Jason Aldean Performs “I Won’t Back Down” on SNL–A Moving Tribute the Victims of the Las Vegas Shooting & Tom Petty

Just days ago, Jason Aldean was per­form­ing on stage in Las Vegas when bul­lets start­ed reign­ing down, killing 58 con­cert­go­ers and wound­ing hun­dreds. Tonight, he opened Sat­ur­day Night Live with a poignant tribute–both to the vic­tims of the mas­sacre and rock­er Tom Pet­ty, who passed away ear­li­er this week.

Above, watch Aldean sing Pet­ty’s defi­ant 1989 anthem, “I Won’t Back Down.” Remem­ber the lives lost to sense­less vio­lence. Pray that we’ll even­tu­al­ly care enough, as a nation, to do some­thing about it. Think about music’s abil­i­ty to restore the soul. And thank SNL for ris­ing to yet anoth­er impor­tant occa­sion. 

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