Glen Hansard (21 April 1970 – 29 July 2026)

I feel today that I should say a few words about Glen Hansard. I can’t claim to have been one of Glen’s greatest fans, but I liked him as a musician and as a person. I was quite shocked when I saw on the BBC website on Wednesday morning that he had died in a motorcycle accident in Dublin. I think it was tragic and shocking because the news was so unexpected. He was only 56 years old and had a three year old son. I suppose my first introduction to Glen was in the brilliant and humorous 1990s film The Commitments when he played the part of Outspan Foster. The nickname Outspan would have come from his hair colour because in Britain and Ireland Outspan is a major importer of oranges. Glen got lucky because the films director Alan Parker was looking for someone with red hair who could play the guitar. However, I think it was through the Van Morrison connection that I really got to know Glen’s name because he would often introduce a Van song into his performances. I think Van was a hero to Glen. I came across several videos on youtube of Glen singing Van songs such as Into The Mystic, Astral Weeks or The Healing Has Begun. Even when he was on stage with Bruce Springsteen in 2013 he couldn’t resist slipping in a little snippet of Here Comes The Night. Lots of Glen’s videos are of him busking on the streets of Dublin which is where he began. He often went busking with an equally talented close friend of his called Mic Christopher. Mic also died tragically young in 2001 aged only 32.

 I think most people will have got to know Glen through the 2007 film Once in which he takes the lead role opposite Markéta Irglová. If you haven’t seen this film I urge you to do so. It is funny and sad in equal measure. You can find it on youtube. Glen and Marketa wrote the songs for the film and Falling Slowly against all odds for such a low-budget film won the Oscar for best song (Please watch video below). I watched the film again on Wednesday night and found the scenes where they go for a motorbike ride especially poignant. I did get to see Glen play live a couple of times at Glastonbury Acoustic Stage. The first occasion was in 2003 when Glen’s band The Frames performed. I can’t remember a lot about that performance because I wasn’t familiar with The Frames music at the time. Much more memorable for me was his appearance in 2023. I mentioned it in my review for that year. This is what I said at the time.

 ‘In the evening I saw Glen Hansard. I have seen him previously on the Acoustic Stage, many years ago when he was in a band called The Frames. I’m not an expert on his music by any means, but an American Facebook friend is a huge fan, so I was determined to see him, hopefully take some photos, and write down the set list. The photos are a bit blurry, and I hope this setlist is correct. When Your Mind's Made Up, Down On Our Knees, St John, Bearing Witness, Bird of Sorrow, No Mountain, Winning Streak, High Hope, Her Mercy & Revelate. There might have been more. Glen paid a moving tribute to his late friend Christy Dignam from the band Aslan during the show. 

He said that one of his songs was inspired by Leonard Cohen. I also noticed that he occasionally improvised little Van Morrison ‘isms into the lyrics, such as ’turn on your electric light’. I hoped he would sing a Van song as he often does, but he didn’t. It was an excellent performance which deserved a much bigger audience’. I took a couple of photos that night which I have included here although they don’t really do him justice. You can find some videos of his Glastonbury performances on youtube if you want. I can’t think of anything else to say about Glen Hansard now, except my sympathy goes out to his family who must be devastated by their loss.

 

Up Mayo.

 

On Sunday I had quite an exciting day for a change. As you may know my family came from County Mayo in the west of Ireland. This year Mayo had reached the final of the All-Ireland Gaelic Football championship, so I watched the game on BBC Iplayer. Most pundits regarded Mayo as the underdogs because they were playing the defending champions Kerry who have won the Sam Maguire trophy 39 times in the past. Mayo hadn’t won the title since 1951 although they had reached the final eleven times since then but had always been defeated. There is a myth that had grown around that story. In 1951 the Mayo team went on a victory tour of all the towns in the county. In the town of Foxford they passed a funeral which was taking place. The story goes that the team didn’t show the funeral due respect. This angered the local priest who put a curse on the team that Mayo would never again win the Sam Maguire while the members of that team were still alive. The story is a lot of nonsense of course, but as the years went by and Mayo reached the final time after time only to be defeated, some people began to think there might be some truth in ‘the curse’. 

The last members of the 1951 team were Paddy Prendergast who passed away in 2021 and Mick Loftus who died in 2023, so could Mayo now win the title?  For the first twenty minutes of the game on Sunday I feared the worst. Kerry were all over them and I thought Mayo were heading for another disastrous defeat. Gradually however Mayo began to play their way into the game and by half-time they were only a point behind Kerry. In the second half Mayo started brightly, took the lead, and got several points in front. Kerry rallied and the lead narrowed. I thought Mayo were going to blow it again when several shots on goal were missed. They reasserted their dominance in the last few minutes and I think even the Kerry fans would agree that Mayo were deserved winners. My late brother Paul would have been over the moon because he was a huge follower of Mayo.

After the Sam Maguire trophy was presented to Mayo’s captain Jack Coyne the Saw Doctors song The Green And Red Of Mayo resounded around the stadium. It is a great anthem but there is another song about Mayo that I like even more because it brings back great memories for me. It is called Up Mayo by John Hoban & The Bumblebees. When my late partner Kim and me were in Mayo in 1997 we were in Matt Molloy’s bar in Westport. As you probably know, Matt Molloy was the flute player in The Chieftains. They were selling this Cassette and CD to raise money for the hospital Cat Scan appeal. One of the tracks was actually recorded in the pub. We had a little chat with Matt and he signed the cassette for us. This morning I looked on youtube and was pleased to see that one of the Bumblebees Laoise Kelly has uploaded Up Mayo. (Make sure to listen to video below). I’m looking forward to next year already to see if Mayo can defend their title. I’ll have you all know, you’re going somewhere special, when you go, UP MAYO!

Me, Kim, Nellie, & Ian at Matt Molloy's