A Show of Defiance
On May 22nd 2017. 22 music fans walked into the Manchester Arena to watch Ariana Grande perform. They would never return home.
It was an attack on young people, music fans. In a place where they’d gone to escape the trials and tribulations of daily life. To let their hair down. To sing, to dance, to hug.
The attack in Manchester shook a city and country to its very core.
The age of the people that lost their lives, the manor in which it happened. It almost seemed as if the powers at be were powerless to stop it.
In the aftermath, Manchester united in a beautiful way. Music in the city continued. Courteeners played a gig, just five days after the attack. Their biggest gig to date. At Lancashire County Cricket Club.
In a time where Manchester needed support. The political leaders and powers and be, could not provide what the city needed. It took a song.
A song written by one of the cities most famous sons. Noel Gallagher. The song in question ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger from his former bands second album. ‘What’s the Story Morning Glory.’ Originally released 22 years before the attack.
Written by Noel in Paris in 1995, with certain lines taken from a John Lennon interview and references to his childhood. He didn’t know he was writing a future classic. Upon release it hit the top of the UK’s singles chart and would become a main stay in the Oasis set list.
With a chorus that was made to be sung by thousands of people in Arenas and Stadiums across the globe. It has become one of the universal British anthems. In the catalog of Hey Jude or Heroes.
After what happened in Manchester though, the song took on a new meaning. It became a show of defiance. Following a vigil in St Ann’s Square. A lady broke the silence by beginning to sing this song, the crowd joined in, and in a moment of grief. Manchester sang.
In a city’s time of need, they rallied around a song. The words of the royal family, politicians, leaders didn’t matter. Manchester rallied around Don’t Look Back in Anger. Led by one extraordinary lady.
The song became an anthem for defiance. Noel himself said “Our people rallied around that song, in the days after the terrorist attack in Manchester. The politicians words, the Queen’s words mean nothing that girl decided to bring everyone together by singing that song.”
“I have very mixed emotions about it. I felt proud that I was connected to it somehow and then so sad that it was happening at all.”
‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ has become an anthem of defiance, a song that united a city. Uplifting yet melancholic. A song that was about a young girl, toasting her life. Looking back with no regrets. To a song that brought together a city that was coming to terms with a tragedy.
I watched Noel sing this song at the reopening of the Manchester Arena. It seemed fitting that he would headline the opening show. Hearing that song sung in that room. Is a moment that will stick with me forever. That song means so much to people, from the people who were there in 95 when it came out, to the people finding Oasis now. To the city of Manchester, and its people. To everyone who was and still continues to be affected by what happened 7 years ago. Music is so important, and its impact cannot be understated.
In Memory of John Atkinson, Courtney Boyle, Phillip Tron, Kelly Brewster, Georgina Callander, Olivia Campbell-Hardy, Liam Curry, Chloe Rutherford, Wendy Fawell, Martyn Hett, Alison Howe, Lisa Lees, Megan Hurley, Nell Jones, Michelle Kiss, Angelika Kiss, Marcin Klis, Sorrell Leczkowski, Eilidh MacLeod, Elaine McIver, Saffie Rose Roussos, Jane Tweedle
For anyone affected by what happened on the 22nd May 2017, and for the city of Manchester.
Thank you for reading.