LAST UPDATE | 8 Dec 2023
SHANE MACGOWAN’S FUNERAL Mass took place in Co Tipperary today.
His funeral cortege made its way to Nenagh, Co Tipperary for a funeral Mass after passing through Dublin this morning, where hundreds of mourners lined the streets.
Like his life and music, MacGowan’s funeral mass was unconventional, and filled with warmth, compassion, and storytelling.
The singer and musician, best known for being the frontman of The Pogues, died last Thursday at home, aged 65.
His funeral Mass took place in St Mary of the Rosary Church in Nenagh and was broadcast live via Shane MacGowan’s official Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) profiles.
President Michael D Higgins attended, while Hollywood actor Johnny Depp and Bob Geldof delivered the Prayers of the Faithful.
Depp bowed his head said “Maestro” in the direction of MacGowan’s coffin, before reading a short prayer.
Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams delivered a reading and paid tribute to MacGowan, and there was also music from Nick Cave, Glen Hansard, Imelda May, and The Pogues.
Nick Cave performed A Rainy Night In Soho while Imelda May, Liam O Maonlai and Declan O’Rourke performed You’re The One at Shane MacGowan’s funeral.
There was also a rendition of Fairytale of New York from Lisa O’Neill and Glen Hansard.
During the performance Shane’s sister, his widow Victoria and singers including Imelda May danced in the aisles of the church. The song ended with a huge round of applause from the guests attending the funeral.
Shane’s sister, the author Siobhan MacGowan, said that her brother’s veins “ran with Irish blood”.
She said that it was in Tipperary, their mother’s childhood home, that Shane found his “spiritual home”.
Siobhan thanked those involved in organising the funeral, and said “that’s some send off for my brother, so thank you”.
She also said that the MacGowan family is “eternally grateful” to the hospital staff and home carers who cared for Shane in his last months.
Shane’s widow Victoria opened her eulogy by saying that Shane “hated” funerals, and that it was hard to get him to one.
“He didn’t like the idea of death, he didn’t like to talk about his own death,” she said.
Victoria said that she and Shane would tell each other they loved one another throughout each day.
She reflected on how, of all the couples she has met in her life, no matter how “successful” or “good-looking” they appeared to be, she has never encountered a couple who had the kind of connection she enjoyed with her husband.
Victoria said that in finding Shane she felt she had “won the lottery”, and that she didn’t need anything else to make her life complete.
She also reflected on Shane’s relationship with drinking and substance use, musing that some of his creative output might have not been possible otherwise.
Her parting message was to ask people not to write off people suffering with addiction issues, as her husband had shown that someone can be a user of multiple substances and also a “genius”, with a “beautiful soul”.
“Next time you see someone and think they’re just an alcoholic or drug addict, stop.
“Just consider giving a bit of compassion and respect.
“That would be my final message,” she said.
In a statement on Wednesday, MacGowan’s wife Victoria Mary Clarke, his father Maurice, sister Siobhan and wider family thanked the public for the “enormous outpouring of affection and messages of condolence they have received since his passing”.
“Knowing that people might wish to have the opportunity to say a final farewell”, the statement said, MacGowan’s funeral cortege passed through the streets of Dublin this morning.
The procession travelled from South Lotts Road in Dublin’s southside from around 11am this morning, down Pearse Street and on to Westland Row, with hundreds of people lining the streets at each location and following the cortege.
MacGowan’s remains were carried in a glass horse-drawn carriage with his coffin adorned with an Irish tricolour flag and featuring a black-and-white photograph of the singer in his youth.
MacGowan’s widow Victoria Mary Clarke travelled in a car behind the cortege, which was led by the Artane Band.
Members of the public threw flowers and musicians played A Pair Of Brown Eyes and Fairytale Of New York as the funeral procession passed Sweny’s pharmacy in central Dublin, which featured in James Joyce’s Ulysses.
After Shane MacGowan’s cortège passes by, hundreds of people remain on Westland Row/Lincoln Place in Dublin for an impromptu rendition of Fairytale of New York. pic.twitter.com/sKq0GoSP5T
— David Young (@DavidYoungPA) December 8, 2023
His coffin was then transferred from the horse-drawn carriage to a car ahead of the service being held in Nenagh, Co Tipperary.
Among those who turned out to pay their respects in Dublin this morning is Aidan Grimes, 60, who described MacGowan as an icon.
He said: “I remember the first time I saw The Pogues in the Hammersmith Odeon in 1985. It is imprinted in my mind forever, just the madness and mayhem, the raucus nature of his singing and the music they were playing.
“Through the years he evolved into a great poet and he will be sadly missed.”
Thank you for the video ❤️ for @ShaneMacGowan pic.twitter.com/lJSxn4BJIb
— @victoriamary (@Victoriamary) December 8, 2023
Victoria Mary Clarke thanked gardaí for helping to manage the crowd of fans in Dublin as the cortege makes its way to his funeral in Co Tipperary.
A handmade sign with “thanks for all the fairytales Shane” was placed on the side of the road on the way into Nenagh, and the hearse containing Shane MacGowan’s coffin arrived at St Mary of the Rosary Church in Nenagh at around 3pm for his funeral Mass.
Thank you so much @GardaTraffic for your help today and for the escort for @ShaneMacGowan pic.twitter.com/CDfEZIViD9
— @victoriamary (@Victoriamary) December 8, 2023
There was also an opportunity for the public to pay their respects when the Mass finishes, as the funeral cortege moved through Nenagh Town Centre from Church Road to Market Cross.
A private cremation followed the funeral Mass.
MacGowan lived briefly in Tipperary as a young child before the family moved back to England when he was six.
His wife Victoria spoke to RTÉ last weekend about how MacGowan “felt a sense of a place and a sense of Old Ireland” when he would go back to visit the county.
And while he felt a “sense of Old Ireland” there, legendary musician Paul Simon has said he gets a “vision of what Ireland was at a certain point” from MacGowan.
Last Friday, Simon spoke on RTÉ’s Liveline about his decade-long friendship with MacGowan, remarking that “it was a very striking day in my life when I met him”.
Reflecting on MacGowan’s passing, Simon told RTÉ that MacGowan was the type of “artist who needed to burn very, very brightly and intensely”.
“They produce work that we treasure, but they pay for it with their health, and that was Shane.”
—With additional reporting from Press Association
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