The live-streamed event was in lieu of the more traditional Grafton Street performance in Dublin, a “Christmas institution“ that has gone on for the last 10 years in order to raise money for homeless people, featuring a number of busking performances from well-known names in the music industry. However, due to the ongoing pandemic, this year and the last could not be performed on the street. Then again, it seems to have worked well so far, with last year’s Late Late Show special raking in €1.5 million.

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Of course, with a man like Bono, this isn’t the only reason he’s been in the news recently. The other week he was involved in a charity auction organised by fellow U2 member The Edge (David Evans) where he donated a guitar to be sold in aid of musicians in the Gulf South, suffering from the after-effects of Hurricane Ida and the Covid-19 pandemic (more of which you can read about here).

Also, he’s been in a new film recently with Scarlett Johansson called Sing 2; a computer-animated family film about a load of animals voiced by famous people. Bono plays the character of Clay Calloway – a lion who also happens to be a rock star. Of course, Bono helped out with the soundtrack as well, giving us a new U2 song: “Your Song Saved My Life“. Also, Johansson and Bono did a new cover of U2’s classic “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For“. See what you think of the new recordings below.


The annual charity ‘busking’ event may have occurred last Friday, but donations are still open throughout the rest of the holidays, so if you fancy giving something to help out then you can look here.

The lineup includes; Glen Hansard, Bono, The Edge, Imelda May, Hozier, John Sheahan, Finbar Furey, Shane MacGowan, Danny O’Reilly, Roisin O, Declan O’Rourke, Lisa O’Neill and Kodaline’s Steve Garrigan.

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Glen Hansard is no stranger to busking of course. Ten years ago Glen Hansard started the tradition of taking to Dublin’s Grafton Street with a collection of musicians in order to raise money for the homeless. The usual tradition can’t take place in person this year because of the ongoing global health crisis so RTÉ will be taking on the show and broadcasting it to the world.

The show will have many special performances along with stories about memories of the busk over the years and lots of information about the wonderful work The Simon Community does, especially at this time of year. John Sheahan, Finbar Furey, Lisa O’Neill, Glen Hansard, and Shane MacGowan will be making appearances in The Late Late Show studio. Bono and The Edge will perform an acoustic version of U2’s Walk On, as well as lead a special Christmas number. Artists like Imelda May will be performing virtually from London, where she will be performing On Raglan Road. 

Presenter of The Late Late Show, Ryan Tubridy spoke about the event, saying; “This will certainly be a night to remember with the best of Irish talent in one room coming together for some incredible performances. In return, our friends here are asking viewers to dig deep to donate to the Simon Community and to help our brothers and our sisters who are currently homeless to get off the streets, to be safe, to be warm, to be treated with dignity and decency and ultimately to get the type of secure housing that everyone deserves.”

If you are looking for a gift that delivers hope in a meaningful way, why not buy a Dublin Simon Christmas Star The beautiful gold stars can be hung from a tree and represent the real difference you can make to a person’s future. #SimonStars

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— Dublin Simon (@Dublin_Simon) December 12, 2020

Ryan will also be interviewing, Philip Powell, who was staying in a hostel when he struck up a friendship with Glen Hansard, and became a staple performer of the Grafton Street busk. Philip will speak of his experiences of being homeless on and off for two decades.

If you would like to donate to The Simon Community, who work to help the homeless in Ireland, you can do so here. You can watch The Late Late Show Busk for Simon on RTÉ One, Friday, December 18, at 9.35pm or online on the RTÉ player in the UK.