Hundreds of fans paid their respects to Glen Hansard during a public wake in Dublin today. The Irish singer-songwriter died on July 29 at 56 in a motorcycle crash, leading to an outpouring of grief from both his peers and his global audience.
Hansard’s body is lying in repose in a wicker coffin at the Baroque Chapel at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham, Dublin until later today. Many of the mourners, who lined up to pay tribute to the musician, shared stories and memories of seeing him perform.
Chris James told the BBC he saw Hansard busking for the first time 25 years ago on Dublin’s Grafton Street. “I thought it one of the most coolest things I’d ever seen and one of the reasons I picked up and started playing guitar,” he said. “I met him a couple of times. Just a lovely fellow, totally unassuming, wanted the best for everybody, knew that there was an awful lot of hardship around and instead of giving out about it, he just wanted to bring people together.”
RTE estimated that the crowd numbered in the thousands. Kevin Bret told the publication that he worked briefly as a roadie with the Frames in the late 1990s, saying Hansard’s death is a “massive loss to the Irish music community.” RTE also interviewed several attendees who flew in specifically for the wake, including someone from Chicago and another from the Netherlands.
Zoe Hayter told the Irish Independent that she first met Hansard when she was 10 years old. “I never, ever thought someone could change your life in the best way possible,” she said. “He introduced me into a world that was the most magical thing you could ever be a part of, and there was no-one else like him that could ever do that for anybody else, and he’s done it for me, and he’s done it for everybody in the whole world. The whole world is crying, and there’ll never be anyone like that, and I’ll never stop loving him and I know no one else will.
Hansard’s funeral will take place at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. local time. The funeral will be open to the public, however access inside the Cathedral will be extremely limited given the numbers expected. His family shared that “music at the funeral will be provided by Glen’s friends and family.”
Due to the large amount of people expected to attend Hansard’s funeral and the limited seating at the venue, a public address system will be placed outside the cathedral. The funeral will also be broadcast live on Irish news stations RTE News and RIP.IE. In lieu of flowers and gifts, Hansard’s family asked that mourners instead donate to either Dublin’s Simon Community, a charity that helps homeless people, and Ukrainian Action.
Hansard achieved international fame starring in the 2007 drama Once and fronted the rock band the Frames and the duo Swell Season. Born in the Irish capital on April 21, 1970, began his career as a busker in the city’s streets. He later won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Falling Slowly,” which he wrote and performed in Once alongside his co-star and former partner Markéta Irglová.
