”.

“Jesus, what an incredible man, an incredible human being, an incredible heart, and incredible soul. He was a huge light and a presence and a huge hope for everybody.”

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