Two great Irish musicians appeared together on stage on Wednesday night in New York City. I refer not to Rodrigo y Gabriella or Luke Scott and Ray Kelly, but rather Glen Hansard and Bono. The U2 front man provided a pleasant surprise for the crowd of 100 as he appeared at the Lower East Side venue The Living Room during the Once star’s intimate concert as part of the Sirius radio series “Live from the Loft”.

The two joined in a rousing rendition of the Irish anthem “The Auld Triangle”. It had been over two years since Bono and Hansard last performed live together busking on the streets of Ireland with Damien Rice on Christmas Eve 2010.

The singer-songwriter performed an eclectic final night set featuring a mixture of selections from both his own bands the Frames (“Song for Someone”) and the Swell Season (“Low Rising”, “Leave”, “In these Arms”) and from his upcoming solo album to be released in June, Rhythm and Repose   (“The Storm it’s Coming”, “Love Don’t Leave me Waiting”). He threw in a favorite Van Morrison cover “Astral Weeks” for good measure along with “The Auld Triangle.”

“The Auld Triangle“ was penned by the songwriter, novelist, and playwright Dominic Behan, considered to be one of the most influential Irish songwriters of the 20th century. This Irish standard, written originally for his brother Brendan’s play The Quare Fellow in 1954, has been covered by likes of The Dropkick Murphys, The Pogues, Bob Dylan and the Band, Eric Burdon, Jeff Tweedy from Wilco, and Cat Power.

It was recorded by Hansard and Damien Dempsey and released in Ireland in 2010 to raise funds for the Society of Saint Vincent Saint Paul.

See Bono and Glen Hansard performing “The Auld Triangle” at the Living Room on May 10th below