Singer tells of tears at meeting with mum of terror attack victim
ARIANA Grande told of the emotional moment she met with the mum of one of the children killed at her Manchester Arena concert.
The singer, 23, described meeting Bury’s Charlotte Campbell, whose 15-year-old daughter Olivia was one of the 22 people who lost their lives in the terror attack.
She said: “I had the pleasure of meeting Olivia’s mommy a few days ago. As soon as I met her I started crying and gave her a big hug and she said I should stop crying because Olivia wouldn’t have wanted me to cry.
“Then she told me Olivia would have wanted to hear the hits. So that being said, we had a totally different show planned and we had a rehearsal and we changed everything.”
Thanking fans for coming to show their support, she said: “The kind of love and unity you are displaying is the medicine the world needs just now.”
Sunday night’s show was Ariana’s first performance since the terror attack at her concert on May 22. She and her team organised the event to raise money for those affected by the tragedy. Taking to the stage after Marcus Mumford, Take That, Robbie Williams, Pharrell Williams, Miley Cyrus and Niall Horan, she opened her first set with an energetic performance of Be Alright.
Wearing a white One Love Manchester hoodie and flanked by a troupe of backing dancers, she then performed Break Free to rapturous cheers from the crowd.
Ariana returned to the stage after Little Mix’s performance to duet with Victoria Monet on their single Better Days, before joining Black Eyed Peas to perform Where Is The Love? The song was written in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York.
Her boyfriend Mac Miller also joined her on stage for a surprise performance before Miley returned to the stage to duet with her on a cover of Crowded House’s Don’t Dream It’s Over. Ariana returned to the US ‘broken’ and suspended the rest of her tour after the attack on May 22. But she vowed to return.