Ariana Grande to return to Manchester for Pride performance

Ariana Grande will return to Manchester to headline the city’s Pride event in August, two years after a terror attack at her concert. 

The singer will perform at a new 9,000-capacity outdoor venue at an old railway depot as part of the LGBT+ event, in her first show in the city since her One Love Manchester concert.

The charity event, featuring stars including Liam Gallagher and Justin Bieber, was organised less than two weeks after a suicide bomb at her Manchester Arena show killed 22 people in 2017.

Grande recently told fans she would be playing a “special show” in Manchester as part of her Sweetener World Tour, but did not announce details.

She revealed last year she had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since the attack and did not think she would ever be able to talk about it without crying.

She admitted she found her PTSD “hard to talk about” as “so many people have suffered such severe, tremendous loss”.

The 25-year-old US star was given honorary citizenship of Manchester by the city’s council after the bombing.

The Pride concert at Mayfield Depot will see her return to Manchester alongside Years and Years and 80s girl group Bananarama.

Organiser Mark Fletcher said: “At Manchester Pride Live we’re truly honoured to be welcoming Ariana back to the city to help us celebrate LGBT+ life.”

Grande’s Sweetener tour starts in the US next month and will reach the UK in August, with shows in London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Sheffield.

The star urged fans on Sunday to bring clear bags to the shows for security reasons, saying she wanted everything to “go as smoothly and safely as possible”.

Grande won a Brit Award in the international female solo artist category last week, and is currently both number one and two in the UK singles chart.

Manchester Pride recently faced backlash for raising ticket prices to £71 for a weekend pass, up from £30 the previous year.

(c) Sky News 2019: Ariana Grande to return to Manchester for Pride performance