LOS ANGELES | Ariana Grande has suspended her concert tour after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at her performance in Manchester, England, the U.S. pop singer’s representatives said on Wednesday.
Grande had been scheduled to perform two shows at London’s O2 arena this week as part of her “Dangerous Woman” tour. Both shows have been canceled, as well as performances through June 5, her record label said in a statement.
“Due to the tragic events in Manchester the Dangerous Woman tour with Ariana Grande has been suspended until we can further assess the situation and pay our proper respects to those lost,” the statement said. “Our way of life has once again been threatened but we will overcome this together.”
Grande was scheduled to perform at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on August 21.
British-born Salman Abedi, 22, blew himself up on Monday night at the packed Manchester Arena at the end of Grande’s concert, attended by thousands of children and teenagers, killing 22 people and injuring 64.
His victims included an 8-year-old girl, several teenage girls, a 28-year-old man and a Polish couple who had come to collect their daughters.
Grande, 23, was unharmed, but tweeted in the aftermath that she was “broken.” She was reported to be back in the United States on Tuesday, seen walking down the steps of a private plane at an airport in Florida in photographs posted on the Daily Mail website.
Grande, a former Nickelodeon cable TV star who made the transition into a successful solo music career, is known for upbeat pop tracks such as “Problem” and “Break Free,” and was touring in support of her third album, “Dangerous Woman.”
After performing in London in this week, she was scheduled to move on to Belgium on Saturday and then Poland, Germany and Switzerland next week. All of those concerts have been canceled. Concert promoter Live Nation said in a statement that ticket holders will get refunds.
Annalise Gandy, 22, paid 36 pounds ($47) for front-row seats at Grande’s Friday concert at London’s O2 arena, and said that, while the attack was “absolutely terrifying,” she still wanted to attend the singer’s performances.
“If she decided in a few hours that she was going to go ahead with the tour, I would go,” Gandy, who lives in London, said in a telephone interview.
“I would go not only because I paid for those tickets, but because a concert is where people let themselves go and have fun,” she said. “I’m not going to live in fear.”
