Why Manchester will never stop celebrating its music
Your first concert. You know what it was. You know how you felt. You bought the tickets months in advance. It was a challenge. You felt so lucky you got them. You tallied up the thousands of hours you were going to wait upon to finally see your heroes in the flesh.
You picked out the perfect outfit. You changed your mind about it. You weren't sure how best to wear your hair. You planned out every element of the evening: which friend to take, what to pack in your bag, how you were going to get home.
It was teenage girls who were the target here, girls who just wanted to have a break from homework, who wanted to feel cooler for having seen their favourite popstar sing their favourite songs
Your first concert felt like it lasted a week. It was filled with new sensations you'd never experienced. The sound was louder than you anticipated. It rumbled in your belly. You didn't know that was possible. Your first concert was such a joy, it was kinda like the best holiday ever. You wanted to go to another one, asap.
I imagine that a lot of the kids who went to see Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena on Monday night were at their first concert because that's a large proportion of Ariana Grande's audience: kids, teenagers, girls.
As if teenage girls don't have enough to be frightened of in this world that they now have to be fearful of terrorists, too.
Whenever terrorism strikes, there are those who insist on describing the acts as “senseless”. To rationalise them is to play into the hands of fear, to attempt to see ask 'why?' is to let them win.
Explosion at Ariana Grande concert in Manchester: in pictures
It's hard, however, to steer yourself from trying to comprehend why such heinous acts of evil are happening. If a human being is capable of this, you feel a duty, or at least a curiosity, as part of the same race to understand what on earth could possess them. What is the point being made here? Why is music a target – and not just any music, but the music of largely teenage female fans?
Manchester: a city of rain, a city of curry, a city of music. Manchester is a city that has seen acts of terror. Manchester, as it did after the IRA bombings in 1996, will strengthen its resolve in the face of this tragedy. Manchester, a city that is married to its own and the rest of the world's musical heritage, will not stop celebrating its history and its future because of this incident.
The city of Manchester, you can be assured, will find the inner strength to eventually come out from under such a horribly dark day
Without Manchester, music wouldn't be where it is. I went to Manchester at the age of 17 to become a lawyer, and left with such an enriched musical obsession I canned my degree for a life as a music journalist. Night after night, Manchester is the epicentre of pop, indie, dance, reggae, and more. It beats to the constant rhythm of some kind of din at whatever time of day. Thankfully, there's always a kebab available to refuel tired dancing feet.
Manchester is Oasis. Manchester is The 1975. Manchester is The Chemical Brothers. Manchester is Elbow. Manchester is 808 State. Manchester is Take That. Manchester is The Stone Roses. Manchester is The Fall. Manchester is Joy Division. Manchester is The Smiths. Manchester was once The Hacienda. Manchester is not going to quit on itself. Not because of this.
The city of Manchester, you can be assured, will find the inner strength to eventually come out from under such a horribly dark day. But what of those teenage girls? Those teenage girls are not cast with concrete pavements, they're not inhabited by a community of stoic Mancunians, they've not weathered centuries of endless precipitation, they weren't built to put out a fire.
A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) on May 18, 2017 at 3:21pm PDT
It was teenage girls who were the target here, girls who just wanted to have a break from their homework, girls who wanted to feel cooler for having seen their favourite popstar sing their favourite pop songs, girls who had finally convinced their parents to let them go to their first concert.
Your first concert is supposed to be magical and overwhelming and life-assuring. It's supposed to be where you find your people. Your first concert is supposed to be your safe haven, your escape, and often your salvation. For a teenage girl, the value of that cannot be overstated.
