Image via Wikimedia Commons
Manchester Arena is on its way back. The stadium, at which a terrorist attack after an Ariana Grande concert claimed 22 lives on 22 May, is due to re-open on 9 September. Since that horrific day in May, it has been closed for repairs to the damage done during the incident, but will open for business once again with We Are Manchester: benefit concert led by the city's own Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Courteeners, and Blossoms (Gallagher, now infamously, was criticised by his brother for not playing at the original benefit concert hosted by Ariana Grande.) They'll also be joined by Rick Astley, poet Tony Walsh, and DJ Clint Boon, and it's said that more acts will be announced later.The show will serve as a benefit to fund the effort to construct a permanent memorial to the victims of the attack in the city. The deputy leader of Manchester Council Sue Murphy said of the plans:
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The announcement follows the news that the families of the victims of the attack will receive a sum of £250,000 – via a payment to each victim's next of kin – from the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund, which was set up soon after the incident. So far, the fund's final sum has not been calculated, though it is known that Grande's One Love Manchester benefit concert in June raised £2 million.Follow Noisey on Twitter."We welcome the re-opening of the Arena, a major venue which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors, as a powerful symbol of this defiant and resilient spirit. It is entirely fitting that the re-opening event should be a memorial fundraiser. Plans for the form and location of any permanent commemorations will be determined in liaison with the families of victims and others affected by the attack."