On Sunday, two weeks after her Dangerous Woman tour was brought to a tragic halt by a terror attack at its Manchester, England tour stop, Ariana Grande made her triumphant return to the stage. Grande — along with Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Pharrell, Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, The Black Eyed Peas, Robbie Williams, Take That, Little Mix, Marcus Mumford, Niall Horan and Liam Gallagher — gathered in Manchester’s Old Trafford Stadium to put on a charity concert to benefit the victims and families of the May 22 bombing (22 died, dozens more were injured). The event, which Grande’s team organized, was a total success.
Over 50,000 fans were in attendance. According to WWD, in its three-hour span the concert raised over two million pounds (around $2.6 million American dollars) for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund. The musicians’ message of strength, love and unity was especially poignant given that, just hours before, another terror attack in central London left seven dead and 48 injured.
“The kind of love and unity that you’re displaying is the medicine the world really needs right now,” Grande told the crowd at one point during the show. Speaking of love, everyone duly lost their minds when Grande’s beau, Mac Miller, showed up for a new-school duet.
Grande invited the members of a local high school choir (many of whom were present at her first show) to perform with her on stage. They sang “My Everything.”
Justin Bieber, who shares a manager with Grande, prefaced his acoustic performance of “Cold Water” by asking the crowd to chant “Love.”
“Love conquers fear and love conquers hate and this love that you choose will give you strength, and it’s our greatest power,” said Perry, who performed her very on-theme hit “Roar” (among others).
Grande and her BFF Miley Cyrus gave one of the most moving performances of the evening. The duo sang a cover of Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over.” If this isn’t #friendgoals, we don’t know what is. Also, Cyrus stuck around to hand out sunflowers to fans after the show.
And just in case you’re not yet teary-eyed, here’s the Instagram post in which Grande announced her plans for a charity concert:
Grande’s response to this whole tragedy has been, in a word, inspiring.
