The music industry is at its best at times like this

MUSIC can be a great healing force. Let’s hope this weekend’s concert for Manchester will bring joy and togetherness for a suffering city, writes Kerry Parnell.

I hope they hear the music in heaven.

I like to think the soaring melodies from the One Love Manchester concert today will wend their way into the clouds and the victims killed in that terrible tragedy will be singing along in tune.

It is bitterly ironic that the fans who would have most loved this Ariana Grande benefit are those who will not be there: The innocent souls whose light was extinguished because they went to a pop concert.

In fact, I’d imagine many of the young music lovers who were so excited that night to be seeing their idol in person, including eight-year-old Saffie-Rose Roussos, 15-year-old Megan Hurley, 14-year-old Eilidh MacLeod and 15-year-old Olivia Campbell, would be beside themselves that she’s back again alongside such a stellar roll call of names. Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Niall Horan, Coldplay, Pharrell Williams, Black Eyed Peas, Robbie Williams, Usher, Take That and Little Mix have all signed up.

The concert in the Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground, which sold out in 20 minutes on Thursday, will donate all proceeds to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund for the May 22 bombing. Most of the victims’ families are supportive, although some are not and that is understandable.

Ariana Grande is set to return to Manchester after the terrible events of last month. (Pic: Chris Pizzello/AP)

When you suddenly lose a loved one — in this case violently — it feels surreal that life continues for everybody else. The world spins around you oblivious to the seismic shift that has taken place. That can be comforting and confronting — watching people witter on Twitter, hearing them complain about the minutiae of life, can make you want to scream in fury. None of those things matter! Everything has changed! And so seeing fans flock to a mega concert just two weeks after the one that took your child, mother, lover, from you, could be extremely painful to process.

But it’s almost as though the music has to be heard. Those artists, who’ve dropped everything to go to Manchester, are compelled to try to sing away the feeling of senselessness.

Music has long been used in grief therapy — not just for those directly affected, but for the wider community. We look for anthems to embody the pain we’re feeling — from Elton John’s Candle in the Wind for Marilyn Monroe and then Princess Diana, to Mancunians now spontaneously singing Oasis’ Don’t Look Back in Anger. Who can forget 2009’s Sound Relief concerts where Midnight Oil roared out Beds Are Burning for the bushfire and flood appeals.

“Making music together in large groups has been shown to have many benefits on our emotional wellbeing,” says Dr Grace Thompson, National President of the Australian Music Therapy Association. “These benefits include increased feelings of inclusion, connectivity and positive emotions. Sharing and expressing feelings with others in a creative and constructive way through music helps alleviate the sense of stress and worry that is often part of people’s experience of grief.”

Singing together releases endorphins, which makes us feel better. But it has also been proven to increase social bonding — researchers say it activates our “theory of mind” — the part of our brain that improves empathy and social cohesion.

So sing loud today, Manchester, sing so both this world and the next one, can hear.