{"id":551708,"date":"2026-07-30T18:32:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/551708\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T18:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:32:13","slug":"bono-bruce-springsteen-billie-eilish-finneas-pay-tribute-to-glen-hansard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/551708\/","title":{"rendered":"Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Billie Eilish & Finneas Pay Tribute to Glen Hansard"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tGlen Hansard\u2019s music moved people. The beloved Irish troubadour who died in an early morning motorcycle crash<\/a> on Wednesday (July 29) in Dublin inspired fans and fellow musicians with his passion, warmth and an open-hearted nature that unleashed an outpouring of emotion, fond memories and the kind of poetic memorials that would have been right at home in the lyrics to one of Hansard\u2019s songs.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n

See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n

\n\tThe tributes continue to pour in for the singer who led the beloved Irish band The Frames, none more packed with intensity and poetry than a note from fellow Irish bard Bono of U2. \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 A smiling rascal if you needed him to be\u2026 this most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun\u2026 no airs, plenty of graces,\u201d the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer wrote on X<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n\tBono shouted out former busker Hansard\u2019s lifelong work advocating for the homeless in his country, calling him the \u201cshining star\u201d of the annual Christmas Eve busk Hansard would lead outside Dublin\u2019s Gaiety Theatre to raise funds for homeless advocacy group Dublin Simon Community. \u201cSometimes 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,\u201d Bono said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTo be utterly yourself by being more interested in others \u2013 a clue for any of us trying out different personas,\u201d he added. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Hansard won the Oscar for best original song for the emotional ballad \u201cFalling Slowly\u201d from the 2007 hit micro-budget musical drama Once \u2014\u00a0in which he also co-starred with Swell Season bandmate Mark\u00e9ta Irglov\u00e1 \u2014\u00a0Bono said the crowds got so large that the busk had to be moved indoors, a venal sin for a performer who got his start playing on the street. \u201cHe 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 \u2013 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCalling him the \u201cvoice of the streets\u201d and a \u201cchoir of angels in one man,\u201d Bono tried to reconcile his grief by telling himself, \u201cif 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. May you rest in the peace you gave to so many.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBruce Springsteen, who was joined by Hansard at the E Street Band\u2019s July 27, 2013 show in Kilkenny, Ireland, shared a fond memory of that time in an Instagram post. \u201c\u201cHere on E Street, we are heartbroken over the death of Glen Hansard,\u201d the Boss wrote<\/a>. \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. Always positive, smiling and ready to sing. God bless him and his loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHeartbroken to hear the news about Glen,\u201d Ed Sheeran wrote in his Instagram Story. \u201cHe was such an incredible human. An incredible force. I am grateful for the times we spent together. Sending so much love to his family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHansard was a north star for his older peers as well as for his younger ones, including both Billie Eilish and brother Finneas, with the latter sharing a picture of him<\/a> arm-in-arm with Hansard on Instagram<\/a>. \u201cGlen Hansard. North Star songwriter, most wonderful person. The first song I ever got on a stage to perform was \u2018Falling Slowly\u2019 when I was 11,\u201d Finneas said. \u201cHis songs made me want to write songs and they also made me cry. When our family met him in Dublin in 2019, he greeted us like old friends even though we were just his fans. Today I am a heartbroken fan. Hope he knew how much he meant to so many, this is how much he meant to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her Insta story, Eilish posted a pic of her leaning into a hug with Hansard, her right hand on her face in disbelief, with the message: \u201cDevastated \u2026 wouldn\u2019t be who I am today without glen<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe siblings\u2019 mother, Maggie Baird, posted a snap of the whole family backstage with Hansard, as well as a few of Eilish looking star-struck next to the singer <\/a>whose humble, loving demeanor left a deep impression on so many. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSometimes you get to meet your heroes and they are even more amazing than your dreams,\u201d shared Baird. \u201cWe are Broken hearted today. Glen Hansard was a force in all of our family\u2019s lives and when we got to first meet him at electric picnic in 2019 It was such a gift. Our happy faces in these photos tear me up today. devastated for his family and for all of us who were so changed by him. When we first saw the movie Once it affected us also profoundly. I know Finneas and Billie would not be who they are without his music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe recalled Finneas making his live performance debut playing the heart-wrenching \u201cFalling Slowly\u201d and daughter Billie singing \u201call the song\u201d from Once. \u201cWe went to see him talk and perform at The Grammy Museum in 2013 and were blown away,\u201d she added. \u201cI got to see him at the Greek last fall and it was such a joy and I know he had so many shows planned and a three year old! He was a thrilling human to be in the presence of I hope you have a little inkling of what he meant to people. I know it\u2019s a very hard thing to feel and taken I doubt that he really knew, but he was such a gift I\u2019m so so sad. I\u2019m so grateful for what he brought to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tVenues across the U.S. and the world expressed their love, grief and eternal joy at having spent time with Hansard, with Chicago\u2019s famed Metro club turning over its marquee to read: \u201cGlen Hansard: Sing Your Melody<\/a>.\u201d And, in a testament to the deep and wide impact he had on musicians of all stripes, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, wrote on Instagram<\/a>, \u201cGrateful for the music we got. Greedy for more. Heartbroken for his son and family and loved ones. Once in a lifetime songwriter. RIP Glen,\u201d a sentiment shared by everyone from Cat Power to Sharon Van Etten and the Red Hot Chili Peppers\u2019 Flea, who said, simply, \u201cMan, just jammed with this guy last year, he was so sweet and deep. Glen Hansard, rest easy brother<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer Andrew Watt (Rolling Stones, Ozzy Osbourne) reminisced about his time with Hansard, saying<\/a>, \u201cYou will never be forgotten. How lucky was I to spend as much time both on and off the stage with you?\u2026studios, dressing rooms, bathroom floors, long car rides, guitar stores\u2026your ability to move people with that bellowing Irish tenor of yours is unparalleled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother fellow Irishman, Hozier, talked about the profound impact Hansard had on him and all his Emerald Island peers. \u201cGlen\u2019s legacy reaches far beyond that of an Irish or Dublin musician who\u2019s work became beloved globally; he was a uniquely central feature and vehicle of Irish story telling on both stage, screen and street for as long as many of us can remember,\u201d he wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cHis beautiful work was an inspirational component of my own and so many other\u2019s upbringing and adult life, as was his consistent kindness, support and advocacy. This was a man who gave a remarkable amount of himself to song itself, to his shows, to the city he loved and to a community of musicians who loved and admired him dearly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHansard\u2019s former bandmates in the Frames summed up the singer\u2019s impact in a touching Facebook post that read<\/a>: \u201cOur dear brother Glen has been promoted. We first met as buskers on Grafton street 40 years ago.. since then we have shared countless musical adventures in halls and on stages across the world. Glen was a force of nature, a troubadour from a different time. He had that unique ability \u2013 to bring people together \u2013 that was his medicine, his great gift. Ba fear flaithi\u00fail \u00e9 \u2013 he was princely man, a warm and generous human who was always inclined to bring the stranger in from the street and share the stage with them. His, was always a hand up and not a hand out. He was a doer, a man of action, an inspiring teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
<\/a><\/p>\n