Why Ariana Grande's Manchester One Love concert is an act of defiance

With stars from Katy Perry to Justin Bieber on the line-up, Sunday night’s Manchester One Love gig is an act of defiance, says Phoebe Luckhurst
Don’t stop the music: stars performing at the charity concert

On Sunday evening, the band will play on again. Pop star Ariana Grande, who had just finished her encore when a suicide bomber detonated his weapon on May 22, is to return to Manchester, flanked by acts including Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, to perform for an audience of 50,000 people. Tickets for the Manchester One Love concert sold out in under six minutes when they went on sale yesterday.

Holding the concert is a defiant act for a city that is resilient but still shaken. All those who attended the original gig have been offered a ticket, which means that, for some of Sunday’s attendees, the concert means revisiting an evening that assumed the grotesque unreality of nightmare.

Georgia Faye, a 19-year-old psychology student who was at the original Ariana Grande concert, will be there on Sunday. “The best day quickly turned into the worst,” she says, speaking about the night. “I still don’t really know what to think of it all.” When she learned the identity of the first named victim of the attack, Georgina Callander, she was “devastated”. Faye had met Callander at a concert last year for American girl group Fifth Harmony. “I didn’t know her well but she was lovely,” said Faye. “It’s heartbreaking.” She has found strength in speaking to other fans who attended the original concert, and hopes to meet some of them on Sunday night. “It’s helped by knowing I’m not the only one feeling like I do.”

Is she anxious? “I’m looking forward to it but I’m also terrified. Who wouldn’t be? It’s sad when I think about what it took for this to happen. I will definitely get emotional. There are mixed feelings. I know I need to go even though it’ll be difficult to pay my respects and show my support. I’d regret it if I didn’t go.”

For 21-year-old Lauren Lindley, a Manchester University student who is going on Sunday with her boyfriend, his sister and his sister’s husband, attendance equals solidarity with the city. She wasn’t at the original gig but knows people who were. “We don’t want artists or fans being afraid of Manchester and we thought just being there would have such an impact. We wanted to be a part of history.” Is she worried about security? “I’m not. I don’t think we should all stop doing what we love and enjoy because of terrorism. It would mean they have won.”

“I think it’s natural for people to be worried, especially those who were at the concert, but the worst thing we can do is let the actions of one terrible individual dictate how we live our lives,” agrees Mike Webster, a 27-year-old IT engineer attending on Sunday with his girlfriend, sister and his sister’s girlfriend. He also knows people who, mercifully, escaped the attack unscathed. For Webster, the gig is charged with symbolism. “I’ve been going to gigs in Manchester my entire life and you can feel the sense of a community coming together.” Lucy Mullan, a recent graduate of Manchester University who is going with her housemate, expects the concert will be “sombre”. “But hopefully it will also be uplifting, having so many people come together.”

Stars who performed with Ariana Grande at Manchester Benefit Concert

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Grande announced the concert, which will take place at Old Trafford cricket ground, by sharing an Instagram image: black text, Manchester One Love, etched across a millennial pink background. The ‘O’ in “Love” was styled as a ribbon of solidarity, decked with her signature rabbit ears, a symbol shared across social media in the wake of the attack. Her post promised that “proceeds will benefit the victims and families affected by the Manchester attack on May 22 2017”. Her manager Scooter Braun shared the same image and its pledge, and soon after, other artists flocked to lend their name to the billing — and their star power to the fundraising effort.

Grande’s friend Katy Perry will be performing, as will Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, whose fanbase intersects closely with Grande’s. British bands Coldplay and Take That will be there, as will Usher, Niall Horan, Pharrell and The Black Eyed Peas. On Tuesday, Perry shared Grande’s Instagram post, captioned with Perry’s own tribute. “The music community stands with love and with solidarity,” she wrote. “I am humbled to be a part of this show.” Yesterday, organisers announced that Little Mix and Robbie Williams had joined the bill, and that they “expect more over the next few days”. All the stars performing have waived their fees. The show will be broadcast live on BBC One, likely to millions of people.

Fans also consider attendance to be a pledge of support for Grande. “I think it’s amazing that Ariana’s coming back,” says 17-year-old Tilli Johnson, who’s going five friends who went to the original concert. “Some artists would just say they were sorry for what happened.”

But the concert is not just about big ticket, stadium names — it is about a community and, accordingly, Grande has invited Mancunians to the stage with her. Yesterday, the school choir at Parrs Wood High School, which had recorded its own performance of Grande’s song My Everything after the attack, announced it would be performing the song onstage with the pop star on Sunday. Some of the members of the choir were at the original concert.

“Pupils wanted to do something to help and decided to record the song to pay tribute to the victims and raise money for them,” says the school’s headteacher, Mark McElwee. “It’s their way of standing shoulder to shoulder with everyone affected by last week’s tragedy, and I couldn’t be prouder of them for coming together to do something so positive and also so moving in the wake of such terrible sadness.

“They’ve been overwhelmed by the response so far and are determined to give their very best performance on Sunday night, and I guarantee they’ll be singing their hearts out.”

Minute's silence for Manchester bomb victims

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And local poet Tony Walsh announced yesterday that he was humbled to be asked to perform his poem, This is the Place, at the benefit. The 51-year-old poet, who performs as Longfella, had read it at a vigil in Manchester’s Albert Square last week, to thunderous applause. “Such a gracious invitation from a superstar and her team to a tiny, independent artist,” Walsh wrote on Facebook yesterday. “Gonna have to step up for this one, folks. Hoping to make my city proud.”

The concert is a symbolic and emotional act but it has a practical application, too. Proceeds will go to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund, set up as a partnership between Manchester City Council and the British Red Cross to support victims and their families. It is estimated that an appeal, led by the council, the Manchester Evening News and the British Red Cross, has raised more than £6.2 million, which includes a JustGiving page set up by the British Red Cross that has raised nearly £2 million. It is hoped that Sunday’s concert could add another £2 million to this sum.

Tickets for Sunday cost £40, with an option to add a donation at the checkout. Yesterday morning, people were tweeting about how difficult it was to get tickets. Ticketmaster reports that there 140,000 fans were on the website, that its call centre was “buzzing”, and that there were 450,000 searches on its site for “One Love Manchester” over the first 24 hours. Soon after tickets sold out, despicable touts were selling tickets on eBay and ticket resale sites. Vendors stated that they were pursuing those trying to profit from misery, and eBay confirmed it was removing listings where it found them.

Security — as it always is in the age of terrorism — is paramount. The Outside Organisation, which is managing the logistics, confirms that security personnel have been doubled for Sunday night. It is expected 50,000 people will attend, and they have been asked not to bring bags, in order to avoid delays going through security. Everyone will be searched on entry, and there is a banned list of items that includes umbrellas, banners, rattles, fireworks, flares, air horns, smoke canisters, bottles, glasses or cans. Old Trafford cricket ground will likely take it on the nose, though — it is a well-worn concert venue.

Of course, turning the music back on is a reminder, unavoidably, of the circumstances that tried to drown it out. Moreover, for a city whose musical legacy is enshrined in lore, there is a poetry to healing the city with a concert.

Is it a fitting tribute? “I’d hope it’s what they would want,” says Webster thoughtfully. “They all went to see Ariana and enjoy themselves and that was cruelly taken from them. I hope it gives some comfort to the victims and families to see so many artists and people coming together to celebrate them.”

Additional reporting by Katie Strick

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