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Culture > Entertainment

Survivors of the Manchester Terror Attack That Occurred At Ariana Grande’s Concert Came Together To Sing One Year Later

Kait Wilbur

Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of the terror attack that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena in England. To help survivors find the strength to continue on with their lives and their love of music after experiencing such a traumatizing event, a mass singalong was held at the arena.

Known as Manchester Together-With One Voice, the singalong included a performance by an LGBT choir, a group of emergency service staff, and the Manchester Survivors Choir—an ensemble made up of some of the people who survived the attack. The choir sang a version of Andra Day’s “Rise Up,” just one of the many songs chosen by the performers to highlight their strength during this difficult time of grief.

Take a listen:

Members of the Manchester Survivors choir shared their stories about finding peace through music again, tugging on the heart strings of people all over the world.

The attack had been weighing heavily on Grande herself, looking back a year later. She’d tweeted support to her fans around that time.

She later expressed her support for the singalong and the unity among fans, as the crowd sang together to her song “One Last Time”:

Other notable appearances included Oasis’s Noel Gallagher, who appeared on-screen to introduce the singing of the band’s song “Don’t Look Back In Anger,” which became an anthem of survivors of the attack.

I’m so floored by the unity that people have showed in the wake of such a devastating event. It makes us remember the resilience of everyday people and the good that can exist in this world through the power of music.

Kait Wilbur is an aggressively optimistic individual obsessed with sitcoms, indie music, and pop culture in general. She hails from Manito, a rural wasteland in Illinois so small and devoid of life that she took up writing to amuse herself. Kait goes to Butler University to prepare for a career in advertising, but all she really wants to do is talk about TV for a living. You can find her at any given moment with her earbuds in pretending to do homework but actually looking at surrealist memes.