The Script pay an emotional tribute to late guitarist Mark Sheehan and dedicate a song to him during their Glastonbury set – two years after his death following a brief illness

The Script paid an emotional tribute to late guitarist Mark Sheehan on Saturday as they took to the stage at Glastonbury. 

The musician died in hospital aged 46 back in April 2023 following a brief illness, leaving his bandmates ‘utterly devastated’.

And over two years on from his passing, the frontman’s Danny O’Donaghue shared some sweet words for his pal before dedicating a song to him amid their performance on the Pyramid stage at Worthy Farm, Somerset.

Following a performance of their breakthrough track The Man Who Can’t Be Move, Danny, 44, sat on the edge of the stage and told the audience how he wished Mark was still alive to see their success.

He shared: ‘There’s one person I really wish was here to see this. He was on the stage 17 years ago. We lost my best mate and the founding member of The Script Mark Sheehan, we lost him nearly a year and a half ago. 

‘I just want to thank every single person here for keeping us going, for all your thoughts and all your prayers, thank you so much.’

The Script paid an emotional tribute to late guitarist Mark Sheehan on Saturday as they took to the stage at Glastonbury 

The musician died in hospital aged 46 back in April 2023 following a brief illness, leaving his bandmates ‘utterly devastated’

As the crowd cheered, he added: ‘I know he’s having a whiskey right now looking down on us. With that I’m gonna dedicate this song to him, this song is called If You Could See Me Now. ‘

A host of world-renowned performers are still yet to take to the stage this weekend, with Neil Young scheduled to headline the festival on Saturday and Olivia Rodrigo closing out the weekend on Sunday.

The rest of the festival will too see performances from Raye, The Libertines, Noah Kahan and many others.

Mark, who was originally from Dublin, formed the successful rock band alongside frontman Danny and drummer Glen Power in 2001. 

His shock passing was announced on the band’s official Facebook page in April 2023, two weeks after the group’s gig was announced.

The guitarist and father-of-three lived in America with his wife Rina. He died in hospital on April 14, 2023 following a brief, undisclosed illness. 

Their band’s statement said: ‘Much loved husband, father, brother, band mate and friend Mark Sheehan passed away today in hospital after a brief illness’.

It continued: ‘The family and group ask fans to respect their privacy at this tragic time.’

‘There’s one person I really wish was here to see this. He was on the stage 17 years ago. We lost my best mate and the founding member of The Script Mark Sheehan’ [Danny and Mark pictured in 2013]

‘I just want to thank every single person here for keeping us going, for all your thoughts and all your prayers, thank you so much’

As the crowd cheered, he added: ‘I know he’s having a whiskey right now looking down on us. With that I’m gonna dedicate this song to him, this song is called If You Could See Me Now ‘

Over two years on from his passing, the frontman’s Danny O’Donaghue shared some sweet words for his pal before dedicating a song to him amid their performance on the Pyramid stage 

Mark [L], who was originally from Dublin, formed the successful rock band alongside frontman Danny [C] and drummer Glen Power [R] in 2001 [pictured in 2019]

Mark began his career as a dancer and taught Hip-Hop at Dublin’s Digges Lane performing arts centre.

Mark and lead singer Danny had been best friends from the age of 12 and were previously members of a band called Mytown, which was formed in 1996. 

The Script were formed in Dublin in 2001, with Mark on guitar, Glen Power on drums and Danny singing. 

Following his passing, Mark left his £9.4million fortune to his family.

They went on to sell 20M records worldwide include The Man Who Can’t be Moved, For The First Time, We Cry and Hall of Fame. 

Last year, Danny has opened up about turning to ‘drinking, smoking… everything’ after the death of his bandmate Mark.

Danny revealed that he went ‘off the rails’ after Mark died, turning to drink and cigarettes as he experienced a mental block. 

But after a heavy drinking session in his native Ireland over Christmas 2023, the singer decided to cut out alcohol and ‘face the grief stone cold sober’.

Among the Glastonbury performer this weekend are The Kaiser Chiefs, with Ricky Wilson putting on an energetic show 

US singer Brandi Carlile performed on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday afternoon 

Alessi Rose also performed on the Other Stage during the afternoon as the day got underway 

Beabadoobee took to the Other Stage shortly after Alessi as she sang for her die-hard fans

Nick Baines also took to the stage as he performed for fans 

Danny said: ‘I went off the rails after Mark passed away like everybody does. I was out drinking, smoking, everything and I went through a mental block.

He later said: ‘I got back from a big drinking session over Christmas in Ireland and I just said “Enough is enough”. I want to face the grief stone cold sober because if you don’t, you’re only kicking it down the street. 

‘January was a big one for me – I gave up drinking, smoking, caffeine, all the good stuff… I was only going to do it through January but here we are in May now and I feel better than ever. 

‘I feel like I’m starting to come out from the black cloud a little bit now, hence the new music.’