Celebrity News June 04, 2017
All the Details from the One Love Manchester Concert
In spite of new terror attacks in London Saturday night, Ariana Grande's One Love Manchester benefit concert kicked off as scheduled Sunday afternoon.
The show began with all five members of British group Take That, including Robbie Williams, who went on to give an emotional performance of his song "Strong." Williams changed the lyrics of "Strong" to: "Manchester, we're strong," leading the crowd at the Emirates Old Trafford in a sing-along.
He also performed his worldwide hit "Angels."
U2 provided a video greeting, followed by a performance of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" by Pharrell Williams, who then duetted on his hit "Happy" with Miley Cyrus.
Cyrus went on to plug her Happy Hippie nonprofit foundation that benefits homeless LGBTQ youth before launching into the song "Inspired."
Niall Horan performed "Slow Hands" and "One Town," dedicating the latter to Manchester.
Following a speech by Scooter Braun, who manages Grande and Bieber, Ariana appeared in a One Love Manchester sweatshirt to do some old-school vogueing throughout her song "Be Alright" and then drove the crowd wild with her smash hit "Break Free," which led to a musical video message from Stevie Wonder urging that, "Love really is the way."
Next up, girl group Little Mix appeared in stunning black-and-white stage costumes to sing "Wings" before Grande returned, welcoming Victoria Monét for a duet on the song "Better Days."
Hot on the heels of the news that Fergie has left the Black Eyed Peas for good, Ariana joined the group on "Where Is the Love?"
An emotional Grande introduced Imogen Heap as "my idol since I was 11 years old." The English singer-songwriter sa at a piano and performed her song "Hide and Seek," a mournful song that begins with the topical lyrics, "Where are we? / What the hell is going on?"
Soccer star David Beckham contributed a video in which he condemned the terror attack in Manchester from the perspective of both a father and a former resident of the city.
Ariana re-emerged to sing a soulful rendition of her "My Everything" with a choir from Parrs Wood High School, a performance that had the crowd in tears.
Fighting back tears of her own, Ariana announced, "Tonight is all about love, am I right?" before bringing her boyfriend Mac Miller out for a duet on "The Way." During the flirty performance, she was all smiles, later asking everyone to "make some noise for my boo" before segueing into a sanitized version of Miller's song "Dang!"
Things got cute when Ariana went to introduce Miley again and Miley had to cue her, "I'm on this side..." Ariana turned to accept a hug from Miley, and the two — each in spiked heels — duetted merrily on the '80s hit "Don't Dream It's Over."
Choking up, Ariana told the crowd she'd met Manchester victim Olivia Campbell's mother, who told Ariana not to cry because her daughter would not have wanted that. Olivia's mom went on to advise Ariana, "Olivia would've wanted the hear the hits." Laughing, Ariana admitted that led to last-minute changes in the concert before launching into her smash "Side to Side."
Pop superstar Katy Perry, clad all in white, emerged, asking, "It's not easy to always choose love, is it?" She went on to say, "Love conquers fear and love conquers hate," and implored everyone to touch the person next to them and say, "I love you."
Katy kicked off her set with a hauntingly stripped-down version of her hit "Part of Me," which she sang while flashing the peace sign with her fingers.
After that, she delivered a soaring rendition of her #1 hit "Roar."
Justin Bieber performed "Love Yourself," accompanying himself on the guitar, after declaring, "What better way to fight evil than with love?" He then led the crowd in a chant of, "Love! Love! Love!" ahead of a performance of the song "Cold Water."
Ariana was back onstage for "Love Me Harder," and the livestream caught Miley and Katy singing along in the background. Promising a surprise, she skipped offstage before a long montage of celebrities declaring support for Manchester, including Paul McCartney, Demi Lovato, Jennifer Hudson, the Chainsmokers, Kendall Jenner, Shawn Mendes, Sean Paul, Kings of Leon, Rita Ora and more.
Ariana returned with Coldplay, with Chris Martin dedicating "Don't Look Back in Anger" to her for all she's done for Manchester in the wake of the attack. The band then offered up an anguished "Fix You" and the joyful songs "Viva la Vida" and "Something Just Like This."
At concert's end, Manchester native Liam Gallagher, one of England's most recognizable homegrown stars, emerged and sang "Rock 'n' Roll Star" following an audio clip of the late Muhammad Ali calling for unity. Gallagher also sang his new song "Wall of Glass," released just last week.
The Oasis frontman closed by dedicating "Live Forever" to the "beautiful people" killed or injured in the Manchester terror attack.
Ariana came back one last time to thank everyone for coming as many of the participating artists stood behind her as she sang her hit "One Last Time."
She closed the show with an emotional "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," the song made famous by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz." Watch it here.
Variety reports Freeform will air the entire concert after it ends, starting at 2 p.m. PT, and ABC stations will have the option to air a one-hour highlights show after Sunday's NBA finals.
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