2022 ACM Awards: Chris Stapleton Performs 'Watch You Burn' In Honor Of Route 91 Victims 

One of the most tragic events to ever hit the U.S is the shooting on the Las Vegas strip during the Harvest Country music festival in 2017. Around 60 people were killed, and over 350 were injured. The gunman killed himself at the end of his rampage.

The shooting started in the middle of a performance, and the country artists present took cover. While Chris Stapleton wasn't part of the attendees that day, the singer had a lot to say about the shooter in his song, "Watch You Burn."

In addition to being one of the most-nominated people of the night for the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards, Stapleton was also part of the performing artists. In an interview with People, the 43-year-old had revealed that he intended to perform "Watch You Burn" on stage. 

On October 1, 2017, the shooting took place at Route 91 during the Harvest country music festival. Jason Aldean had the stage as at when it began. Besides him, Chris Young, Eric Church, Sam Hunt, and Jake were also in attendance but managed to take cover and avoid injury. 

The shooting is referred to as the worst mass shooting in the history of the U.S. It has over 400 injured people and around 60 deaths. Eric Church, Maren Morris, and Brothers Osbourne performed "Tears in Heaven" as a tribute to the shooting victims. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS7vZLhwf_o

While Stapleton wasn't among the attendees for the festival, he had some things to say about the gunman. His song, "Watch You Burn," was written based on the events that took place. The gunman ended the shooting by killing himself. 

Stapleton was announced as one of the 57th ACM award show performers. The 43-year-old performed a fiery and powerful rendition of "Watch You Burn" in remembrance of the victims of the Route 91 shooting. The shooting happened on the Las Vegas Strip while the festival was still ongoing. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaUr86wbRik

In an interview with People magazine, the country singer said, "Tomorrow we'll be performing 'Watch You Burn,' which is a song that I wrote with Mike Campbell about the shooting that happened here during the country music festival. So yeah, that's what we're doing." 

Some of the song lyrics read, "Only a coward would pick up a gun/And shoot up a crowd trying to have fun/Now the Vegas lights won't lose their glow/And the band will play/And go on with the show."

Besides Stapleton, the 57th AMC awards hosted over 20 other performances. The two-hour-long show aired without interruptions and had some of country music's best and brightest as well as some newcomers.  

These included Thomas Rhett, Kelsea Ballerini, Parmalee, Maren Morris, Ashley McBryde, Blanco Brown, Carly Pearce, Breland, Brothers Osbourne, Walker Hayes, Kane Brown, Lady A, Kelly Clarkson, Aldean, Carrie Underwood, and Brooke Eden. 

The AMC Awards will also go down in history as a major award show that was live-streamed exclusively. The live stream is available on Prime Video in counties like the U.S, Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. 

Other than his performing role, Stapleton was also one of the most nominated artists. The country musician got nominated five times for Entertainer Of The Year, Male Artist Of The Year, Single Of The Year, and Video Of The Year. 

His hit song, "You Should Probably Leave," was nominated for Single Of The Year, and "I Bet You Think About Me" (Taylor's Version) with Taylor Swift got a nod for Video of the year. 

Stapleton took home top honor of the night as he won the award for Best Male Artist of the year, beating out Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett, Morgan Wallen and Jimmie Allen.

Country music icon Dolly Parton co-hosted the award show along with Gabby Barrett and Jimmie Allen.