Music

One Love Manchester: A Perfectly Poignant Tribute

5 June 2017

By Lauren E. White

We all knew that last night would be a tough one.

Equally, we all knew that last night would be the act of defiance in the face of ugly terrorism that we are capable of pulling off.

After the suicide bombing at Ariana Grande’s Manchester Arena concert two weeks ago, the nation has been grieving and recovering from the loss. Then, on Saturday night, three more cowardly terrorists took the lives of seven innocent people alongside the twenty-two murdered in Manchester.

These senseless attacks often leave us numb and wondering what is wrong with the world.

However, it is safe to say that the benefit concert organised by Ariana Grande and her manager Scooter Braun last night showed us that the numbness we feel about senseless terrorism needn’t be reflective of the world as a a whole.

60,000 people and a long line of artists including Grande herself, Take That, Katy Perry, Little Mix, Coldplay, Manchester’s own Liam Gallagher and many more, stood side by side together, united to honour those lost and injured in the terrorist attacks.

The message I feel it communicated best was one of love, solidarity and unity. It was one that truly restored faith in humanity – a message we all needed to receive.

Ariana Grande put on a show that her fans caught up in the horrors of the attack would have been proud of and so excited to see. She put on a show that the whole world loved and came together to watch. At the age of 23, it’s hard to imagine how she was feeling in the wake of the attack. The guilt, the pain and the sheer shock must have been agonising.

Belting out the hits of ‘One Last Time’, hearing Coldplay deliver a passionate rendition of ‘Fix You’ and the choir from a Manchester school singing with Grande warmed my heart.

And Ariana Grande’s cover of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ was a perfect tribute to the wonderful, unique and, above all, loved people taken from their families because of terrorism.

A fitting tribute that brought out the best in Britain.

Like this article? Please share!