BREAKING: Singer Ariana Grande promises benefit gig for families of Manchester attack victims

Ariana Grande has issued a touching message on Twitter, in which she has promised to return to Manchester to perform a benefit concert in aid of the families of the victims of Monday night's terrorist attack.
The American singer Ariana Grande. Picture: PA/PA WireThe American singer Ariana Grande. Picture: PA/PA Wire
The American singer Ariana Grande. Picture: PA/PA Wire

In a lengthy, heartfelt statement, the American singer said she had been thinking of her fans all week and offered to help in any way she could.

The message reads: “My heart, prayers and deepest condolences are with the victims of the Manchester Attack and their loved ones.

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“There is nothing I or anyone can do to take away the pain you are feeling or to make this better.

“However, I extend my hand and heart and everything I possibly can give to you and yours, should you want or need my help in any way.

“The only thing we can do now is choose how we let this affect us and how we live our lives from here on out.

“I have been thinking of my fans, and of you all, non stop over the past week. The way you have handled all of this has been more inspiring and made me more proud than you’ll ever know.

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“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.”

The singer went on to say: “I am sorry for the pain and fear that you must be feeling and for the trauma that you, too, must be experiencing.

“We will never be able to understand why events like this take place because it is not in our nature, which is why we shouldn’t recoil.

“We will not quit or operate in fear.

“We won’t let this divide us.

“We won’t let hate win.

“I don’t want to go the rest of the year without being able to see and hold and uplift my fans, the same way they continue to uplift me.

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“Our response to this violence must be to come closer together, to help each other, to love more, to sing louder and to live more kindly and generously than we did before.”

And making the offer of a return to Manchester to perform, she said: “I’ll be returning to the incredibly brave city of Manchester to spend time with my fans and to have a benefit concert in honour of and to raise money for the victims and their families. I want to thank my fellow musicians and friends for reaching out to be part of our expression of live for Manchester. I will have details to share with you as soon as everything is confirmed.”

The singer continued: “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. To meet their friends they’ve made online. To express themselves.

“This will not change that.”

She highlighted just how important music is to people, saying: “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.

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“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.

“We will continue in honour of the ones we lost, their loved ones, my fans and all affected by this tragedy.”

She finished, saying: “They will be on my mind and in my heart everyday and I will think of them with everything I do for the rest of my life.”