Eric Church headlined the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas last week. He walked off the stage 48 hours before the crowd he performed for would be mowed down by bullets, killing 58 and injuring more than 500.
During his performance at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville Wednesday, Church spoke about the people he saw when he looked out into the Las Vegas crowd.
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Church said he walked out into the crowd during his final performance at Route Harvest 91, “And 48 hours later, in those places that I stood, was carnage. Those are my people. Those are my fans.”
He said that although he didn’t want to perform again so soon after the mass shooting, he saw a CNN interview with Heather Melton, the wife of shooting victim, Sonny Melton. The couple are from Paris, Tennessee.
Heather Melton was wearing a T-shirt from the “Church choir” tour when she spoke to Anderson Cooper on Tuesday night.
Cooper asked Melton what brought the couple to Vegas.
“She goes ‘We went there to see Eric Church, cause he was Sonny’s’ her husband who died, “he was his guy,” Church said of the interview. “And then she said we have tickets for the Grand Ole Opry tonight.”
Church said the reason he was able to perform Wednesday was because of Sonny and Heather Melton.
“Over here in section 3, row f, if you’re there, there are some empty seats and those are their seats,” Church said.
He said no amount of bullets can take away his memories of those fans from the festival.
He then performed a song he wrote after the shooting, called “Why Not Me.”
“Why you from Tennessee, did life capture, and me from Tennessee get away?” Church sang. “I asked the god of all knowing wisdom ‘Why you and why not me?”
Watch his emotional remarks and the performance below. Church also posted a statement about the shooting with the new song on his YouTube channel.