Children were the target. We must fight this evil

WHEN Ariana Grande finished her last song and ecstatic children came pouring out the doors to hug their parents, a monster blew them up, writes Kathy McCabe.

ONE adorable Arianator probably badgered her mother for an extended ponytail for the Ariana Grande concert, just like her pop idol.

Another cute teenager and friends possibly argued for days over which cat ears headband to wear.

Others knew they were pushing their luck asking mum and dad for some extra cash to buy a tour T-shirt.

About 20,000 Ariana Grande fans had waited for this night at Manchester Arena since they secured tickets to the UK leg of her Dangerous Woman world tour back in October.

For many of those precious pop princesses, it would be their very first concert.

You can imagine their excitement as they sang along to her every hit in the car, the bedroom, the school playground, practising for the crowd karaoke at the gig.

They knew every single lyric, even the naughty ones mum would prefer you didn’t know. From Problem with Iggy Azalea and Bang Bang with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj to her all-grown-up sexy-time tunes Dangerous Woman, Into You and Side To Side.

Alongside the teens and tweens whose piercing screams would rival the LOUD sound system was the other camp of Arianators, the gay men who dance all weekend to her bass-heavy dance pop.

Music is the great leveller, it brings people together. Sport will divide an audience in half and politics fractures humanity into smaller fractions.

But a live concert is one of those rare gatherings of tens of thousands of people where almost everyone agrees.

Evil lurked outside this joyous communion. A soulless monster with a bomb stood beside the parents waiting for their shiny, happy daughters and sons to emerge from their wonderful night out.

Police have confirmed children are among the 22 people dead. (Pic Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

And when Grande finished the last song and those ecstatic children came pouring out the doors to tell their mum and dad all about it, the monster blew them up.

“This incident, this attack, is especially vile, especially criminal, especially horrific because it appears to have been deliberately directed at teenagers,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said.

“This is an attack on innocence. Surely there is no crime more reprehensible than the murder of children.”

For music fans, their idols and the men and women in the concert business, this is their worst nightmare.

Terrorists are increasingly targeting concerts and clubs where people congregate to celebrate with music. The Bataclan theatre in Paris during an Eagles of Death Metal show in 2015, the Pride nightclub in Orlando, Florida in 2016 and Reina nightclub in Istanbul in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2017.

A night that should have been pure joy ended in terror. (P: Joel Goodman/LNP)

Now in Manchester in May 2017, the monster has targeted children. This is an evil which hurts all over. Your heart is broken for the lives lost and ruined by a homemade bomb and your head hurts trying to process why anyone would blow up pop fans at an Ariana Grande concert.

Musicians are worried. They do not want to put the lives of their fans in jeopardy.

“Every musician feels sick & responsible tonight — shows should be safe for you. Truly a worst nightmare. Sending love to Manchester & Ari,” posted 20-year-old pop singer Lorde.

But the show must go on. We have to keep going to gigs.

Security will be beefed up at venues, big and small, and it will take you longer to get to your seats and the bar as bags are searched and bomb dogs walk up and down the queues trying to sniff out a monster.

Music will not lose its power to unite humans.