Ariana Grande’s Manchester benefit concert sells out in minutes

Ariana Grande’s benefit concert for the Manchester bombing victims sold out in minutes.

Tickets for Sunday’s Ariana Grande & Friends: One Love Manchester show, which features a star-studded lineup, went on sale on Thursday and were bought up with haste. The rush prompted Ticketmaster to reopen registration to accommodate fans who were at Grande’s ill-fated May 22 concert in which 22 people died and several more were injured following a suicide bombing.

A fake Twitter account for the event incorrectly tweeted that tickets were gone in 6 minutes, a rep for Ticketmaster said. The ticket seller set aside 14,200 tickets for people who were at the May 22 concert and more than 25,000 people applied for them—10,000 of which were unscrupulous applications.

So the online retailer is extending Thursday’s deadline “to ensure that tickets go to the actual fans and not the opportunists or touts who have also been applying for free tickets.”

“We want to give all fans who were at the show, regardless of where they bought their tickets, every opportunity to register for One Love Manchester, so we have opened up the registration again today, until 2 pm,” a Ticketmaster rep said in the statement.

Those who attended the May 22 show have been offered free tickets upon verification of their original tickets. Otherwise, the price is $52.

“Ticketmaster was unsurprisingly met with remarkable demand for One Love Manchester tickets we had on sale this morning—140,000 fans were on the website and our call center was buzzing,” Ticketmaster said. “With over 450,000 searches on our site for One Love Manchester over the last 24 hours, demand was always going to be extremely high. We are happy to report that there are thousands of fans who successfully purchased tickets during the general onsale.”

The pop star’s Grandaritour, Inc. will donate the net proceeds from the concert to the British Red Cross Society for its Manchester Emergency Fund supporting the families of the attack. The amount is expected to exceed $2.5 million, Ticketmaster said.

The show will take place at the Emirates Old Trafford’s cricket ground, which accommodates 50,000 when configured for a music event.

Manchester Arena, where the bombing took place, seated only 22,000.