In May 2017, he came to wider attention for delivering his poem "This Is the Place" to the crowds gathered in Albert Square in central Manchester on 23 May for the public vigil following the bomb attack at the Manchester Arena. His performance was described as "the perfect symbol of the pride, passion and defiance of Manchester's people". The poem had been commissioned in 2013, by the charity Forever Manchester. He later read the poem at the One Love Manchester Concert, held in benefit of the attack's victims and their families. It was discussed alongside poems written about earlier atrocities committed in Manchester, including "The Masque of Anarchy" by Percy Bysshe Shelley, on BBC Radio 4's "Front Row" on 24 May 2017.