Jason Aldean Returns to Play Vegas, First Time Since 2017 Shooting

Jason Aldean made a triumphant return to Sin City -- playing his first concert there since the 2017 massacre that left 58 dead ... and wounded hundreds more.

The country singer performed Friday night at the Park MGM, which marked the first of three headlining shows he's putting on as part of his brief Ride All Night residency. Seeing how it'd been 2 years since Jason got on stage in Vegas ... he made sure to address the situation.

A few songs in, JA paused to shout out anyone who might've been there from his 2017 performance at the Route 91 Harvest Festival ... calling them "family." He also mentioned it was his first time back since then but didn't explicitly discuss the shooting.

He did make a promise though ... saying he came back to "blow it out" for the crowd, and finish what they'd started at Route 91. The audience absolutely ate it up.

At the end of his set, Jason covered Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" -- which lots of folks took as a nod to the tragedy and a sign of resilience. He's got 2 more shows this weekend.

You'll recall ... the initial shots Stephen Paddock fired rang out in the middle of Jason's set two years ago during the outdoor country music festival. At first, he didn't seem to notice ... but was quickly whisked off stage once it became clear what was happening.

Paddock was holed up in his room at the nearby Mandalay Bay hotel and had an arsenal of rifles with him ... several of which he'd modified to shoot like semi-automatics. He broke windows in his suite and fired down below at the concertgoers ... causing a blood bath.