Ariana Grande Pledges to Return to Manchester for Benefit Concert


Almost one week after a suicide bomber killed 22 and wounded dozens more at her Manchester Arena appearance, Ariana Grande has announced she plans to return to Manchester for a benefit concert to raise money for attack victims.

In an emotional, lengthy Instagram post on Monday, Grande expressed love to all her fans, and stressed that fear and division should not be the result of the tragedy.

Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande performs onstage during her ‘Dangerous Woman’ tour at Madison Square Garden on February 23, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Republic Records)

“I have been thinking of my fans, and of you all, non stop over the past week,” the singer wrote. “The compassion, kindness, love, strength and oneness you’ve shown one another this week is the exact opposite of the heinous intentions it must take to pull off something as evil as what happened Monday.”

She then cited her plans to return to the “incredibly brave” city of Manchester in order to lend support to her fans, as well as raise funds for the victims and their families.

“From the day we started putting the Dangerous Woman tour together, I said that this show, more than anything else, was intended to be a safe space for my fans…this will not change that,” she asserted.

“Music is meant to heal us, to bring us together, to make us happy.”

Grande did not give a specific date in her post for her return to Manchester, but promised to share details as soon as everything is confirmed.

Read the full text of her post below:

A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) on May 26, 2017 at 11:00am PDT