Ariana Grande’s One Love Manchester concert for the victims of a May 22 terrorist attack will be seen in 40 countries, streamed across multiple digital platforms and broadcast on ABC in the U.S. and the BBC in England.
Organizers say 140,000 fans tried to purchase tickets to the June 4 benefit concert led by Ariana Grande which will include performances by Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams, Take That, Little Mix, Robbie Williams and Black Eyed Peas.
In total 45,000 tickets to the festival were sold and the event generated about $2.6 million in sales and could potentially raise millions more from viewers at home. Tickets were priced at £40 (about $51) and when they went on sale Thursday morning, the event sold out in 6 minutes.
Another 14,200 tickets are being held for fans who attended Ariana Grande’s May 22 concert at Manchester Arena, where a suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured more than 100. Ticketmaster issued a statement Friday asking fans to be patient as it tried to sort through applications for the tickets. About 10,000 false ticket claims were made by people who weren’t at the concert, slowing the verification identification, according to a statement from Ticketmaster.
"More than 25,000 people applied for them. Sadly, over 10,000 unscrupulous applications have been made,” the statement read, noting that despite the delay about 12,000 ticket-holders from the show had been identified.
“We are doing everything we can,” the statement reads, "to ensure that tickets go to the actual fans and not the opportunists or touts who have also been applying for free tickets.” While some tickets have popped up on resale sites with big markups, four online ticket marketplaces -- Get Me In, Seatwave, Viagogo and StubHub -- have agreed not to allow sellers to list tickets for One Love Manchester.
The three-hour concert will be broadcast in its entirety on Ariana Grande’s Facebook page and YouTube channel starting at 7 p.m. BST (11 a.m. PST or 1 p.m. EST).
BBC is the host network for international broadcasts of the concert, which will be transmitted to 40 countries across five continents. In the U.S., ABC will air a one-hour highlight special of the concert on Sunday night following Game 2 of the NBA Finals. ABC's young adult channel Freeform will air the benefit concert live in its entirety. Apple, iHeart Media, BBC Radio and TMC France are also broadcasting the full concert.
Viewers will be encouraged to make donations via SMS text message and all proceeds will go to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund set up by the Manchester City Council and the British Red Cross. Earlier today Universal Music Group announced it was donating $500,000 to Manchester victims and Uber officials said the rideshare app will make a donation equal to all Uber fares taken to and from the One Love Manchester concert.
The June 4 concert at the cricket stadium at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester will be produced by Live Nation subsidiary Festival Republic and Simon Moran's SJM Concerts.
To learn more, visit onelovemanchester.com
