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Bobby Bones cries backstage on 'heavy' Vegas massacre anniversary night on ‘DWTS’
By Carole Glines, Carole Glines
Published October 02, 2018
Bobby Bones, center right, and Jason Aldean, center left, appear onstage at the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Festival Day 1 held at T-Mobile Arena on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Las Vegas. (Invision via AP)
"Dancing with the Stars" competitor Bobby Bones cried backstage after the live TV show on Monday night as he marked the one-year anniversary of the Las Vegas massacre.
SPOILER ALERT
The nationally syndicated country radio host got emotional after revealing to Fox News that it was "a tough day, a heavy day" because he had been close to the tragedy.
On Oct. 1, 2017, Stephen Paddock shot at thousands of country music fans gathered to hear Jason Aldean at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Paddock killed 58 people from his hotel room at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and left 851 injured.
Bones and his band, the Raging Idiots, had played the festival the night before the massacre. They had flown home to Nashville before the shooting. Bones told Fox News that he did a powerful radio show on Monday before arriving at "DWTS" to perform with his pro partner Sharna Burgess.
"So I was at Route 91. I played the festival [before] everyone was killed," he recalled. "A lot of my friends were on the stage. Jason Aldean was on the stage, a lot of my fans, a couple of them were killed. A few were injured so I was very close to that situation."
On his Monday national radio show, Bones revealed, "We remembered it and just celebrated the lives of those that were lost. We also did a show for just Las Vegas and I was there a week ago and we took a lot of the first responders and brought them on stages that were involved in the accident, so to me, that's something that's very near and dear to my heart. It was something that we were able to help the victims with after it happened, I think we were able to raise $200,000 or $300,000 dollars for the immediacy of a lot of their injuries."
"It was a tough day today, frankly,” he said. “I did the show. I cried this morning on the air like I did a year ago. I didn't want to. I did.”
He continued, "I still feel terrible for the families because it's our people. They're people who come to shows and people who listen to country music and they're just people that were out at a music festival."
Bones was the last "DWTS" competitor to perform on Monday's show and he did a foxtrot with Burgess.
He ended the dance with an improvised shimmy shake which wasn't planned but amused the crowd and judges. Bones received a score of 20 out of 30.
"It's been a heavy day…and I'm glad I could kind of release a little at the end. Hopefully some people smiled," the radio star said.
"DWTS" has a Las Vegas-themed night planned for Tuesday's show. And it's clear Bones will be remembering the painful day for country fans once again.
"I can't let it affect me in a negative way so what I'm going to do is come out and really do the best dance that I can do -- hopefully it puts smiles on faces I have the best coach and I'm going to come out and do ‘Dancing with the Stars,’" he said.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/bobby-bones-cries-backstage-on-heavy-vegas-massacre-anniversary-night-on-dwts