​Manchester Attack Survivors Return To Venue To 'Replace Bad Memories With Great Ones'

An 18-year-old took his little sister to Manchester Arena to replace bad memories with 'great ones', just months after they survived the attack at the venue in May.

Max Trobe took his 10-year-old sister to see Little Mix in concert, and shared a touching photo of the pair at the venue on Twitter.

"Tonight I brought my sister back to Manchester Arena for the first time since the Ariana Grande concert, and thanks to Little Mix bad memories were replaced with great ones," he wrote on Twitter.

"People reminded me I didn't have to go if I didn't want to. It was scary but I am so glad I did it," Max says, speaking to the Independent.

"Both Ariana and Little Mix's shows were amazing. I'm just as big a fan as my younger sister! They are each amazing and extremely talented."

Max and his little sister had been caught up in the terrifying chaos at Manchester Arena, after Salman Abedi detonated a homemade bomb that killed 23 people, including the bomber, and injured hundreds more.

"They decided last minute to wait in the car instead, however I didn't know this," Max says.

manchester vigil

A vigil for the Manchester Arena attack, May 2017. Credit: PA

"I told my sister we should go and wait near that exit so that we could be the first ones out, but luckily she convinced me to stay in our seats as they were good ones. When the concert ended I rang my mum to tell her we were going, and that's when the bomb went off.

"It was absolute madness, people were flinging themselves from balconies and screaming hysterically. I couldn't reach the stairs so I kept picking up my sister and getting her over the chairs."

Max feels it's important that anyone feeling nervous about attending a live concert in the future is able to talk about it.

"I have had numerous conversations with so many people about it, and I would personally love to talk to anybody going through this as I can explain how amazing it feels to come out smiling at the other side."

There were many others confronting painful memories in the crowd, with Little Mix attracting a similar fan base to that of Ariana Grande.

However, after the show, Little Mix tweeted to say the concert had been 'incredibly special' and thanked their audience for showing 'nothing but love'.

Topics: Manchester attack, News, Little Mix, Music, Inspirational, Feels, Ariana Grande

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

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