A MANCHESTER Arena bombing survivor yesterday returned to the city for the first time — for Oasis’s homecoming gig.
Joanne McSorley said that listening to the band had helped her during dark times.
InstagramManchester Arena survivor Joanne McSorley, with Radio 2’s Vernon Kay, has spoken about her return to Manchester to see the Oasis homecoming gig[/caption]
MEN MediaJoanne, 51, of Runcorn, Cheshire, was with her mum to collect her two daughters when she was caught in the suicide blast[/caption]
GettyThe band’s hit Don’t Look Back in Anger became an anthem of hope for Joanne and the city after the 2017 terror attack[/caption]
And she told how their 1996 No1 Don’t Look Back In Anger became an anthem for her and the city after the terrorist atrocity which killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande gig in 2017.
Joanne, 51, of Runcorn, Cheshire, was with her mum to collect her two daughters when she was caught in the suicide blast.
She still battles chronic pain and depression as a result of the injuries she suffered.
Yesterday, she travelled to the city centre for the first time since that night to join DJ Vernon Kay on his BBC Radio 2 morning show celebrating the reunion of Liam and Noel Gallagher.
Joanne, who was at the band’s Heaton Park gig last night, told him: “Today is special.
“Oasis are, and always have been, huge and they’d always meant something to us anyway as a family.
“And then those songs, Don’t Look Back In Anger, Live Forever, became sort of anthems of Manchester and I looked at them in a different way then.
“Being involved in something like that and the way it affects you, the domino effect it has on your family, it takes you to a very dark place.”
Joanne said that during her lowest moments, her brother would send her Oasis lyrics or videos to cheer her up. And she revealed how overwhelming her return to Manchester had been.
But Joanne said: “I put myself in the moment, be here now.”
Vernon quipped: “Be here now, don’t look back in anger and enjoy the sunshiiiine.”
And Joanne reckoned: “Don’t look back in anger, I’m not doing that, I’m looking forward and they’re on this journey with me, they’re taking me forward, they’re right there beside me.”
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