Jason Aldean: ‘Not a day goes by’ that he doesn’t think of Oct. 1

The performer who was onstage during the Oct. 1, 2017, shootings at Route 91 Harvest festival has recognized the tragedy’s second anniversary.

Country superstar Jason Aldean posted a Route 91 Harvest festival logo with angel’s wings with ROUTE 91 WARRIOR 10-01-2017 and his message, “This will always be a tough day for us. Not a day goes by that we don’t think about our @Route91Harvest family.”

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This is part of an ongoing series observing the two-year anniversary of the Oct. 1, 2017, shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. See all of our coverage here.

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Aldean had just started playing “When She Says Baby” when the shooting broke out, killing 58 concertgoers and wounding more than 800. Aldean, who has reviewed a Las Vegas residency for years prior to the Oct. 1 events, is back in December. He will headline a ticketed show — his first in Las Vegas since he headlined Route 91 — on Dec. 6, 7 and 8 at Park Theater at Park MGM. The show is dubbed “Ride All Night.”

Aldean was most recently on stage in Las Vegas in April at the Academy of Country Music Awards show at MGM Grand Garden Arena, when he received the prestigious ACM Artist of the Decade Award.

During an interview prior to the iHeartRadio Music Festival in September 2018, Aldean recalled the tragedy and its aftermath.

“For us, it’s sort of been a daily thing. Every night in our meet-and-greets, we meet new fans who were here,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve played a show this year where we haven’t had survivors come out to the show. I feel we do that on a daily basis, not just as the anniversary’s coming up.”

Live Nation officials have said they want to return Route 91 to the Strip, offering no time line. MGM Resorts International officials have said the site would be the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. Route 91 likely would not be the event’s formal title, but the festival would be honored in some way at the venue.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.