The 1975 lead Manchester tribute at Parklife
Musicians, festival promoters and the mayor of Manchester paid tribute to the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing at Parklife on Saturday 10 May.
Ahead of Saturday headliners The 1975’s set, screens at Heaton Park were lit up with the text ‘We All Stand Together’ and messages of support from several Parklife performers, including DJs Carl Cox and Goldie.
They were followed on the main stage by people who helped the attack’s victims, including paramedics, firemen, nurses and police officers, and festival directors Sacha Lord and Jon Drape. Manchester city councillor Pat Karney started the 15-minute tribute, joined by Manchester’s lord mayor, Carl Austin-Behan, and its elected mayor, Andy Burnham.
Austin-Behan hailed the emergency services, telling the crowd: “All of these people have helped the victims in the arena,” he said. “The police protected us, the fire services protected us, the paramedics protected us. Let’s have a big round of applause…
“Always choose love over hate”
“I want to thank all those people, from the hotels to the taxi companies, the people on twitter, on Facebook, on social media, they opened their doors… The fact that we’re so unique, so inclusive, so diverse, is what Manchester is all about.”
Burnham, meanwhile, implored festivalgoers to “choose love over hate”.
Matt Healy of The 1975 then took the stage, urging the crowd to make a “minute of noise” rather than silence:
The 1975 com o prefeito de Manchester no festival Parklife. pic.twitter.com/eOkviKLnhD
— The 1975 Online 🇧🇷 (@the1975online) June 10, 2017
The eighth Parklife, headlined by The 1975 and Frank Ocean, sold out its daily capacity of 80,000. Other performers included Jess Glynne, London Grammar, Run the Jewels, Stormzy, Two Door Cinema Club and George Ezra.
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