Much like Ariana, who got a tattoo to mark the day, the experience had a profound effect on him.
“Playing the One Love Manchester concert was one of the most surreal days of my life,” he told Shortlist. “It was emotionally up and down. Backstage I was with Ariana Grande, and she was telling me stories of visiting the hospital, meeting families of the victims, and she was clearly really emotional about what was going to happen. It hit me that this was history being made, right before our eyes. Our generation’s Live 8.”
“Everywhere I looked, people were dancing and having a good laugh,” he continues. “Then I played ‘This Town’, and the mood changed. I caught a girl’s eyes in the crowd and she was just bawling her eyes out. During Justin Bieber‘s acoustic set, policemen were dancing with kids. I’d never seen anything like it.”
He was impressed and moved by how brave Manchester was in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attack.
“You can’t let a terror attack alter your way of thinking. The concert was the same day as Michael Carrick‘s testimonial at Old Trafford. Seventy-five thousand people at Old Trafford, 200 yards down the road from this huge 50,000-strong crowd. This is the week after a terror attack. I walked through the crowd thinking, ‘These people aren’t scared. Something monstrous has happened, but they refuse to be scared by it.’ That was really powerful to experience.”
Manchester has its first honorary citizen in the form of pop singer Ariana Grande — and the city could not have chosen a more courageous woman to honor.
The Manchester City Council announced plans to make Ariana an honorary citizen last month, and now the move has been approved by an honorary council, E! News reports.
The 24-year-old “Dangerous Woman” singer organized the One Love Manchester Benefit concert following a bombing at her Manchester Arena concert in May, and in the process raised millions of dollars for the victims of the attack.
“It would have been understandable if [she] had never wanted to see this place again,” Council leader Richard Leese told council members ahead of the vote, “But she determined she would not perform again until she had returned to Manchester. In doing so, she brought comfort to thousands.”
Ari stood brave in the face of enormous tragedy, and for that, we will always admire her.
If you remember, the 18-year-old singer was the opener for the Dangerous Woman Tour leg in Brazil.
“The most incredible thing that she could have ever done what she did was obviously the Manchester benefit concert and taking such a negative situation that was supposed to tear us apart and turned it into a positive and brought so many more people together, in the end,” Sab told TeenVogue.com. “And I think that’s exactly what we’re gonna do with music.”
She continued, “I think if anything, you know, it’s taught us to be stronger. It’s taught us to make music more because it actually does heal people. Like, it’s something that maybe we didn’t realize we need or we take it for granted. But, it’s one of those that at the end of the day it’s something that unifies us.”
“The One Love Manchester event, I was seriously crying the entire time,” Camila told Elvis Duran and the Morning Show. “It just re-sparks your faith in humanity.”
The star-studded concert raised over $12 million for the “We Love Manchester Emergency Fund” � $2.5 million during the three-hour benefit via text and online donations.
Ariana Grande continues to do amazing things for the victims of the Manchester attacks!
The 23-year-old singer, who reportedly just got a tattoo to honor the lives lost in the attack, has just released the live version of her “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” cover to raise money for the victims and their families.
The cover is now available to download on iTunes or stream on Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal.
Ariana has also re-released her former single “One Last Time” with all proceeds going to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund.
Selena Gomez had nothing but nice things to say about ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber in a new interview.
The 24-year-old “Bad Liar” singer was talking about the amazing One Love Manchester benefit during her stop at SiriusXM radio on Monday morning (June 5) in New York City.
“It was beautiful. Every one did such a beautiful job,” Selena said. “It was so gorgeous. I love how [Ariana Grande] ended it. I thought Justin did great. It was really beautiful.”
She added, “That’s what I hope everybody can take away…that we’re not going to live in fear. That we refuse to.”
One of the most emotional moments of the night at the One Love Manchester concert was when Ariana Grande teared up during her performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” the final song of the night.
The 23-year-old singer took to the stage for a solo encore performance of the classic The Wizard of Oz song on Sunday night (June 4) at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester, England.
There were so many highlights during the concert, but one of the most emotional moments had to be when Arianajoined a children’s choir to perform her song “My Everything,” the title track off her second album.
