Ariana to return to Manchester for benefit
US pop star Ariana Grande announced this week that she would return to Manchester to headline a star-studded benefit concert on Sunday for the victims of the deadly attack on her show last week.
Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams, Usher and Take That will join her for the concert in memory of the 22 who died, seven of them children.
“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,” Grande said.
The 23-year-old said she was “broken”, and suspended her world tour after the bomb went off near an exit of the Manchester Arena at the finale of her show on May 22.
Fans who attended that show will be offered free tickets to the benefit concert at the Old Trafford cricket ground, which has a 50,000-seat capacity for concerts, with the rest sold to raise money for the affected families.
Grande is a favourite of preteens, and, as well as the children killed, a number of the victims were parents who came to pick up their daughters.
Manchester-born Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher made his solo debut on Tuesday with a sell-out concert in aid of the bombing victims.
Like Grande’s, it raised money for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund set up by the local council and the British Red Cross, to help the grieving families and victims.
Ahead of the show, 25-year-old Marnie Taylor said she hoped Gallagher would boost everyone’s mood.
“Kind of bring back the gig spirit of what gigs are supposed to be — they’re supposed to be safe, they’re supposed to be somewhere where people can escape,” she said outside the O2 Ritz venue.
Gallagher said it was important to move forward in the wake of the terror attack.
“We need to enjoy life ... We’ll be trying to lift people. Otherwise, the poor kids who died at the gig have died in vain,” he told The Manchester Evening News.