Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder has paid tribute to Glen Hansard by busking in his spot in Dublin’s city centre.
Hansard, known as the frontman of The Frames and one half of the duo The Swell Season, tragically died in a motorcycle crash last month. He was 56 years old.
The late musician and Oscar winning actor began his career busking on Grafton Street at the age of 13.
In tribute to his friend, Vedder recently busked in the same spot with local musicians after attending Hansard’s funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
During his short session the Pearl Jam frontman played his band’s classic track ‘Black’ and Bruce Springsteen‘s ‘Drive All Night’ on Hansard’s guitar. You can view footage below.
Murdo Mitchell just shared two beautiful videos of Eddie Vedder busking at Glen Hansard’s usual spot in Dublin, surrounded by Glen’s family and friends. No stage, no production — just music. pic.twitter.com/RejbqOqGo3
— pearljamonline.it (@pearljamonline) August 8, 2026
Eddie Vedder busking where Glen Hansard use to play.😢 pic.twitter.com/F5Szfxztmk
— Silvina (@silvina_176) August 8, 2026
Earlier, Vedder also performed at Hansard’s funeral with longtime collaborator Markéta Irglová and members of The Frames for a performance of ‘The Song of Good Hope’ in tribute to the late musician.
U2 frontman Bono also performed a spoken word version of ‘Beautiful Day’ at the service, reworking some of the lyrics to pay homage to him.
Hansard recently spoke about his powerful friendship with Vedder, shortly before his death. For over 15 years, the late musician was a close friend of the Pearl Jam frontman, and joined him on the road for his solo tour dates in 2011, 2012, 2017 and 2019.
In a recent interview, The Frames frontman identified a number of different songs that he had connections to, including the sombre song ‘Rise’ which featured on Vedder’s 2007 solo album ‘Into The Wild’.
“I was in a really really shitty spot. Someone had killed themselves on my stage. A young man commits suicide because he was trying to make a point to his girlfriend,” Hansard shared. “It couldn’t be more horrible, the situation. There were young kids in the crowd… The guy was dead next to me and it was just the most traumatic time”.
He went on to say that while he was debating whether to cancel the tour, he got a call from an unknown number, and it was Vedder reaching out to see how he was coping after the incident.
“It was so kind. We spoke for an hour on the phone and he said ‘Do you mind if I call you tomorrow?’,” the singer added. “For five days, he called me, and at the end of the five days he said ‘This is my number, if you’re ever in Seattle, I’d love to hang out with you. I’m really sorry for what happened’.”
When The Frames went on to play in Seattle later that year, he reached out to Vedder, who then invited him to the studio to work with him on a cover of The Everly Brothers’ ‘Sleepless Nights’.
The collaboration, Hansard shared, was something that Vedder hoped would be cathartic for him given the incident at his live show, and also cathartic for himself – following Pearl Jam’s 2000 set at the Danish festival Roskilde, where nine fans were killed in a crowd crush.
“That was the beginning of a now-15-year, very close friendship with this beautiful man,” Hansard shared, adding that the two kept in touch regularly and toured together multiple times from then on. “That is the well of human kindness and human decency. He is all heart. He’s a strong man, he doesn’t suffer fools. He just understands when it’s important.”
