Industry News

Emirates Old Trafford announces arrival on global stage with One Love Manchester concert

Emirates Old Trafford on Sunday night announced its presence on the global live music scene as 50,000 people attended the One Love Manchester pop concert.

The concert was held in memory of the 22 people that were killed during a terrorist attack at the Manchester Arena on May 22 following an Ariana Grande concert.

Emirates Old Trafford is the home of Lancashire County Cricket Club and will later this year host a Test match between England and South Africa.

The venue has been praised for its security operations during last night’s event, which attracted millions of viewers both in the UK and around the world.

Police officers and security guards were seen dancing with young fans during the concert, which, along with Ariana Grande, featured the likes of Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Coldplay, Miley Cyrus and Little Mix. Former Oasis frontman and Manchester-born rockstar Liam Gallagher also made a surprise appearance at the end of the night.

The concert also took place just hours after 70,000 fans turned out at the nearby Old Trafford football ground for Manchester United player Michael Carrick’s testimonial match.

There is to be a special (de-)briefing speaker session on the venue operations behind the One Love Manchester concert on Thursday 22 June at Croke Park, Dublin, as part of TheStadiumBusiness Summit. The session will be led by Emirates Old Trafford’s Operations Director, and Manchester United FC’s Director of Venue Operations.

Meanwhile, people who falsely applied for free tickets to the One Love Manchester event could be investigated by the police.

Ticketmaster set aside free tickets for the 14,200 people who were at last month’s Manchester Arena concert but more than 25,000 people applied for tickets to last night’s all-star gig.

A chief superintendent at Greater Manchester Police said the force was working with Ticketmaster to see what action could be brought against some of the 10,000 people who made “unscrupulous applications”, the Daily Mirror reported.

While it is unclear what offence the claimants had committed, Stuart Ellison said: “That is a matter we are exploring with the promoter. These lines are being worked through with the promoter.”

In a statement released today, Ticketmaster said 50,000 people attended the event, with more than £10m ($12.9m/€11.4m) having been raised for an appeal to raise money for the victims and their families.