Ariana Grande gives moving speech to people of Manchester
Ariana Grande gave a moving speech at the One Love Manchester benefit concert on Sunday (04.06.17).
The 23-year-old singer hosted the concert at the Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground in the English city to raise funds for those affected by the terrorist atrocity which killed 22 people and left more than 50 injured after the star’s concert at Manchester Arena on May 22.
During her set, the ‘Problem’ hitmaker took a moment to speak to the crowds – which included a number of those who were at her show when the attack took place – to thank them for being the "medicine that the world really needs right now."
She said: "Before we go any further, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being here today. I love you so so much. Thank you. I want to thank you so much for coming together and being so loving and strong and unified. I love you guys so much and I think that the kind of love and unity we’re displaying is the medicine that the world really needs right now. So I want to thank you for being just that."
The star – who fought back tears for most of her performance – then spoke about meeting with the mother of 15-year-old Olivia Campbell who was killed in the atrocity, and said she’d changed the whole setlist of the evening in order to comply with the young girl’s wishes.
She continued: "And I want to also say I had the pleasure of meeting Olivia [Campbell]’s mommy a few days ago. And as soon as I met her I started crying and I gave her a big hug and she said that I should stop crying because Olivia wouldn’t have wanted me to cry. And then she told me that Olivia would have wanted to hear the hits.
"So that means that we had a totally different show planned and we had a rehearsal yesterday where we changed everything and this evening has been so light and so filled with fun and love and bright energy and I want to thank you for that."
Ariana was joined by Black Eyed Peas, Robbie Williams, Take That, Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Niall Horan, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, and Little Mix at the music extravaganza, where fans were also treated to a surprise appearance from Manchester’s own Liam Gallagher.
