{"id":574840,"date":"2026-07-30T04:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T04:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/574840\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T04:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T04:03:08","slug":"such-an-angelic-presence-bono-pays-tribute-to-late-friend-glen-hansard-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/574840\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Such an angelic presence\u2019: Bono pays tribute to late friend Glen Hansard \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

U2 frontman Bono has described Glen Hansard, who died in a single vehicle crash in Dublin on Wednesday morning<\/a>, as \u201ca smiling rascal if you needed him to be\u2026 this most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun\u2026 no airs, plenty of graces.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pair performed together at the Christmas Eve busk on Dublin\u2019s Grafton Street for many years. <\/p>\n

Bono\u2019s statement in full: <\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I would wonder if Glen Hansard really existed\u2026.Seriously, he was such an angelic presence\u2026 not otherworldly\u2026in fact, very present this presence\u2026 <\/p>\n

\u201cA smiling rascal if you needed him to be\u2026 this most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun\u2026 no airs, plenty of graces… <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, Glen was the shining star of the Christmas Eve busk\u2026 sometimes the only one reminding the rest of us that Christmas began with a refugee born in a manger, which is hardly a step from living on the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be utterly yourself by being more interested in others \u2013 a clue for any of us trying out different personas. He really was who you thought he was. He could never walk by a person living rough without checking they were OK\u2026 and more than that, he worked very hard so that less people had to live on the streets in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the crowds got bigger and for safety\u2019s sake Glen had to agree to move the busk to a stage kindly provided outside The Gaiety Theatre, he would say \u2018we\u2019ll give it our best but it\u2019s not a busk if we\u2019re not on the street!\u2019 \u2026because that\u2019s who he was – a performer at eye level in any situation. The stage was a separation he wouldn\u2019t recognize. Of all the grand and gigantic venues he and The Frames played, you sensed the street was his most favoured place to perform. And street people, his favourite audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoice of the streets. A choir of angels in one man. The rest of us blessed to stand there beside our very own and very earthed Angel Gabriel\u2026 All of us welcome in his choir, whatever shape or form.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026.and I\u2019m telling myself this morning that if he never existed, then he can never cease to exist. For me, he will always be everywhere I see a coin spinning into an open guitar case.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay you rest in the peace you gave to so many. Bono\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U2 frontman Bono has described Glen Hansard, who died in a single vehicle crash in Dublin on Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[26016,93,109247,61,60],"class_list":["post-574840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bono","tag-entertainment","tag-glen-hansard","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}