Jason Aldean opened “Saturday Night Live” October 7 with a tribute to the Las Vegas shooting’s victims. He started off the show with a rendition of Tom Petty’s hit “I Won’t Back Down.”

Aldean was performing at the Route 91 Harvest festival on the Las Vegas Strip October 1 when a sniper opened fire and killed at 59 people and wounded nearly 500.

“The concert is a good thing to do, and it just shows that there are good people in this world,” junior Julia Papez said.

While “Saturday Night Live” usually starts off with a political skit, on this particular show Aldean walked out in a black shirt and said, “I’m Jason Aldean. This week we witnessed one of the worst tragedies in American history. Like everyone I’m struggling to understand what happened that night and how to pick up the pieces and start to heal. So many people are hurting – there are children, parents, brothers, sisters, friends. They’re all part of our family, so I want to say to them we hurt for you and we hurt with you, and you can be sure we’re going to walk through these tough times together every step of the way. Because when America is at its best our bond and our spirit is unbreakable.” 

Aldean went to visit the victims in Vegas a week after the shooting. Aldean visited the trauma center in Southern Nevada.

*Dialogue from SNL taken from Deadline Hollywood