Entertainment

Ariana Grande's Manchester benefit sells out in minutes, as 'touts' try to get free tickets

Tickets for an all-star benefit concert in aid of the victims of the Manchester bomb attack sold out within minutes of going on sale. But Ticketmaster said thousands of 'opportunists' have been trying to get free tickets to the show.

Coldplay, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams also on the lineup

Tickets for Ariana Grande's upcoming Manchester benefit sold out in mere minutes on Thursday. (Mike Windle/Getty Images)

Tickets for an all-star benefit concert in aid of the victims of the Manchester bomb attack sold out within minutes of going on sale on Thursday. And though fans who attended Grande's previous show are being let in for free, Ticketmaster says thousands of "touts" have applied for these tickets, too.

Sunday's One Love Manchester concert will be headlined by Ariana Grande, the U.S. singer whose concert in the northern English city on May 22 was hit by a suicide bombing that killed 22 people and wounded 116.

Ticketmaster said they put aside 14,200 tickets for people at last week's show, but more than "10,000 unscrupulous applications have been made," claiming to have been at the concert.

"We are doing everything we can ... to ensure that tickets go to the actual fans and not the opportunists or touts who have also been applying for free tickets," the U.K.-arm of the ticket company said in a statement Thursday.

Coldplay, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams, Take That and the Black Eyed Peas will also perform at the 
concert at the Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground. The benefit will be broadcast on British television. 

Proceeds from tickets sold will go to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund set up to aid grieving families and victims of the attack.

In a statement announcing the benefit concert, Grande said she hoped to "honour the ones we lost, their loved ones, my fans and all affected by this tragedy."    

With files from CBC News