Lee Brice, Sumter Native, Performed At Route 91 Festival Just Days Before Massacre

We’re with ya, and we always have been, and we will be," Brice said. 

Columbia, SC (WOLO)–  Lee Brice performed at Route 91 Music Festival just two days before the shooting and says those are some true country fans that were out on a beautiful night. 

“The crowd was insane all day long. Vegas is surprising… they love country music. They’re true country music fans and they just want to have a good time, and they want to get out there and it was great. It was unbelievable, it was a beautiful night,” Brice said. He said the incident was a way for one person to take away other’s happiness, but urged people to keep doing what they love, and love what they do.

“All the fans that were there just having a good time and then just… chaos. You know, it’s just so sad,” Lee Brice said.

But now after the chaos, he’s just trying to make sure his country family is alright.

“I’ve been on the phone all night long just tracking all my folks down and making sure everybody’s ok,” Brice said. 

Brice says his manager, his managers’ wife, and booking agent are still in Vegas, but they are doing okay.

“It raises a whole lot of emotions you know. It just…  it just is not fair, and it’s scary to think about. Because I got a bunch of my family, I call them my road family, is out there. I’ve had them out with me for ten years. It could’ve been us, and it could’ve been the fans that I was looking in the eye as I’m out there singing and rocking around the stage,” Brice said.

Brice spoke with other members of the country music family who were present during the shooting. He says he immediately spoke with Jake Owen after he heard the news.

“He was backstage and he said that there were people down and blood everywhere. And that is scary. They shot out the windshield of Jason’s bus. Jake was scared to death man. You know, he just was, I could tell, he was just overwhelmed like crazy. He said that people are telling him blood is everywhere and I know he must’ve been backstage,” Brice said. 

Brice is in Los Angeles with his stage crew and his band, but he’s thinking of all those involved in Sunday night’s shooting, all a part of the country music family.

“We’re friend-friends. We compete but we’re truly friends. You know, Jake Owen and I go back a long time. Jason Aldean and I go back a long time. So there are 20-30 crew members per artist, and we all are a big family so, you know, even just those fellas I’m thinking about and praying for,” Brice said. 

Brice says when he was on the set there were some speakers crackling so loud he would not have been able to tell if they were gunshots or not. Which is why he thinks Jason Aldean stayed out on the stage for so long.

“Because we hear fireworks all the time, we hear plane jets go over the top of us all the time. We hear speakers cracking to the point it’s so loud you wouldn’t be able to tell if it’s a gun or a firecracker or a speaker breaking up… and they had been having problems. I mean we had them where the speakers were crackling and this and that, and you would never know the difference. So, until maybe Jason looked down and saw some people going down, I think that’s why he kept singing. He just thought it was firecrackers or speakers, and then when he realized what was going on was when he got out of there,” Brice said.

Through it all, he says he’s praying for everyone who was there, “afraid and now scarred for life,” and for the families of everyone injured or killed.

“This is Satan trying to win… and we can’t let that happen… these are the times we have to pull together, and not pull apart. I am sincerely thinking about everybody, every fan that was at that show, and their families. We’re with ya, and we always have been, and we will be,” Brice said.