Lady Gaga, Coldplay and more stage U.K. charity concert

Lady Gaga, Coldplay and Michael Buble were among the artists who took to the stage in Manchester, England on Thursday night (17Nov11) to raise money for a U.K. children's charity.

Take That star Gary Barlow organised the Children In Need stage spectacular at the MEN Arena, and his hard work paid off when more than 20,000 fans descended on the venue for the show.

New band The Collective - made up of famous faces including Chipmunk, Tinchy Stryder and N-Dubz frontwoman Tulisa Contostavlos - kicked off the concert with a rendition of first single Teardrop, which is this year's (11) official track to support the charity.

They were followed by Lady Gaga, who urged fans to donate cash to the cause during a rendition of her track Born This Way.

She told the crowd, "Come on, let's raise some money. Put your hands up and jump for all the children."

Kelly Rowland, actor/singer Hugh Laurie, pop star Jessie J and rockers Elbow also performed during the evening, which was hosted by British actor David Tennant and Radio 1 DJs Chris Moyles and Fearne Cotton.

Barlow later took to the stage to perform Take That hit Back For Good and told the audience, "Thank you all so much for coming along tonight and tuning in at home. I want to say a big thank you from me to all the artists for being so generous with their time and effort to make Children In Need Rocks Manchester amazing."

Coldplay rounded off the night's entertainment by performing a string of their hits, including latest single Paradise.

The concert came just a day before Children In Need's annual BBC telethon on Friday (18Nov11).