A list celebrities Nick Cave and Johnny Depp are to attend the funeral of the late Pogues singer Shane MacGowan, which takes place on Friday (December 8).
MacGowan passed away last week aged 65, having been previously discharged from hospital for an infection.
The singer’s wife Victoria Mary Clarke, paid a moving tribute to her beloved husband via social media.
“I don’t know how to say this so I am just going to say it. Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese”, she said.
“the greatest songwriter”
It was confirmed that the funeral mass of Shane MacGowan will take place in St Marys of the Rosary Church in Nenagh, with the mass being open to the public.
Taking place on Friday, the service is to be attended by Nick Cave, Johnny Depp, and President Michael D Higgins.
The funeral will take place near where Shane’s mother Therese hailed from.
Paying a sweet tribute to Shane MacGowan, Nick Cave also called the singer “a true friend and the greatest songwriter of his generation,” adding that his death marked “a very sad day”.
The pair had performed on many occasions over the years, including a collaborated cover of Louis Armstrong’s ‘What A Wonderful World’ in 1992.
Meanwhile, Johnny Depp’s friendship with Shane MacGowan is also well known. The actor was MacGowan’s best man when he married Victoria Mary Clarke in 2018.
Back in February 2022, Depp was spotted with MacGowan at a party in Dublin, celebrating the launch of documentary A Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan. More here.
Before Shane MacGowan is laid to rest in Tipperary, a procession will lead through Dublin’s south inner-city, where the singer lived with his wife in Ballsbridge.
The Artane Band will lead a horse-drawn carriage to take Shane through Ringsend and Pearse Street between 10.30 and 11.45am.
Overall, the procession is expected to last for over an hour, starting at South Lotts Road and Ringsend Road.
It will also travel across McMahon Bridge, Pearse Street, finishing at the top of Westland Road, close to Sweeney’s.
