Ariana Grande's encore performance may have saved lives. Photo / AP
Ariana Grande's encore performance may have saved lives. Photo / AP
Ariana Grande's encore performance at Manchester Arena may have saved lives before terrorist Salman Abedi detonated a homemade nail-bomb.
The US singer is reportedly "blaming herself" after Monday night's horrific blast which claimed the lives of 22 people, including an eight-year-old girl, and injured 119.
But Annemarie McNally, who was at the UK venue with her 13-year-old daughter, said Grande's encore performance of Dangerous Woman may have prevented further deaths.
"If Ariana had not done an encore I'm sure more people would have been in the foyer where the bomb went off and more people would have been injured," she told The Daily Star.
Grande is said to be "devastated" and "inconsolable" over the bombing, according to RadarOnline, as she landed back in LA where she was greeted by her boyfriend, Mac Miller.
Flowers laid beneath Cobden statue in St Ann's Square in Manchester to mourn victims of the bomb attack. Photo / Regan Schoultz
She has also cancelled several dates from her tour, including her London O2 shows and some in Switzerland. Live Nation said ticketholders will receive refunds.
Following the attack, she tweeted she was "broken" and added: "From the bottom of my heart, I am so so sorry. I don't have words."
It comes amid reports Grande offered to pay for the funeral expenses of the bombing victims. Grande reportedly spoke to the families of the victims to offer her support. However, this claim has not been verified. It was first reported on a fan Twitter feed.
As Grande arrived back in the US, her drummer told of the moment the bomb detonated as they were on their way to their dressing room.
Speaking to Fox News, Aaron Spears told of the "heartbreaking" moment they realised a bomb had gone off in the venue and said the "painful memory will live with us all forever".
He said: "We finished the show and we were walking back to our dressing rooms and boom! We could hear people, we had no idea what it was ... there was all kinds of speculation as to what was going on."
He continued: "Like five minutes after getting to the room, security came in and informed us that we had to evacuate the building immediately."
Spears said the band were all safe and were evacuated within seconds of the bomb going off.
"It was then that we realised this was serious. Initially we thought that the sound was all kinds of things but it didn't hit that this was a bomb until we were evacuated and they told us exactly what was going on," he said.
