When Ariana Grande announced a benefit concert for the victims and families of the May 22 terrorist attack in Manchester, England, we could all safely assume it would be a hot ticket event. Well, the star-studded show sold all of its 45,000 tickets – at the crazily reasonable price of $52 – in a mere 6 minutes. The people who attended the May 22 show were offered complementary tickets. The event’s Twitter made the announcement soon after the tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. UK time.
UPDATE: One Love Manchester is now completely sold out- and in under 6 minutes!
— One Love Manchester (@1lovemanchester) June 1, 2017
Ticketmaster released a statement saying it “was unsurprisingly met with remarkable demand” for tickets for the show. They noted that “140,000 fans were on the website and our call center was buzzing. With over 450,000 searches on our site for One Love Manchester over the last 24 hours, demand was always going to be extremely high.”
The show will take place on June 4 at the Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground and is on track to raise about $2.6 million for the Red Cross’ Manchester Emergency Fund, benefitting the families and loved ones of the victims of the tragic event.
Joining previously announced performers, including Katy Perry, Coldplay, Justin Bieber, Niall Horan and Miley Cyrus are Black Eyed Peas, Little Mix, Robbie Williams (who will hopefully join his former Take That bandmates on stage) and Pharrell Williams. There’s also rumors of some surprise guest appearances. Niall talked about the show during an interview with SiriusXM on Wednesday, saying,
I’m good friends with Ariana. She called me up and asked me if I would I be involved, and obviously, it was a no brainer. It was a terrible thing to happen. But Ariana can pull some of her friends together and get on stage and raise some needed money for the victims of a terrible attack. I guess that’s the least we can do as artists: get up there and sing a few songs and try to put some smiles on some faces.
[From SiriusXM Hits 1 via E! News]
I’m so glad to hear that this concert and the efforts of all of the artists involved has been able to raise so much money for such a worthy cause. I just wish I could have gotten a ticket.
Photos: WENN.com, Getty Images
I’m so glad that they gave the original concert goers tickets and that Ticketmaster was actively shutting down scalpersand bots.
Good for them. I would be very surprised if there wasn’t an Ed Sheeran appearance as well as a 1D reunion.
I have some new found respect for Ariana. I’m really glad she did all this, I saw some awful commets on her online after the Manchester attack.. I hope she’s fine and this event will also help her.
*stunned to say this*
Niall is…kind of hot? How did that happen?
Wow
I swear to god, it’s happened in the last couple of weeks for me. He was always a cutie, but since I heard Slow Hands… ☺️
Good for her for putting this together.
She managed to produce the opposite effect the terrorist intended.
At her own personal risk. I’m willing to forgive any and all donut licking for this.
Detritus, I’m beginning to think we are related or something. Everything you said, Again!!
I agree. I wasn’t a fan of her before, but they way she handled this whole terrible situation has made me have a lot of respect for her.
Good on her. There are so many horrible things happening in the world today, it’s great to see when people respond with kindness and love.
I’ve always been creeped out by her Lolita styling, but regardless of what I think of her, what happened in Manchester was an absolute horror no fan or performer should ever have to go through, and I feel bad for her. And this is a great move that will mean a lot to the people of Manchester.
Love it. We can’t be afraid, that’s what they want! Glad people are showing that they won’t be intimidated
Freeform (aka ABC Family) is going to air the concert on Sunday at 2PM (both EST & PST)!
She made a surprise visit to victims at the hospital in Manchester today. I never had an opinion of her before, but now I am extremely impressed with her. Very well done.