{"id":575231,"date":"2026-07-30T09:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T09:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/575231\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T09:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T09:46:12","slug":"bob-geldof-pays-tribute-to-glen-hansard-we-have-lost-one-of-the-greats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/575231\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Geldof pays tribute to Glen Hansard: \u2018We have lost one of the greats\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Singer-songwriter and activist Bob Geldof has said \u201cwe have lost one of the greats\u201d in an emotional tribute to Oscar-winning Irish musician and activist Glen Hansard, who died in a motorcycle crash on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

Hansard, 56, from Ballymun, was the frontman for the Irish band The Frames, featured in the famous Irish film The Commitments, and won an Academy Award for best original song for Falling Slowly in 2008, which he co-wrote with Mark\u00e9ta Irglov\u00e1 for the movie Once.<\/p>\n

Tributes have poured in from across the world, including from Bruce Springsteen<\/a>, Ed Sheeran and U2, following the news of Hansard\u2019s death<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Live Aid co-founder and Boomtown Rats singer Geldof said: \u201cGlen was wonderful.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe universe lacks mercy or justice that such a sweet, thoughtful, burstingly talented man should be so wantonly and violently killed on an early Irish morning backroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cTragedy does not do justice to this terrible calamity for his family, the world of music and Ireland itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor we have lost one of the great ones. A person and a songwriter and singer and musician and performer of great depth, understanding, compassion, daring and bravado.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell Glen, you left us the tunes and when we play and sing and whistle them as we will, then there you\u2019ll be, alive, vital, important and brilliant as you ever were. Safe travels Glen. Miss you.\u201d<\/p>\n

U2 frontman Bono described Hansard as an \u201cangelic presence\u201d and \u201csmiling rascal\u201d, adding \u201cthe rest of us blessed to stand there beside our very own and very earthed Angel Gabriel\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TributesTributes in Temple Bar, Dublin, to Glen Hansard (Damien Eagers\/PA)<\/p>\n

In a statement to the Press Association, his publicists ATC management said: \u201cWith broken hearts we announce the passing of Glen Hansard in the early hours of this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The firm told RT\u00c9: \u201cGlen\u2019s family is deeply shocked and heartbroken by this tragic loss and respectfully requests privacy at this extremely difficult time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family is grateful for the support they have received and wishes to thank the emergency services who attended the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheeran said in a post on his Instagram story that he was \u201cheartbroken to hear the news\u201d and praised Hansard for being \u201can incredible human\u201d and \u201can incredible force\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI am grateful for the times we shared together, sending so much love to his family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GlenGlen Hansard sings to the crowd at the Right2Water anti-water charges protest, outside Leinster House in Dublin (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n

Also paying tribute to the singer was Springsteen, who said in a post on Instagram that he was \u201cheartbroken\u201d at the news and remembered Hansard as always being \u201cpositive, smiling and ready to sing\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe met in Ireland many years ago and he was always nothing but a great musician, a good friend and a generous and gracious man,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Hansard was one half of the rock duo The Swell Season, and released solo albums including Didn\u2019t He Ramble, which was nominated for a Grammy for best folk album in 2016.<\/p>\n

He began the Christmas Eve charity busk outside The Gaiety Theatre in Dublin city 16 years ago, drawing members of the public in to see famous Irish musicians perform in aid of the Dublin Simon Community.<\/p>\n

He also took part in protests against Ireland\u2019s housing crisis, a march to mark three years since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, and the anti-austerity water charge protests in 2014.<\/p>\n

At the funeral of The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan in 2023, Hansard performed Fairytale Of New York with Irish singer Lisa O\u2019Neill, which prompted dancing in the aisles of the Co Tipperary church.<\/p>\n

\"GlenGlen Hansard taking part in the annual Christmas Eve busk in aid of the Dublin Simon Community outside the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n

President Catherine Connolly led tributes to Hansard as \u201cone of Ireland\u2019s great singer-songwriters\u201d and said he was \u201crenowned for his incomparable live performances\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cGlen was one of the vital driving influences of the Irish music world, bringing people together in the sharing of live music. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him or experienced his work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin also praised Hansard in a post on social media as being a \u201ctalented musician and actor who made a significant contribution to Ireland\u2019s cultural landscape over many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris expressed his condolences at Hansard\u2019s death and said he had gained \u201cinternational success over a long and varied career\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/p>\n

How Hansard called out division, busked for the homeless and marched for Ukraine<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed said a man in his 50s died in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash in Lucan on the outskirts of Dublin before 4.30am on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The man, who they did not name, was treated at the scene but was pronounced dead a short time later.<\/p>\n

Hansard is survived by his wife, the Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa, and their three-year-old son Christy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Singer-songwriter and activist Bob Geldof has said \u201cwe have lost one of the greats\u201d in an emotional tribute…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-575231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575231","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=575231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}