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Some of Ireland’s most iconic musicians are taking part in an unprecedented gathering in an unprecedented year in which Bono, The Edge, Glen Hansard and other household names brought their traditional Christmas Eve busk to the Late Late Show tonight.
The twinkling Christmas lights and hordes of Christmas shoppers and late-night Christmas carols on Dublin’s Grafton Street, which have been the backdrop to his Christmas Eve street music session for the past decade, were replaced by a dazzling array of projections. of festive lights and sparkling Christmas trees. took the stage at the RTE studio for the special Late Late event to raise vital funds for the Simon Community homeless charity.
The life-affirming power of music is a key theme for Bono and The Edge, who perform alongside who’s who of Ireland’s most beloved artists, including Hozier, Kodaline’s Steve Garrigan and Declan O’Rourke.
Imelda May joined from London for a special performance on ‘Raglan Road’ accompanied by Shane MacGowan, John Sheahan, Finbar Furey, Glen Hansard and Lisa O’Neill.
Among the stars was special guest Philip Powell, who spent two decades living on the street when he befriended Glen Hansard and became a staple Grafton Street busk artist before Covid-19 led to its cancellation this year.
Ballymun native and frontman of The Frames Glen Hansard told host Ryan Tubridy how a chance meeting a decade ago led to the Christmas Eve busk.
“Ten years, it’s hard to believe. It started so simple, and the fact that every year people come back and we do it, it’s a really good thing,” he said.
“I was walking down Grafton Street the day before Christmas Eve 10 years ago, and Simon’s Christmas carols were out, they were shaking the buckets and they said ‘ah, how are you Glen, give us a song?’ And the mood I was in … I was just like ‘I can’t now, if I go back to the street later’.
“I went home and felt bad (and said) ‘I’ll go to town tomorrow and do some street work and make sure they get it, thinking they might still be on the street,” he recalled.
“They weren’t out on the street the next day so I took out my guitar and started playing. Mundy was passing … he joined in. Damien Dempsey and Imelda were passing and they did Fairytale of New York, so something like this happened kind of spontaneous, “he said.
He added that his campaign to help the homeless has been “personal from day one.”
“I really want to thank you, we were not going to have a busk this year, it is the 10th anniversary that there was no busk, so I really want to thank you and everyone here for having us here,” he told Ryan.
“It’s a reality, it’s part of my own story … there are people in my family who are homeless right now. When I used to volunteer at Simon when I was 16, I just made cups of tea for people and sat with people and they were talking, you realized that if you stop and talk to someone, there is a whole story there. It is very easy for us to walk next to people and say ‘your man looks like an alcoholic’. It is something very dangerous just look at someone and dismiss them, “he said.
Meanwhile, both Bono and The Edge paid tribute to Glen for his selfless dedication to helping the homeless.
“Mr. Glen Hansard, I am very honored to meet the man, so honored to be a part of this. He has done amazing things during the year for the homeless,” said The Edge, whose real name is David Evans.
Bono added: “This is Glen’s trailer and we are so happy to be in one of the train cars. We’ve been involved with Simon for probably 30 years, and what they do is amazing.”
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