Ariana Grande to return to Manchester to headline Pride
Ariana Grande will return to Manchester in August in order to headline the Pride festival, after a terror attack outside her show in May 2017 killed 22.
Grande last performed in the British city in June 2017, when she staged the One Love Manchester benefit concert to raise money for those affected by the bombing.
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Grande will lead the Manchester Pride Live lineup on Sunday, August 25, to be held at the city's repurposed Mayfield Depot. The two-day concert, part of the wider Manchester Pride Festival, will raise money to "benefit LGBT+ causes in Greater Manchester."
On Twitter, Grande said she was "thrilled" to be headlining Pride, adding, "I can’t wait to see u and i love u so so much."
The singer will also stage another, as yet unannounced, event in Manchester. Though her European tour does not currently include a Manchester date, she told a fan on Twitter, "we are still working on something a little more special for you guys."
Mark Fletcher, CEO of Manchester Pride, said in a statement: "At Manchester Pride Live we're truly honored to be welcoming Ariana back to the city to help us celebrate LGBT+ life."
On May 22, 2017, attacker Salman Abedi detonated a bomb outside the Manchester Arena, killing 22 people as they left Grande's concert. Several children were among the victims, including 8-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos, the youngest person killed in the attack.
In an interview in British Vogue released in June 2018, Grande discussed the post-traumatic stress disorder she experienced after the bombing, saying: "I know those families and my fans, and everyone there experienced a tremendous amount of it as well." She added, "I feel like I shouldn't even be talking about my own experience -- like I shouldn't even say anything."
In November 2018, she released a YouTube docuseries, showing the singer writing a letter to her fans. "May 22, 2017, will leave me speechless and filled with questions for the rest of my life," she wrote, calling the attack "shocking and heartbreaking in a way that seems impossible to fully recover from."
By Emily Dixon, CNN. The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
The Gayly – February 26, 2019 @ 10:15 a.m. CST.