The funeral of Glen Hansard has taken place in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin

Hot Press was among the thousands of mourners, some of whom were queueing before daybreak, for the 'Celebration of the life of Glen Hansard' which took place this afternoon at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.

Those in attendance included Captain Paul O'Donnell representing President Connolly, Commandant Joe Glennon who's representing the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Michael Jackson, Eddie Vedder, Bono and Ali Hewson, The Edge, Cáit O Riordan, Steve Coogan, Hozier, Mundy, Tom Dunne, Loah, Jack L, John Carney, Junior Brother, Imelda May, Damien Rice, Jerry Fish, Myles O'Reilly, Ronán Ó Snodaigh, Rossa Ó Snodaigh, Chris O'Dowd, Jim Sheridan, Finbar Furey, John Sheahan, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Damien Dempsey, Paddy Casey, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Kieran Kennedy, Declan O'Rourke, Bronagh Gallagher, Angeline Ball, Gerry Adams, Philip King, John Kelly, Mark Geary, Paul McGuinness and Hot Press publishers Niall Stokes and Mairin Sheehy and writer Lucy O'Toole.

In a poignant moment at the start of the service, his Frames comrade Colm Mac Con Iomaire brought a guitar to the altar where Glen's wicker coffin was adorned with family photos of his wife, Maire Saaritsa and son, Christy.

This was followed by Eddie Vedder, Markéta Irglová, Thomas Bartlett and The Frames joining forces on Glen's 'The Song Of Good Hope'; his elder brother Gary Hansard accompanied by Frank Killeen belting out 'I Can See God'; Colm, Lisa O'Neill, Joseph Doyle and Michael Buckley performing Lisa's 'Old Note' lament; and Damien Dempsey – "Say 'hello' to Sinéad, Shane, Christy, all the soul singers," he told Glen – leading the way on his own 'Sing All Our Cares Away'.

Eddie Vedder and Markéta Irglová perform 'The Song of Good Hope' alongside Thomas Bartlett and The Frames at the funeral of Glen Hansard 🤍 pic.twitter.com/XpuYehTm5T

— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) August 4, 2026

All of them were greeted by the sort of rapturous gig-like applause and cheers the family had requested for this celebration of Glen's life.

After thanking members of An Garda Siochána for the "kindness and humanity they showed me in my most desperate hour", Maire Saaritsa said: "As Glen's wife, I want to thank him for the life we shared searching for truth and beauty side by side. We found it in our son, Christy, who cannot be here today. He is too young to witness or understand an event of such scale. The bright spirit he inherited from his father is with us.

"I end with an early poem I penned for Glen in return for the songs he wrote for me: 'Come to me with beauty, I require it to stay alive/ I'm not talking of precious gifts/ Nor do I want a dolled up, dutiful and well-assessed array of tender words/ Hurl the clash of what you’ve pocketed from this day at my feet/ And then be brave enough to look me in the eye/ Push the boundary of two minds till it stretches, till there are two bodies in one embrace/ And a moment of understanding or acceptance, or blind faith/ And a sense of the infinite jump and jive/ That to me is beauty, and I require it to stay alive.'"

Paying tribute to his big brother, Richard Hansard noted that: "Glen once said that when you lose someone, you don't really lose them, you inherit the best parts of them. And if you have the strength and the will, you will gain them back and you will inherit the best parts of them. And we have.

"We have inherited all the magical, colourful words, hugs, talks, madness, sadness, insightful manic beauty that a brother, a husband, a father could ever give."

After playing Patti Smith's phone message to him in honour of Glen, Bono recited a re-worked version of 'Beautiful Day' – ("You touched us, you take me to that other place/ You reached us, no one is a helpless case/ See those eyes, flashing landing-like blue/ Seven towers holding up the sky for you/ Arrivals and departures, this is what we do/ You write your life 'till the story becomes true/ Ginger cake smile, movie star too/ If the street be your stage, how come there's thousands in the queue?/ McDaid's feels like a stadium but there's only me and you/ You left the hangover from hell/ Of this there is no doubt/ But as you wake up in heaven, all the angels will shout: It's a beautiful day" – a song that Glen helped him blast out as part of the annual Christmas Dublin Busk.

"So, 187,321 best friends," Bono reflected beforehand. "Two and a half million second best friends... how do you do that? People on the green outside, in the park... best friends. People tuning in... best friends. It's not messing. Even people who haven't met him... best friends. Any one who met him just remembers the day they met him. The other day I woke up with a voice message from Patti Smith, another one of his best friends. Her first reaction to hearing the news of Glen's passing was a lullaby for Glen's family and his friends. She was happy to share it with you all. She'd rather be here herself, of course, Tony Shanahan is here representing. I think I'm going to try and play it..."

When he eventually hit the right button, we heard Patti gently singing, "It was very a nice day/ A very nice day/ And across the glen he came my way/ With a book in hand and a melody/ And the sun was shining down/ It was a very nice day..."

As the recessional music, Colm Mac Con Iomaire and Liam Ó Maonlaí performed an instrumental version of Bob Dylan's 'Forever Young' – into which the massed gathering joined on vocals – and then segued into an impromptu 'The Auld Triangle'.

Our hearts were broken but at the same time elated as Glen got the rousing send off he deserved...