Country singer Jason Aldean credits his return to the stage with helping him work through his grief following the Las Vegas shooting massacre last month (Oct17).
The Burnin' It Down hitmaker was onstage at the outdoor Route 91 Harvest music festival on 1 October when gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire on the audience, killing 58 people and injuring over 500 more.
Aldean and his crew managed to escape unharmed, and he cancelled three tour dates in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy so he could spend some time with his loved ones and try and collect his thoughts.
"We... didn't have a lot of time to process it (the shooting)," he told U.S. breakfast show Today. "We flew back home, I wanted to see my daughters and my family..."
He resumed his trek in Tulsa, Oklahoma less than two weeks later, and Jason admits getting back onstage to play for his fans proved to be a great healing process for him.
"Honestly, being back on stage probably helped us more than anything, which is crazy," the star remarked.
Jason also received a ton of support from his country peers, with Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley revealing he expressed his love for his close pal after initially learning of the shooting on that fateful night.
He shared, "We were texting Aldean and he's texting us back, saying, 'It was the scariest moment, I hope you never have to go through it,' and you know, I've never told him I loved him ever before, and that was the first thing (I told him), 'I love you buddy, so much, so glad you're safe.'"
Kelley's pregnant bandmate Hillary Scott explains she is now reminded of the shooting whenever they play an outdoor event, but they refuse to let the incident change the way they work.
"We're in that situation on a weekly basis, so you visualise yourself in that set of circumstances, but we're not gonna live in fear," she said, defiantly.
Fellow Lady Antebellum star Dave Haywood added, "No one can take away the fact that music is such an escape and such a therapeutic and such a healing thing."
Aldean and Lady Antebellum were among the artists who gathered in Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday (12Nov17) to perform at the Country Rising benefit gig, which raised more than $4 million (£3 million) to help the ongoing hurricane relief effort and those affected by the Vegas shooting.
