#123 Finding inspiration

A friend sent me a video last week. It was Glen Hansard talking about an encounter with one of his musical heroes, Van Morrison.

Here's an exec summary: Young Dublin busker Glen invited to Van's private 50th birthday party (not by Van but by a mutual friend); at the party Glen answers a call for 'Any Requests?' - not well received by Van and ignored; Glen is then asked to play some of his own songs (again, not by Van); Glen starts to play, Van leaves the room; Van returns to the room and agrees to play Glen's original request - accompanied by Glen; they then play a Bob Dylan song together before spending the next few hours trading songs over a bottle of port.

Unsurprisingly, Glen believed the experience changed him forever. Clearly, inspiration on this epic scale is for most of us the stuff of dreams but Glen's tragic death last week serves as a reminder that when inspiration knocks on your door, you should always open. On that particular occasion, Glen could have easily left after a difficult start to the evening. But he didn't - he stayed, he learned and he emerged a different man.

Some of the magic that Van imparted was floating in the air when I saw Glen play in Manchester a couple of months ago. The weather was warm, but the atmosphere was warmer. He is perhaps the only contemporary artist who could credibly inject equal passion into a cover version of hardcore punk band Discharge's Drunk With Power and Irish trad anthem The Auld Triangle in the space of the same half hour.

I was due to see him again in a couple of weeks, ironically at a tribute concert for another of his heroes, Jason Molina who died in 2013. They are now on the same stage together.

If there's a lesson for us as music fans, it's that when you sense inspiration, run towards it because these moments are precious and can never be taken for granted. Consider who we've lost in the last three years and the way shared inspiration bound them together - it's no coincidence that Glen sang Fairytale of New York at Shane MacGowan's funeral and led a musical tribute to Sinéad O'Connor in 2023, or that Shane and Sinéad duetted together on Haunted, or that all three of them contributed beautiful and highly individual versions of The Foggy Dew. Inspiration does not exist in a vacuum.

Since 2025, we've lost Ozzy Osbourne, Clem Burke, Afrika Bambaataa, Mani, Roberta Flack, David Ball, Jimmy Cliff and many more. Inspiration is rare and arguably becoming rarer, so always keep it close. RIP Glen.