Why Jake Owen Is a ‘Changed’ Man After Las Vegas Shooting

When a shooter started firing at the crowd during Jason Aldean‘s set at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, Jake Owen was on the side of the stage hanging out.

Owen escaped the attack safely, but many others did not, with fifty-eight people losing their lives and hundreds more suffering injuries. Speaking to Taste of Country, Owen wondered why he wasn’t one of them.

“I have met many of the victims from Vegas in the last few weeks. They are just innocent people who came out to see a show and hear music that night, and now they are in a wheelchair and can’t walk,” he said. “I was there with those people. Why wasn’t it me?”

After the shooting, Owen said he is a “changed guy…100 percent.”

“The whole Vegas thing gave me so much perspective, personally,” the 36-year-old explained. “Now I look out into the crowd of people coming out to enjoy a show differently. They are not only coming out to see an artist they like, but some of them are coming out to escape a little from everyday life. They are there to create memories with the people they love.”

“It’s not that I didn’t understand that before — I did,” he added. “But now, more than ever before, my job is to go out there and entertain.”

Owen will be taking his newfound perspective on the road for his upcoming Life’s Whatcha Make It Tour, which will travel to baseball stadiums across the country. Owen will be supported by Chris Janson and Jordan Davis on the trek, which begins on May 18.

“As entertainers, that’s what all of us signed up for,” he said. “We signed up to entertain those people who paid for a ticket and paid for parking and paid for a babysitter and paid $10 for a beer. I want to make sure those people have the time of their life via my live performance. I’m really approaching every show like it was my last. It’s not that I think something is going to happen, but I’m never going to take it for granted again that I’m going to do this show tonight and do another one tomorrow.”

“If they are being truthful, every entertainer would say that, at some point in their career, they took it for granted,” Owen continued. “I just appreciate what I do now more than ever before. I consciously think about it each and every time.”

The singer added that he tries to make the best of each day and always maintain a positive attitude.

“When you are positive, it attracts positivity,” he explained. “You can hear that through my music and I swear that positivity is contagious. I try to wake up every day and make sure I make it a great day from now on.”

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