One Love Manchester

On 22 May 2017, a suicide bomb attack was carried out at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, following a performance by an American songstress Ariana Grande as part of the singer's Dangerous Woman Tour. 22 of the concert-goers and parents who were in the entrance waiting to pick up their children following the show were killed, more than 800 were injured and 116 of those were seriously injured.

Within a few hours after the bombing, Grande herself posted on Twitter: "broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words."[17] The tweet briefly became the most-liked tweet in history.[18] Grande subsequently suspended her tour and flew to her mother's home in Boca Raton, Florida.[19][20] On 26 May, she announced that she would host a benefit concert in Manchester for the victims of the attack.[21]

A minute's silence was held before Marcus Mumford opened the concert, at the request of Mumford, in memory of those killed both in Manchester and in London.

After Grande's first performance of the night, Stevie Wonder appeared via video link. After Heap's performance, a video of prominent Manchester footballer David Beckham reading a poem dedicated to the city was played. Videos of other artists and celebrities, including Halsey, Bastille, Anne-Marie, Demi Lovato, Jennifer Hudson, Blossoms, Chance the Rapper, Camila Cabello, The Chainsmokers, DJ Khaled, Little Mix, Circa Waves, Kendall Jenner, Clean Bandit, Dua Lipa, Sean Paul, Nick Grimshaw, Kings of Leon, Sam Smith, Rita Ora, Shawn Mendes, Twenty One Pilots, Paul McCartney, U2 and the players of Manchester United and Manchester City declaring their solidarity with Manchester were also shown.

Liam Gallagher, former lead singer of local band Oasis, made a surprise appearance near the end of the concert. Previously, he had stated he wanted to perform but indicated a conflict with the Rock im Park festival in Germany.[27][28] He flew in straight from his performance in Germany.[29] Coincidentally, he was also scheduled to perform at the Rock am Ring festival two days prior, but the rest of that festival day was cancelled before his scheduled performance due to terror suspicions.[30]

Usher was due to appear but did not perform. He appeared with other musicians in the pre-recorded video sending best wishes to Manchester.[31]

The concert was broadcast live on BBC One, BBC Radio and Capital FM networks.[7] Television coverage on BBC One was presented by Sara Cox and Ore Oduba, with Nick Grimshaw and Anita Rani hosting from backstage and within the crowd. BBC Radio coverage consisted of a simultaneous broadcast, hosted by Scott Mills, Jo Whiley, Phil Williams and Becky Want, on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Manchester respectively. BBC World Service also transmitted the concert live.[32] Outside broadcasting facilities were provided by Arena Television, and BBC Radio Outside Broadcasts.

The BBC announced that it would broadcast the entire concert even if it overran its intended three-hour duration,[33] which it did by approximately 20 minutes.[34]

The 50,000-capacity venue sold out within 20 minutes.[80] Approximately 14,000 people who attended the original Ariana Grande concert were eligible for free tickets for the One Love Manchester concert. However, approximately 10,000 additional applications, from people ineligible for free tickets, caused delays in ticket processing.[81]

The concert averaged 10.9 million viewers on BBC One, peaking at 14.5 million viewers.[80][82] 22.6 million people watched at least three minutes of the programme on BBC One, making it the UK's most-watched television event of 2017.[82] The concert reached an audience share of 49.3 percent in overall viewers, 69 percent of adults 16–24 and 61 percent in the demographic of 25–34 year-olds.[82] Consolidated 7-day figures put the average UK viewership at 11.63 million.[83] BBC iPlayer registered more than one million live-stream requests, making One Love Manchester the biggest non-sports programme in iPlayer’s history, surpassing the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.[84]

The British Red Cross received £2.35 million in donations during the three-hour concert for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund. By the next day, the British Red Cross announced it had received more than £10 million since the attack,[13] and subsequently, reports have set the total at more than £17 million.[85]

Grande also donated all proceeds to the fund from a re-release of her single "One Last Time" and a live audio version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" that she performed during the concert.[85]

Francis Wilkinson, in Bloomberg.com, wrote that Grande offered "a face that was brave and kind in the wake of terror while accomplishing several useful goals – raising money for victims, bolstering courage and making the attacks look both puny and pointless. Whatever the terrorists had hoped to produce in Manchester, it certainly wasn't this party."[90] She received praise for her "grace and strength" in organizing, hosting and performing at the concert.[91][92] Madeline Roth of MTV News wrote that the performance "bolstered courage among an audience that desperately needed it. ... Returning to the stage was a true act of bravery and resilience".[93] The City of Manchester named Grande as an honorary citizen of the city following the singer's "great many selfless acts and demonstrations of community spirit" and will be the first to be awarded from the city.[94]

Kory Grow in Rolling Stone, wrote "It felt incredibly safe. As I made my own way to the tram, I wrote in my Apple Notes app, 'Helicopter hovering overhead,' which to me signified that the fans were being watched over. Then two policemen stopped me and asked me who I was with and whether I'd written anything about a helicopter into my phone, without explaining the technology of how they'd read my Notes app. After a friendly back-and-forth, they looked through my bag, checked my ID and business card and determined I wasn't a threat. 'You have to understand, tensions are running high,' one of the men said with a smile and a handshake, allowing me through the gate. Manchester was secure tonight."[95] Dee Lockett, in New York's Vulture section, ranked the event as the No. 1 concert of 2017, noting:

Less than two weeks after the attack, and with only a few days to privately process and mourn, Ariana returned to Manchester with an entire benefit concert she coordinated. ... She called in every favor, pulling in famous friends like Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber to show up for the grieving city. After meeting with a parent of one of the victims, Grande said she shifted the tone of the show from somber to celebratory because she understood that it was what her fans needed. ... All night, Ariana performed without breaking, but that was when she had others by her side. ... When it was just her alone with her fans for her finale cover of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", the floodgates opened. In what will likely go down as one of the defining moments of her career, she paused the song, looked out to her audience, which was already sobbing along with her, then resumed the music to nail yet another impossible note.[16]

In an interview with Billboard magazine, Grande's manager Scooter Braun remarked that "the City of Manchester was the Hero."[96]

One Love Manchester received two nominations for the BAFTA Television Awards and a nomination for the BAFTA Television Craft Awards.

• 2017 in British television
• A Concert for Charlottesville

• One Love Manchester at BBC Online
• One Love Manchester at IMDb