Last week, on December 14, Ariana Grande announced her 2019 tour dates – with an accompanying Instagram post alluding to a ‘special show’ in Manchester.
It has been over a year since Ariana returned to our city for the One Love Manchester concert, following the terrorist attack that killed 22 people in the arena. The concert was masterfully thrown together in act of pure resilience that embodied the nature of the city perfectly.
Ariana performed alongside Katy Perry, The Black Eyed Peas, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Take That, Pharrell Williams, Marcus Mumford, Niall Horan, Little Mix, Victoria Monet, Imogen Heap, the late Mac Miller and our personal favourite, Liam Gallagher.
Ariana pulled the concert together 13 days after the attack, and somehow managed to coerce Liam Gallagher into performing alongside Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who he’s devoted his entire life to slagging off, so she’s pretty much superwoman in our eyes.
With this in mind, we were already pretty excited to see her return to the city, even before she posted to her Instagram story saying:
Sweetener World Tour. Manchester isn’t on this initial list because we’re planning a special show. We need a bit more time getting things together before we can announce that date but we are, of course, coming and we love you.
So while the rest of the European leg of her tour has been announced, including shows in London, Sheffield, Birmingham and Glasgow, the details of this show in Manchester are yet to be divulged, but we’re certain it’s going to be something pretty spectacular.
Update: 1st March 2019
Ariana Grande has announced that she will be headlining Manchester Pride Live this summer, 23rd-26th August.
In previous years Manchester Pride has been a weekend long celebration of the LGBT+ community, comprising of festival style events that are spread across the city. This year, we’ll see this as well as the introduction of Manchester Pride Live, which will take place at Mayfield in Piccadilly.
The ‘honorary Mancunian’ will perform a selection of songs from her Sweetener World Tour for a crowd of 9,000 in the iconic outdoor outdoor performance space The Yard.
Manchester Pride CEO, Mark Fletcher, said: This year marks a big change for the festival as it continues to evolve. Previously we had one event running over the weekend and this year we have two, each with a distinct offering. At Manchester Pride Live we’re truly honoured to be welcoming Ariana back to the city to help us celebrate LGBT+ life. My team and I have worked hard to create a diverse lineup of performers who will join her in helping us continue to make a difference to the lives of LGBT+ people and celebrate the unity that exists in our brilliant city.”
Though the artist has reportedly faced some backlash for headlining pride as a heterosexual cisgender, she insists that she’s excited to ‘put on a show that makes [her] LGBTQ fans feel special and celebrated and supported.’ She also notes that she looks forward to visiting the city that ‘means so much to [her]’.
Check back here, we’ll keep you in the loop with live updates.
