Ariana Grande announces benefit concert in Manchester to raise money for victims
— -- Ariana Grande has announced that she'll perform a benefit concert in Manchester, England, to raise money for the victims of Monday's attack and their families.
The singer wrote in her statement today that since the bombing at her concert at Manchester Arena, she has been thinking of her fans "nonstop" and plans to return to the city to spend time with "Arianators" there.
Details of her visit and her forthcoming show have not yet been released.
"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. A place for them to escape, to celebrate, to heal, to feel safe, and to be themselves," she wrote. "This will not change that. When you look into the audience at my shows, you see a beautiful, diverse, pure, happy crowd. Thousands of people, incredibly different, all there for the same reason, music. Music is something that everyone on Earth can share. Music is meant to heal us, to bring us together, to make us happy. So that is what it will continue to do for us."
On Monday night, suspected suicide bomber Salman Abedi killed 22 people and wounded more than 100 others as Grande's concert came to an end. Authorities have arrested 10 others in connection with the incident, and eight are still in custody.
The day after the bombing, Grande, 23, returned to the United States and shortly thereafter, announced that she'd suspended her tour until early next month. In her letter Friday, she thanked her friends and fellow musicians for their outpouring of support, and praised her fans for their grace in light of the tragedy.
"The way you have handled all of this has been more inspiring and made me more proud than you'll ever know," she wrote. "The compassion, kindness, love, strength and oneness that you've shown one another this past week is the exact opposite of the heinous intentions it must take to pull off something as evil as what happened Monday. YOU are the opposite."
