People GLEN HANSARD WAS OUR NATIONAL BARD TheFramesfrontmanwasIrelandsbandleader, anditfeltlikehewouldbedoingthejobfor alongtime ByPatrickFreyne I n the 1990s, I wasnt convinced by The Frames. They felt a bit mainstream. A bit major label. I was a young idiot. Later, a friend convinced me that I was missing out and to give them a chance. She was sure that, if I went to a gig, Id get it. So I went to a gig and . . . I got it. It was all because of Glen Hansard. He wrote beautiful songs, but he was also the still-yet-chaotic centre of an indie-folk storm. His job was to hold it all together, and he projected his charisma around everyone else like a shield. He was a frontman, but he was also a band leader. A lot of singers are, in fact, terrible band leaders and need sidemen to perform that task. Nick Cave had Mick Harvey. Morrissey had Johnny Marr. Liam Gallagher had Noel. Glen Hansard had a great band, but he didnt need a foil. His ability as a frontman was linked directly to his ability to pull the people around him into a functioning musical outfit, whoever those people are. It went back, I assume, to his days as a busker. It takes a special kind of person to marshal random people of differing musical ability into vessels for songs. The boundaries between performer and audience become fluid when people are busking (there is, after all, literally no stage). And I think thats why Frames gigs, and the first Frames gig I attended, felt so powerful: the collective magic of music creation at a Frames gig didnt stop with the band, but spilled out to include those watching. He could produce anthems like Revelate and delicate beauties like Lay Me Down but, more importantly, Hansard let the audience feel like they were part of the band. This is very rare. It was no surprise to me that, as time progressed, he became an international representative of Irish musicality, particularly after he starred in John Carneys Once, which was a beautiful, low-key statement about Dublin and about music as a communal endeavour. He became Irelands band leader. Bob Geldof was too shouty. Van Morrison was too grumpy. Bono was too distant and out there in Dalkey. Even in the David Letterman-fronted Apple documentary about U2, A Sort of Homecoming, its Hansard who turns up representing the earthy reality of Irish music. Its Hansard who doesnt look out of place in a pub session. He was always supportive of other musicians. He was very kind to my band the NPB when we supported the Frames at a gig in Limerick back in the early aughts. And he took the piss out of us too, for swapping instruments so much between songs (The Frames then did this when they played, as a joke, to demonstrate how impractical it was). It made us feel like we belonged. Years later, in 2023, I met him again when we were both performing at a concert for Ukraine in Vicar Street. At the soundcheck, as I performed a song with my wife and sister-in-law, he called put more jizz into it from the side of the stage. We did. It was better for it. In 2024, I saw him co-ordinate a disparate session of musicians, including Hozier, Damien Rice and folk legend Joan Baez, after a screening of a Baez documentary in the Lighthouse Cinema, Dublin. I met him only once when there was no music involved. It was at a dinner at a mutual friends house. He was funny and thoughtful, but he wasnt the centre of things at the time. He spent a lot of that dinner holding his baby. I could see where soft and delicate songs such as Star Star had come from. The very last time I met Hansard was right after American actor John C Reilly performed his Mister Romantic vaudeville show last November in Dublins Ambassador Theatre. It was after the performance, in the Parnell Mooney pub, across the road. At around 11.30pm, Hansard asked me to get the barman to turn the music off so he could get people to sing unaccompanied and, before I knew it, he was band leading a session. Reilly sang something mournful. American country musician Sierra Ferrell harmonised on something jaunty and rootsy. Hansard sang Rocky Road to Dublin. GlenHansard (1970-2026)let theaudiencefeel liketheywerepart oftheband.He was,bythetimeof hisdeath,atthe centreofIrish musicinawaythat biggerartistssuch asEnya,U2orThe Scriptcouldnt everhopeto be. Photograph: JoshuaBright/The NewYorkTimes His ability as a frontman was linked directly to his ability to pull the people around him into a functioning musical outfit It was full-throated and rowdy. He knocked glasses off the table in time to the beat as he went (we picked them up). He sang like he was possessed. The singing lasted 15 minutes because the pub was closing, so Hansard convinced us to go up the street to the heaving rock club, Fibber Magees. There, he commandeered the stage from a confused metal band so that he, Reilly and an assortment of musicians could play some songs. I cant remember what they played but he was, once again, being a band leader. Glen Hansard was, by the time of his death, at the centre of Irish music in a way that bigger artists such as Enya, U2 or The Script couldnt ever hope to be. The Irish music world seemed to orbit him. He represented the throughline from kitchen sessions to concert halls because he was comfortable in both. He was, in a way, our national bard and it really felt like hed be doing that job for a very long time. It was why he was the person urging other musical legends along as they sang at Shane MacGowans funeral. His ability to connect music from players to listeners, often blending the two, helped people to mourn. Now I wonder whos going to do that for him and who is going to do that for us. THE IRISH TIMES Weekend Saturday, August 1, 2026 5 DavidSedarisontheseriousbusinessofcomedy.Page8 WalledtownsofIreland:RositaBolandvisitsWexford.Page10 PatrickFreyne:GlenHansardwasIrelandsbandleader.Page5 WEEKEND THE IRISH TIMES Saturday, August 1st, 2026 A WOUND IS HEALED Afterdecadesofheartbreakandnearmisses, Mayofinallyhasitsmomentinthesun By 2 Cover story A HOUSE OF PAIN NO MORE MayosAll-Irelandtriumphreleased75yearsof pent-upemotioninoneunforgettableafternoon ByKeithDuggan M acHale Park in Castlebar has always been best suited to those Saturday-night matches in winter, when the season is young and the promise uncontained. An ideal Cover story meme, the jokes came thick and fast. Through all that, Mayo footballers and supporters never shied away from speaking about it, nor returning to All-Ireland finals. Maybe we make too much of the football, Fr Leo Morahan, the former county board executive, said back in 2007. Mayo has the 4 Cover story 2004, when he was beginning his sec- ond term as Mayo manager. By September, he had the county back in an All-Ireland final, when Kerry defeated his young team. Like most GAA counties, the network of names and connections within Mayo football are impossibly dense: you could fill the People GLEN HANSARD WAS OUR NATIONAL BARD TheFramesfrontmanwasIrelandsbandleader, anditfeltlikehewouldbedoingthejobfor alongtime ByPatrickFreyne I n the 1990s, I wasnt convinced by The Frames. They felt a bit mainstream. A bit major label. I was a young idiot. Later, a friend convinced me that I 6 Music THE PIANIST WHO PLAYS WITH ONE HAND ONLY Freya Terris is the first pianist to pass their Grade 8 piano exam playing solely with their left hand ByJohnOConnor L ike countless other young musicians, Freya Terris discovered her love of music at the piano stool. Yet her journey has been anyt People 7 Fearkeptmefrom doingwhatIreally wantedtodoorsay Q&ARevJanetBroderick The Donegal-based priest on childhood games with her brother actor Matthew Broderick, how people react when she preaches sermons, and who could play her in a biopic Howagreeableareyou? I think life has made me agreeable 8 Interview I DONT LIKE EXTREMISTS. BUT I FIND THEM THRILLING AS CHARACTERS TheUSwriterandhumouristtalksabouttheseriousbusinessofbeingfunny onthepageandathislivereadings ByPatrickFreyne WEEKEND INTERVIEW DAVID SEDARIS A few days after I interview David Sedaris, I receive a thank-you postcard fe Interview 9 I just tried to get through my days [at school] without being found out as gay. Im 69, so no one even really imagined then that anyone could be anything that awful back then DavidSedaris: Idontknowhow tobuyaplane ticket.Idontopen anymailthat doesntlooklike fanmail. Photograph: Leonardo 10 Feature HISTORY EMBRACES US EVERY DAY IN WEXFORD In the first of a four-part series on Irelands walled towns, we visit Wexford, where history is quite literally in peoples back gardens ByRositaBoland I f Billy Colfer talked to you about history, youd sit up and listen, Paul Walsh tells me. W Feature field. We discovered that Sparrow was a surname of ship owners back in the 1830s, Hussey says. Hussey brings me out into their back garden to show me where, more than a century ago, a house was built against the other side of their wall. The medieval wall thus became a party wall. It towers 12 Photo essay Formedtotacklethe siltingissueintheriver Liffey,thereservenow extendstotheentirety ofthebay WILD AT HEART Photographs: DaraMacDónaill andEndaODowd Words: EndaODowd O f the 797 Unesco biosphere reserves across 147 countries, Dublin Bay is the only one to include a national capital Photo essay DublinsNorth BullIsland,partof theDublinBay Unescobiosphere reserve,isnow hometo180 differentspeciesof bird.However, conservationists warnthat,asworks tostopcoastal erosionareerected alongthecoastline, theirlong-term impactonthe ecologyand landscapemaybe difficulttopredict. Photographs: 14 Feature TWINS PEAK WERE PROBABLY MIRROR IMAGES OF EACH OTHER Whetheritsthehighsofalwayshavingcompanyor thelowsofsensingtheotherspain,thebestpartof beingatwinisneverbeingstuckforafriend ByJenHogan I relands birth rate may be falling, but the incidence of twin births continues to rise, with al Feature 15 Its sometimes fun and its sometimes not, because they could steal your stuff had a friend beside you. In fact, the twins only really went their separate ways when they went to college and that was a major shock, Emma says. Rebecca says there are lots of upsides to being a twin, but the T 16 Essay he vintage front page shows a street full of Dublin holidaymakers smiling at the camera, sitting on the kerb, waiting for the bus in the sun. But these early queues soon dissipated. Bank holiday spoiled by weather, announces the reusable headline. The citys thoroughfares were WEEKEND E Essay 17 Governments might fancy deploying bank holidays to foster cohesion and goodwill, but that doesnt mean everybody has to play along crashing out of the Fifa World Cup was that Friday, July 24th, became the bank holiday that never was. Would Keir Starmers mooted last act have applied across 18 Feature BE LIKE JOHN LENNON AND BUY AN IRISH ISLAND Four islands for sale off Mayo, Donegal, Tipperary and Galway, with bidding starting at 299,000 ByJessicaDoyle W hen you attract screaming fans everywhere you go, what do you do to get some peace and quiet? You buy an island, of course. Tha People 19 SARAH MOSS Teenage dieting made me an expert in mental arithmetic I bofin. It is suitable for grazing and features two natural freshwater lakes. The island measures 1.2km by 0.4km and rises to a maximum height of 63.3m above sea level. It is a Special Protection Area under the EU Bird 20 Environment TOMAÍ Ó CONGHAILE Our beautiful, troubled planet needs a skilled reconciler T he World Cup may be over but the fallout continues: Trumps unwanted interventions; Germanys early exit; football not coming home; Argentinas post-final petulance. Not to mention, of course, that banner. Environment 21 British navy, spent several days imprisoned in the Tower of London on corruption charges, and died of smallpox before reaching 40. Initially, a strait running between the two main islands was named after him and, by 1765, the Falkland Islands had become the English name for the entire 22 Obituaries FIRST WOMAN DIRECTOR OF A NATIONAL INSTITUTION, LIBRARIAN AND ACADEMIC Patricia (Pat, Patsy) Donlon Born: January 28th, 1943 Died: July 23rd, 2026 Patricia (Pat, Patsy) Donlon, who has died peacefully aged 83 at Blackrock Hospice, Dublin, was a leading light in that remarkable generat Obituaries 23 RENOWNED ORNITHOLOGIST AND COMIC ACTOR WHO STARRED IN THE GOODIES Bill Oddie BillOddiewasamemberofcomedy trioTheGoodies,whoseanarchicTV sketchshowairedinthe1970sand 1980s.Photograph:IanGavan/Getty Born: July 7th, 1941 Died: July 25th, 2026 Bill Oddie, who has died aged 85, was a mul 24 Last word DAVID McWILLIAMS ThefirstvictimofAI? Theeconomy W e are in an era of great technological advances, or so say all the tech bros who are championing not just AI, but a whole host of technological innovations from finance and healthcare to supply chain management and communications. In