What happened during Ariana Grande's 2017 Manchester concert? Tragic event killed 22 concertgoers

On May 22, 2017, Ariana Grande was in Manchester, England, for the European leg of her ongoing Dangerous Woman world tour. As soon as the Positions singer completed her final song on stage in the Manchester Arena - which was her concert's venue - an attacker detonated an explosive in the Arena, which ended up taking the lives of 22 concert-goers and injured hundreds, per BBC.

The attack was dubbed to be the worst act of terrorism in Britain since the London metro bombings in 2005. In the unfortune incident 12 years later, Saffie Roussus, an 8-year-old girl from Lancashire, became the youngest victim of the attack.

Ariana Grande, who was still on stage, remained physically unharmed by the explosion and was ushered to safety immediately.

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The Attacker of the Ariana Grande concert bombing in Manchester was on MI5's radar in 2014

Soon after the tragic Manchester bombing took place, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, and the name of Salman Abedi was revealed as the attacker. Abedi was a 22-year-old native of Manchester with a Libyan descent, according to AP news.

While Salman was recognized by the British security service, he had no associations with any active terrorist investigation, especially at the time of the bombing. AP News also revealed that three years ago, Abedi was once on the radar of MI5 officials as a "subject of interest". However, because he was deemed to be "low risk," his case was closed soon after 2014.

Hashem Abedi, his younger brother, 20, was also linked to the incident, with evidence revealing that he had helped Abedi carry the plan out. In March 2020, BBC reported that Hashem had been proved guilty of murdering 22 people in the Manchester Arena incident.

Ken McCallum, the director-general of MI5, expressed his regret at not being able to prevent the tragedy from happening. He said:

"Gathering covert intelligence is difficult, but had we managed to seize the slim chance we had, those impacted might not have suffered such appalling loss and trauma."

Sir John Saunders, the judge and chairman of the MI5 investigation in the wake of the bombing, said in his 207-page report:

"The delay in providing the report led to the missing of an opportunity to take a potentially important investigative action. Based on everything that the security service knew or should have known, I am satisfied that such an investigative action would have been a proportionate and justified step to take."

According to BBC, the investigation also concluded that the whole Abedi family held "significant responsibility" for the radicalization of the brothers.

Earlier in 2024, over 250 survivors filed a lawsuit against Britain's domestic intelligence agency, BBC reported in April. The lawsuits of the survivors were submitted as a group claim by lawyers of three different firms, to the UK's Investigatory Power Tribunal (IPT).

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Ariana Grande held a benefit concert to help the survivors of the Manchester bombing in 2017

As a new investigation into the bombing has opened in the wake of the lawsuits filed this year, Ariana Grande had attempted to help the survivors of the attack in her own way, back in 2017. In less than a month after the bombing, Grande put together a benefit concert - One Love Manchester - to raise funds for the survivors and families of victims of the attack.

The concert was held at Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Stadium on June 4, 2017, and was aired live on many global platforms, including ABC, BBC, Apple Music, Twitter, YouTube, iHeartRadio, and more. Despite the 7 Rings singer's initial nervousness about attendance, the tickets for the concert were sold out within minutes, with around 55,000 people attending it. Those who were present at the Manchester Arena on the day of the bombing had free access to it.

Ariana Grande was joined by many other celebrities who were there to support her and perform in the concert, including Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Coldplay, and more.

The late Mac Miller, Grande's boyfriend at the time, was also there by her side. Towards the end of the concert, Liam Gallagher made a surprise appearance. One Love Manchester contributed significantly to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund that had been set up to support the families of victims and survivors of the tragedy. The concert, along with donations from the public, ended up raising over $23 million in funds, according to the official page of Grammy Awards. In the wake of it, the city of Manchester also named Ariana Grande an honorary citizen.