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'Music is meant to heal us': Ariana Grande to return to Manchester for benefit concert

"My heart, prayers and deepest condolences are with the victims of the Manchester Attack and their loved ones," the statement from Grande read. 

 
<p>NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 23: Ariana Grande performs during her "Dangerous Woman" tour at Madison Square Garden on February 23. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Republic Records)</p>

Four days after a British-born suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured 59 others at Ariana Grande's concert in Manchester, England, the singer posted an open letter to her fans, praising them for their resilience and announcing plans for a benefit show.

"I'll be returning to the incredibly brave city of Manchester to spend time with my fans and to have a benefit concert in honor of and to raise money for the victims and their families," she wrote Friday, adding that she would release details once the plans are confirmed.

"I have been thinking of my fans, and of you all, nonstop over the past week," she told fans. "The way you have handled all this has been more inspiring and made me more proud than you'll ever know. The compassion, kindness, love and strength and oneness you've shown one another this past week is the exact opposite of the heinous intentions it must take to pull off something as evil as what happened Monday."

The attack on Manchester Arena was staged by 22-year-old Salman Abedi, a Manchester resident of Libyan descent. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility, though British authorities have not determined whether he was truly associated with them or received any assistance while building his bomb or plotting his crime.

On Wednesday, Grande's management team confirmed to USA TODAY that she was canceling shows through June 5 and resuming the tour in Paris on June 7.

"From the day we started putting the Dangerous Woman Tour together," Grande wrote in her letter, "I said that this show, more than anything else, was intended to be a safe space for my fans. A place for them to escape, to celebrate, to heal, to feel safe and to be themselves. To meet their friends they've met online. To express themselves. This will not change that. When you look into the audience at my shows, you see a beautiful, diverse, pure, happy crowd. Thousands of people, incredibly different, all there for the same sreason: music. This will not change that."

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