One Love Manchester Highlights

On the 22^nd of May 2017, the city of Manchester was hit with a heartbreaking tragedy. A terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert resulted in 22 people, most of whom were children, being killed and over 50 getting injured. This was a great tragedy for many; the victims, their families, Ariana’s fans, Ariana Grande herself, and the rest of the world.

In a bid to raise money for the victims and their families and unite the world through the love of music, Ariana Grande put on the One Love Manchester benefit concert.

You may have noticed that last week, I didn’t upload a blog post like I usually do every Sunday. This was because last Sunday, I was in Manchester, to attend the One Love Manchester benefit concert. In case you didn’t know, I’m an intern at a showbiz news company/ a showbiz journalist, and last week, I had the amazing opportunity to not only attend, but also cover One Love Manchester.

As someone who has just stopped being a student and who has only just very recently submitted their last ever assignment, this was not only a great concert to go to, but also and incredible proper first job opportunity as a showbiz journalist.

The concert consisted of a very impressive and star studded line up, made up of Marcus Mumford, Take That, Robbie Williams, Pharrell Williams, Miley Cyrus, Niall Horan, Little Mix, Victoria Monet, Black Eyed Peas, Imogen Heap, Mac Miller, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Liam Gallagher and of course, Ariana Grande herself. Of course, I was very excited to cover this gig as the line up was filled with artists who I have been desperate to see for years!

It’s almost impossible to single out one particular artist or moment as my favourite, as the whole night was amazing, however, there were definitely a few moments that stood out in particular.

The first being the crowd joining in to sing Take That’s ‘Rule the World’. Over 50,000 people were in the audience at Old Trafford Cricket Ground that night, and not all 50,000 were in the ground at that point, but nevertheless the performance and the crowd’s reaction was incredible. That was the first point of the night where you could see how united everyone was.

 

Miley Cyrus was one act in particular I was really excited to see. I’ve loved Miley since her Hannah Montana days and I’ve loved every single song she has recorded. We all know Miley can sing (if you want to suggest otherwise, watch a video of her covering Dolly Parton’s  ‘Jolene’) and her vocals on the night were out of this world. Miley performed three times over the course of the night and she was outstanding every time she stepped on stage. Now, I love a good, inspiring speech and I thought she delivered a very moving one when she spoke about how Ariana was such a good role model for her fans. The pair also performed a duet together when they sang ‘Don’t Dream it’s Over’ by Crowded House.

Another huge highlight was Ariana’s performance with Black Eyed Peas. When they performed ‘Where is the Love?’ the whole audience again came together, and it was in all honesty a very emotional moment.  The lyrics of the song, (which everyone knows because it’s an absolute anthem) fitted the moment and all the events that had previously happened in the city, perfectly.

Another performance that stood out was Ariana’s performance with rapper and her boyfriend, Mac Miller. Ariana is known for having amazing vocals and she didn’t disappoint, especially when she hit the high notes in ‘The Way’. Also, let’s be honest, it was so cute so see them perform together! If you know me or have read my blog before, you’ll know that I’m really soppy, so seeing them perform together was just one moment of the night that made my heart melt!

Katy Perry’s performance was another highlight of the night and I was so excited to see her live. She sang a poignant, acoustic rendition of ‘Part of Me’ followed by her hit ‘Roar’ which is known for having uplifting, inspiring lyrics.  As well as sounding amazing Katy also looked it, showing off her new haircut and wearing a long, white coat that made her look like the absolute queen she is!

Now, as a twenty-something girl, it’s fair to assume that I love Justin Bieber. Of course, that assumption is correct! Now, Justin has been known for displaying a little bit of bad behaviour recently and has recently been criticised for allegedly miming during his live performances. This was my first time of seeing the Biebs live and I was beyond impressed. Everything from his (very live) vocals, to his guitar playing, to his speech and interaction with the crowd was amazing. 

He put on two performances of ‘Love Yourself’ and ‘Cold Water’, both were acoustic and both were heart-warming and pristine performances. Justin also united the crowd once more by getting them to chant ‘love’ and at this point, the whole stadium joined together once again. At one point, when delivering an emotional speech, I thought Justin was about to cry and having experienced the emotional atmosphere for myself, I can fully understand why.

Coldplay is another act that were on my ‘Must See’ list for a while and, after waiting years I can confirm that I was not disappointed.  Frontman Chris Martin put on various stellar performances both with and without his band mates. He put on an amazing and emotional rendition of Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’, which has become an anthem for Manchester after the attack. Once this performance was over, Coldplay went on to perform some of their hits including ‘Fix You’, ‘Viva la Vida’ and their new hit ‘Something Just Like This’. Coldplay are known for putting on amazing live performances and ‘Fix You’ was one of the most emotional and heart-warming performances I have ever seen in my life. It was amazing to see the crowd join in, especially when the ground filled up with lights from people’s phones. It looked and sounded amazing.
 

The biggest surprise of the night had to be when Oasis (and Manchester) legend Liam Gallagher blessed the stage! Liam put on some incredible performances that were of course a hit with the crowd, including a rendition of 'Live Forever' with Coldplay's Chris Martin. Liam has throw a bit of shade at Chris in the past, so it was lovely to see two artists join together for an amazing cause and make amazing music. I won't lie, my jaw dropped when Liam came on stage because I was so shocked! He was fantastic but I must admit when I saw Liam, a part of me was really hoping Noel would come out and join him for an Oasis reunion ('Wonderwall' is one of my favourite songs ever!) Nevertheless, Liam was phenomenal and it was amazing to see the crowd's reaction as a Manchester hero attended the concert. 

Now let's talk about the woman of the hour, (or three) the person who was the mastermind behind the whole night. The one, the only, Miss. Ariana Grande. Now, as a lover of pop music, I've always enjoyed Ariana's music. I think her songs are catchy and she has insane vocals. She put on phenomenal performances throughout the night, despite almost crying, which is completely understandable. Even while holding back tears, Ariana performed both on her own and with various other artists including Black Eyed Peas, Mac Miller, Miley Cyrus, Victoria Monet and Chris Martin. However the most emotional collaboration for me, was when she joined Parrs Wood High School Choir when they sang her hit 'My Everything'. For me, one of the highlights was when Ariana spoke about when she met Charlotte, who is the mother of Olivia Campbell, one of the victims who tragically died after the attack. She mentioned that she cried when she met the mother and decided to make some changes to her set list after Charlotte said that Olivia wouldn't have wanted Ariana to be upset, instead she would have wanted her to perform all of her hits. I was an Ariana Grande fan before but after seeing what she did for Manchester, I lover her even more. What she did was incredible and whether or not you enjoy her music, you cannot fault what she did. 

At the end of the show, Ariana brought out all the artists that had performed for a rendition of ‘One Last Time’ Since the attack, ‘One Last Time’ has triumphed it’s way back into the charts. The most emotional performance of the night for me was the final one, when Ariana sang ‘Over the Rainbow’. The ground filled with multi-coloured lights and you could hear a pin drop when Ariana sang. Ariana fought back tears as she sang the final line but still managed to nail her performance.

The last thing I remember about the show was the crowd leaving, I was in the press box, so had an incredible view of everything. And as the crowd left the stadium, they broke out in song and sang along to ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ once more. I think this sums up not only the whole night, but Manchester as a whole after what happened. That night, they showed true unity, bravery and love. Even Pharrell Williams said that he did not see any fear from Manchester, despite the tragedy that happened there two weeks prior to the concert.

Overall, the concert raised over £10 million for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund. It was an incredible night for an amazing cause. It also joined the world together, through the love of music. You can donate to the fund by clicking HERE.

Covering this was an incredible opportunity and I’m still so grateful that I had the chance to go to the concert as well as report it. If you were there, or watched it on TV, you will understand just how phenomenal the night was, and how it united people everywhere, in a time where the world needed love and peace.

If you want to watch some of my coverage of the night for BANG Showbiz, be sure to watch this video HERE.

Until next time,

Becca x

*obviously, I don’t own the rights to any of the music featured in these videos, all credit goes to the artist and the people who own copyright to the songs.