Mark Casci: Terrorists cannot steal the magic of music or the glory of Manchester
No-one ever forgets their first gig. My own (Sheffield band Pulp’s show at Middlesbrough Town Hall in October 1995) will never leave my memory. I can still remember virtually ever aspect of the gig, including what order they played their set.
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Hide AdThe bombing at Manchester Arena has taken the lives of more than 20 adults and children, injured scores more and left us once again questioning just where can we truly feel safe.
But for literally thousands of young people, some aged less than 10, the magic of their first concert has been forever stolen from them following a cowardly attack from twisted individuals who cannot understand what joy is.
In its place has been sewn a seed of dread and anxiety. If you are not safe at a concert with your family and friends where can you be safe? This is a heavy concept for anyone to bear, let alone a teenager who is growing up in a world which has probably never been this confusing and precarious then it is today.
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Hide AdI must confess I cannot say I had even heard of the name of Ariana Grande until news of Monday evening’s attack broke.
What is clear is that she brought happiness to thousands of young people the world over.
The fact that the extremist who carried out this attack chose a concert by Ms Grande, whose music is clearly aimed at younger children, says everything you need to know about the callous mind-set of those who carried out.
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Hide AdThis tragic attack took place in Manchester, a city which for hundreds of years has been one of most modern, innovative and creative in the world.
The industrial revolution, a process which has essentially informed the modern world, was born in Manchester.
The world’s first passenger railway, canal and programmable computer came from Manchester, as did atomic theory and the Suffragette movement.
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Hide AdAnd then there’s the music. Joy Division, Buzzcocks, Happy Mondays, The Smiths, Stone Roses, Oasis, The Fall, Take That, Bugzy Malone...the list is endless.
More than anything there is the people. While we proud Yorkshire men and women like nothing more than a transpennine jibe we are all ultimately cut from the same bolt of cloth. Manchester’s loss is our loss, their pain our pain. And I like, so many others, could not have been more proud of the response of the city.
Taxis running people home for free, people offering up their homes to stranded strangers without a second thought, hundreds queuing to donate blood - this is Manchester, and Britain, at its very best.
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Hide AdManchester has of course kind of been here before. In 1996 an IRA bomb ripped through the city centre, causing the equivalent of £1bn in damage in today’s money and injuring scores. The difference from the arena bombing is that, even in their depravity, the IRA give police advanced warning of its destructive plans. As a result there were no fatalities.
Even a brutal paramilitary group like the IRA knew that indiscriminate murder would never further its cause.
The explosives they planted came as a wave of progression washed over Manchester and Britain.
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Hide AdWithin little over a year a peace process had taken hold, one which stands to this day.
The city centre was rebuilt to a world-class standard. Soon after Manchester hosted the Commonwealth Games. Today it is an international centre for business and home to sports teams and artists known across the planet.
These are dark days for the city and country. I know I am not alone in feeling anger and despair coursing through me at this most direct of attacks on our very way of life.
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Hide AdBut like the IRA, the cowards who carried out this bombing will fail, because they have not contended with the spirit of Manchester. The city and its people will bounce back with more innovation, more growth and more success.
Part of this will doubtless include another slew of great bands who will provide the world with more magical first gigs.
And we, as citizens and human beings will not deprive our children of the wonder of such a thing, not even in the face of bombs and bullets.