Grande suspends her world tour after attack
U2 salute Manchester
NEW YORK, May 25, (Agencies): Pop star Ariana Grande on Wednesday suspended her tour until early June at the earliest after a deadly attack on her show in Manchester that left 22 people dead.
“Due to the tragic events in Manchester, the ‘Dangerous Woman’ tour with Ariana Grande has been suspended until we can further assess the situation and pay our proper respects to those lost,” a statement from her management at Universal Music said.
Grande, who has returned to the United States, will cancel shows scheduled Thursday and Friday at London’s 02 Arena as well as concerts through June 5 in Belgium, Germany, Poland and Switzerland, her management said.
Grande is tentatively scheduled to resume the tour on June 7 at the Bercy arena in Paris.
A suicide bomber set off the blast moments after the singer left the stage Monday at the 21,000-capacity Manchester Arena, one of the largest indoor venues in Europe.
“We ask at this time that we all continue to support the city of Manchester and all those families affected by this cowardice and senseless act of violence,” Grande’s management said.
“Our way of life has once again been threatened but we will overcome this together,” it said.
Grande, a 23-year-old former television star whose fan base is full of young girls, has called her latest album and tour “Dangerous Woman,” although her bubblegum pop has rarely been controversial.
Sorry
Her only direct comment since the attack has been a social media posting shortly afterwards in which she said she felt “broken” and “so so sorry.”
The Daily Mail newspaper published photos of a sullen Grande, wearing sweatpants and carrying a backpack, getting off a private jet Tuesday in her hometown of Boca Raton, Florida.
She was welcomed by her boyfriend, the rapper Mac Miller, before heading to her home, media reports said.
Representatives declined comment on her whereabouts but publicly available flight data showed a private jet arriving Tuesday in Boca Raton from Birmingham, England after a brief stop in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Amid the bombing’s cost in human lives, the music industry is worried about its impact on promoters and event organizers in terms of attracting artists to Europe and striving to ensure that relevant safeguards are in place.
There is concern that Europe is perceived as too risky. France has been the target of three major terrorist attacks in a little over two years, and Britain has elevated its threat level to “critical,” meaning more attacks might be imminent. After the assault on the Bataclan theater in Paris in November 2015, for example, the Foo Fighters canceled several European tour dates.
“One aspect is whether certain US artists will decide they would rather stay there than come to Europe,” said Manfred Tari, an industry expert and contributor to music business research service Music & Copyright.
Another concern is the rising cost of insurance premiums. Insurance contracts already contain specific terrorism clauses, but there are reports of a surge in demand by event organizers wanting to review their coverage in the wake of Monday’s bombing in Manchester.
Grande’s fans were eager for news Wednesday as to whether the concerts in London would proceed as planned. But as the day wore on, chances of that receded even further as time began to run out on breaking down the concert set in Manchester, transporting it to London and reinstalling it in the O2 by Thursday evening.
The O2’s management met Wednesday morning to discuss the situation as prospective concert-goers chafed at the wait for an announcement. As one fan tweeted, “the event is tomorrow..how can this still not be confirmed yet?”
The tour’s promoters said in a statement Wednesday evening: “Ticket holders for the London shows should contact their point of purchase for a refund.”
Frankie Grande, Ariana’s performer brother, is also scheduled to appear in London this week - at Bush Hall, a concert hall in West London, on Saturday. But the venue said that it is waiting to hear from the promoter, Live Nation, if the event will proceed.
For their only television appearance on their current Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary tour, U2 performed and sat for an interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” The band played two songs: the “Joshua Tree” classic “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” — accompanied by a gospel choir — and a new song, “The Little Things That Give You Away,” which they’ve been performing on the tour. The song is from their long-delayed forthcoming album “Songs of Experience,” which guitarist The Edge joked during the interview will finally be issued “sometime in the next 27 years.” Also in the interview, the band spoke about the vicious suicide bombing attack after Ariana Grande’s performance at Manchester Arena Monday night.
“hate music, they hate women, they even hate little girls,” Bono said. “They hate everything that we love. The worst of humanity was on view in Manchester — so was the best, as people took perfect strangers into their homes and queued up at blood banks. Manchester has an undefeatable spirit.”
The group also spoke about why Bruce Springsteen warned them against appearing on television, dropped an unexpected reference to the late 1970s Northern Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers.
Fergie, the Black Eyed Peas star who embarked on a successful solo career with 2006’s “The Dutchess,” is no longer on Interscope Records, Variety has learned. Says a label source: “The decision was made to part ways. We were all in concert and want what’s best for Fergie.”
The singer, who is managed by David Sonenberg and William Derella for DAS Communications Ltd., has formed her own label, Dutchess Music, and entered into a global partnership with BMG, joining such acts as Avril Lavigne, Blink-182, Blondie, and At The Drive-In on the company’s recorded music roster. A new album, called “Double Dutchess,” is due out later this summer.