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It’s been four years since Ariana Grande hosted the One Love concert
But what happened to the funds raised from the benefit gig?
Today marks four years since Ariana Grande hosted the One Love Manchester concert in the wake of the devastating Manchester Arena bombing.
Just weeks after a suicide bomber launched an attack in the foyer of the arena following her performance on May 22nd, 2017, the pop star returned to the city to host the One Love Manchester benefit concert in a bid to raise money for the survivors and families affected by the atrocity.
The benefit gig, held at Manchester’s Old Trafford cricket ground, saw some of the biggest names in music assemble alongside the then twenty-three-year-old singer to put on a show in memory of the twenty-two people who had lost their lives in the attack.
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Miley Cyrus, Little Mix, Robbie Williams, Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Liam Gallagher were among the artists to join Ariana during the the three hour-long concert, which was attended by a 55,000 strong audience.
Yet, despite the event taking place during one of Manchester’s darkest moments, the concert was undeniably a joyous occasion – a true testament to the city’s resilience and sense of community.
There were many memorable moments from the evening – as the concert went underway, a police officer was filmed on BBC News dancing with a group of children towards the back of the crowd. PC Paul Taylor was seen linking arms with a group of fans and dancing in a circle during Justin Bieber’s performance.
“I had posed for a picture with these two young girls who were with their mum, and they asked if I’d like to dance,” he explained. “I can’t remember what was playing at the time, I think it may have been Justin Bieber. Since the clip went viral my phone hasn’t stopped ringing!”
A choir from Parrs Wood High School in Didsbury became another memorable feature of the event, with two of the choir members actually being survivors from the attack. The school students joined Ariana for an emotional performance of her song ‘My Everything,’ leaving the singer and the rest of the audience in tears.
At one point, one of the choir girls became visibly upset, leading Ariana to embrace her as she continued with the rendition.
Shortly after the event took place, it was revealed that a staggering £18 million had been raised for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund, a charity established by the Manchester City Council and the British Red Cross, from both the ticket sales and donations from members of the public watching at home.
Ariana 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.
In a statement, We Love Manchester’s Councillor Sue Murphy said, as per NME: “Thanks to this we have raised more than £18m and we were conscious that we had to get some of swiftly this to those with immediate needs.”
But where exactly did this money go?
Well, Sue explained that following the concert, ‘around a third of the total’ was given to the bereaved families – that’s around £250,000 per family. Meanwhile, £3.5m was given to those who were hospitalised after the attack.
The British Red Cross also reported that it had received more than £10 million in donations in the twelve hours following the concert.
Music fans were left stunned as they spotted the Arctic Monkeys enjoying a standard pint in a Manchester Wetherspoons.
We all knew they were in town after the band performed live over the weekend at Emirates’ Old Trafford Cricket Ground, but no one thought they’d show up at a local Wetherspoons pub.
Perhaps we all expected them to hang out in an exclusive upmarket bar or an uber trendy but pricey craft ale pub, just definitely not a city centre Spoons — of all the classy joints they could have gone to!
The rock stars were seen drinking, as they stood with pints in hand at The Moon Under Water on Deansgate — I guess it’s hard to turn down a cheap pint!
Fans stopped and asked to take pictures with bassist Nick O’Malley and guitarist Jamie Cook, as well as touring band member Tom Rowley, at the pub.
One person wrote: “You’re not telling me Arctic Monkeys are having a booze in the Moon Under The Water on Deansgate hahahaha.” A second typed: “Imagine bumping into some of the monkeys in a Wetherspoons hahaha.”
Someone else pointed out: “Biggest band in the country and they’re drinking carling in spoons.” Some fans also made light of the band, comparing them to the iconic ‘four lads in jeans’ meme.
And, that’s not the only weird celebrity sighting around Manchester this week.
P!NK was spotted swinging around at Total Ninja indoor park in Trafford Park for her daughter Willow’s 12th birthday party.
The American singer-songwriter is set to perform two huge shows at the University of Bolton stadium.
And Chris Martin from Coldplay was spotted catching a train from Manchester to Cardiff after wowing crowds at epic sold-out shows at the Etihad Stadium.
Members of the Arctic Monkeys were pictured during the gloriously sunny weekend in Manchester, where they’d performed two gigs in Old Trafford.
The Sheffield band will perform later this week for more packed-out crowds in their hometown, at Hillsborough Park.
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Apple reveals it will finally stop iPhones autocorrecting f**k to ‘duck’
About ducking time!
Apple has revealed its iPhones will finally stop autocorrecting expletives such as f**k to ‘duck’.
For those who use iPhone, you’ve probably experienced wanting to type a swear word in a message only to find that as you go to send it, it quickly gets changed to something else that’s well, not quite so sweary.
You’re trying to vent your frustrations in a text, but when your phone autocorrects f**k to ‘duck’ or s***t to ‘shut’, it just doesn’t quite have the same effect. Plus, it’s annoying having to keep changing it back to the word you really want to say.
After disgruntled iPhone users have been banging on about it, the Apple team have listened and have finally been persuaded to make some changes to the technology that autocorrects.
During the Worldwide Developers Conference 2023 — a big company showcase on exciting things happening in the Apple tech world — Apple’s software chief, Craig Federighi, said they will ensure its users don’t get angrier because of autocorrect.
Craig said: “In those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well, the keyboard will learn it, too.”
According to CNET, the iPhone’s keyboard on iOS 17 uses a transformer model, which OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) uses in their own language models, to learn from what you type on your keyboard to better predict what you might say next, whether it’s a name, phrase or even the odd swear word.
If you’re not happy with a correction, you can tap the underlined word to see what you originally typed and quickly go back to it.
This new-improved feature is expected to be available for beta testing in July before being released to the general public in September.
The upcoming update will no doubt make plenty of people happy to finally have a device that understands them. However, this wasn’t the only big news revealed at the Apple event.
Guests were also shown Apple’s new VR/AR headset.
The new Apple Vision Pro headset — which could easily be mistaken for a pair of expensive looking snorkelling goggles — has a full 3D interface and can be controlled with your hands, eyes and voice.
When you put the headset on, you will see all the apps placed in and around your surroundings.
As if taken straight out of a sci-fi movie, It will feel like having a surrounding floating iPad/MacBook interface where you can switch between apps and tabs, play music and watch films. CEO Tim Cook said: “It’s the first Apple product you look through, and not at.”
You can also switch between augmented and full virtual reality by using a dial. The device uses passthrough video that lets you see the real world in full, while also having the ability to project 3D objects into real space.
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P!NK ‘in love with Manchester’ after celebrating daughter’s birthday in the city
‘Manchester – I am so in love with you’
Pop star P!NK has said she is ‘in love with Manchester’ after she celebrated her daughter’s birthday in the city.
The singer-songwriter has been enjoying some time out with her children and entourage while on tour in Bolton this week.
The 43-year-old has chosen Greater Manchester to kick-off her Summer Carnival World Tour at the University of Bolton Stadium on Wednesday and Thursday, June 7th and 8th.
P!NK, whose real name is Alecia Beth Moore Hart, was put to the test at Trafford Park’s Total Ninja attraction, which hosted a party for 12-year-old Willow.
She shared a video showing the youngster tackling the obstacles at the ninja park with her brother Jameson and Pink’s entourage.
Enjoying the fun, it’s clear the popular-American singer has a soft spot for Manchester as she gets set for her upcoming concerts starting tomorrow evening where she’ll be joined by special guests The Script, GAYLE and KidCutUp.
In a post on Instagram, she wrote: “So happy to be back on tour with my babies, the ones I birthed but also the rest of these clowns.
“If I had to choose another profession- it would be so many things. One of those would be party planner. We party.
“Manchester- I am so in love with you. Willow- you are my soul child. Happy 12th. Hard to believe you’re only 12. You rock. Love, your favourite Mama.”
Thousands of followers liked and commented on the post to express how excited they were that she is in Manchester and wished Willow a happy birthday.
One fan typed: “How very exciting that you’re in Manchester now. Can not wait to see you in your opening show for the new tour. I am so excited!!!! Bring on Bolton.”
Another commented: “She looks more like you all the time! Happy Birthday, Willow!!”
A third added: “What a great party, lovely to see an age appropriate fun kids party. Good for you Willow, enjoy being 12.”
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