Ariana Grande’s Manchester Benefit Concert Sold Out In Six Minutes, Scalpers Already Making A Fortune

Ariana Grande made a vow to return to Manchester after the horrific bombing, that ISIS has claimed responsibility for, that has killed 22 people and wounded roughly 119. She has made good on that promise by organizing a concert to benefit the family’s of the victims and those who have been wounded in the attack, which will take place this Saturday, June 4.

Tickets for the concert, dubbed “One Love Manchester” sold out within minutes after they went on sale this morning at 10 a.m. British Standard Time (BST). It took exactly six minutes for every seat to be gone, but those who weren’t able to score a ticket can still catch it. The concert, which features Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Niall Horan, Katy Perry, British band Take That, Usher, and Pharrell Williams, and of course, Ariana Grande, will also be broadcast on television and streamed online so fans all over the world can pay their tributes.

Those who were at Ariana Grande’s original Dangerous Woman performance on the night of May 22 are invited to attend the performance free of charge as a special guest. They were able to register this morning if they felt up to attending.

Tickets were sold at a reasonable £40, which is about $52 USD. It is estimated that this was raised $2.6 million for the families and victims, which is pretty unreal.

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Ariana Grande was heavily criticized by British chat show host Piers Morgan for fleeing the country the day after the attack. When Katy Perry commented that it was sweet of the Queen to visit those still in the hospital after the bombing, Piers stated that Ariana should have been there to visit them as well. He was not very sympathetic to the idea that the young singer might have been traumatized herself from the event and stated that if they paid to see her, she could take the time to see them. However, he retracted his slam after stating that Ariana Grande’s return to Manchester was “the right thing to do.”

Although this concert shows an amazing effort for the city of Manchester, in addition to the music industry coming together to support the victims of this horrible atrocity, unfortunately, scalpers are already making a profit off of the event.

According to some media outlets, scalpers are selling tickets for as much as 2000 percent more than the original cost of £40 to those who were unable to click fast enough to get their tickets.

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One fan on Twitter showed a picture of a person attempting to sell a ticket for £800, which is roughly 20 times the original cost of a ticket. The scalper claimed that the money would be going to charity, but it is more than likely that the money would be going straight into the scalper’s pocket.

EBay has taken a stand against people attempting to resell tickets to the One Love Manchester concert.

The company’s UK branch made a statement on their site.

“Please do not attempt to sell #OneLoveManchester tickets on our site. We are actively removing all listings & restricting sellers who try to,” they wrote.

Those who are not able to attend the concert are still able to donate to the British Red Cross’ Manchester Emergency Fund which goes directly to the victims and their families.

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It is unclear if the concert will also produce an album or a recording that will be for sale to the benefit of the victims, but it would be a nice gesture if that did occur.

Ariana Grande stated in a letter she shared on Twitter that music was meant to heal us, and she hopes to do that this weekend.

“Music is something that everyone on Earth can share. Music is meant to heal us, to bring us together, to make us happy. So that is what it will continue to do for us.

We will continue in honor of the ones we lost, their loved ones, my fans and all affected by this tragedy,” she wrote.

[Featured Image by Dave Kotinsky/Stringer/Getty Images]