Funeral services for Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan took place Friday, December 8, in Tipperary, Ireland, and featured performances of the late rocker’s music, as well as readings by such famous names as U2‘s Bono and Johnny Depp.
According to RTE, the service at Mary of the Rosary Church in Nenagh featured a recording of Bono delivering an emotional reading, while Depp, who acted as best man at MacGowan’s 2018 wedding, was there in person to read the prayers of the faithful.
The service featured performances of MacGowan’s “A Rainy Night in Soho,” sung by Nick Cave, and the classic “Fairytale of New York,” performed by Glen Hansard and Lisa O’Neill.
MacGowan’s wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, said in her eulogy that MacGowan was not a fan of funerals. “He didn’t like the idea of death. He didn’t want to talk about his own death. He didn’t believe he was going to die,” she said. “He always assured me he would live to be at least 80.”
MacGowan passed away on November 30 at age 65 from pneumonia, although he had also been battling viral encephalitis at the time of his death. Ahead of the funeral, his coffin, draped in an Irish flag, traveled through the streets of Dublin in a horse-drawn carriage.
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