ONE GRANDE UK GESTURE
Ariana set for all-star Manchester benefit
Ariana Grande — and a host of her superstar musician pals — will perform a tribute concert in Manchester on Sunday to raise funds for victims of last week’s bombing, the pop star announced Tuesday.
The “One Love Manchester” concert is set for Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground. Tickets go on sale Thursday morning.
Grande will be joined by fellow stadium-status artists Katy Perry, Usher, Coldplay, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell, Take That and One Direction’s Niall Horan, promoters said. Madonna is rumored to be dropping by, too, the Sun reported.
A suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured 116 at Manchester Arena following Grande’s concert on May 22.
Attendees of the tragic concert will get free tickets to Sunday’s show, but must register by Wednesday afternoon, concert producers said.
Grande’s manager, Scooter Braun, tweeted out a picture of the concert poster and added: “We stand with you.”
Over the weekend, Grande, 23, promised she would play in Manchester soon and vowed that terrorists wouldn’t win.
“We will not quit or operate in fear. We won’t let this divide us. We won’t let hate win,” Grande said in a statement.
“Our response to this violence must be to come closer together, to help each other, to love more, to sing louder and to live more kindly and generously than we did before.”
Show proceeds will benefit the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund, organized by the Manchester City Council and the British Red Cross.
Concert promoters got the blessing of most — but not all — of the victims’ families, accord- ing to Manchester’s top cop.
“When the idea of the concert came up, my first reaction was, we need to speak to the families of the victims and see what they feel,” Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins told the BBC on Tuesday.
“It’s fair to say that the majority of them are very much in favor, there are some that clearly aren’t and that is absolutely understandable.”