On Friday night, Jason Aldean, the much-loved American country singer, returned for his first performance in Las Vegas, Nev., since the fatal concert shooting that took place there during his Oct. 1, 2017 set.
The 42-year-old’s show at the once-annual Route 91 Harvest Music Festival was cut short when a gunman opened fire on thousands of festivalgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel.
In total, 58 people were killed and more than 400 were injured.
Aldean paid his respects to the victims of the mass shooting and their families over the weekend as he returned for a three-night stint on his critically acclaimed Ride All Night tour at Park MGM’s Park Theater.
“We got a lot of people in the crowd tonight who are family to us, so welcome out everybody from Route 91,” Aldean said to the crowd on Friday night, according to Billboard.
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“It’s good to be back here in Las Vegas,” he continued. “This is our first show back, and make no mistake about it tonight: we came back to blow it out for you guys tonight, all right?”
Before kicking off a 24-song set, Aldean said: “Let’s finish what we started, what y’all think?”
The You Make It Easy singer ended the gig with a cover of Tom Petty’s Won’t Back Down as well as his 2012 smash hit When She Says Baby, which was the last song he played at the Route 91 Festival in 2017 before it was cut short by the attack.
Later on, the country icon reposted a video from the show on his Instagram page that showed a man in a wheelchair crowdsurfing during Aldean’s performance of Any Ol’ Barstool.
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The man — who was visibly overjoyed — donned a Route 91 festival T-shirt and held the American flag high.
In response to the video, Aldean wrote: “This might have been the coolest thing I have ever seen.
“Thank you Las Vegas and our Route 91 family for showing us the love this weekend.”
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