Route 91 Harvest was a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

festival in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that was held annually in

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an Unincorporated towns in Nevada, unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the ...

, from 2014 to 2017 in the Las Vegas Village, a lot on

Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas Boulevard is a major road in Clark County, Nevada, Clark County, Nevada, United States, best known for the Las Vegas Strip portion of the road and its casinos. Formerly carrying U.S. Route 91 in Nevada, U.S. Route 91 (US 91), wh ...

(former U.S. Route 91), directly across from the Luxor Las Vegas hotel and casino and diagonally across from the

Mandalay Bay Mandalay Bay is a 43-story luxury resort and casino at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International. It was developed by Circus Circus Enterprises and complete ...

resort and casino. The festival's promoters were

Live Nation Entertainment Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American multinational entertainment company that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It promotes, operates and manages ticket sales for live entertainment internation ...

and

MGM Resorts International MGM Resorts International is an American Multinational corporation, multinational hospitality, sports and entertainment company. It operates resorts in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, Macau, Shanghai, ...

. No festival has been held since 2017, following a deadly mass shooting in which a gunman shot and killed 60 people and injured hundreds more from a window on the 32nd floor of the adjacent

hotel. So far, no announcement has been made about the event being revived.

History

The following country music artists were the major acts in the respective years: *2014: The inaugural festival featured

Jason Aldean Jason Aldine Williams (born February 28, 1977), known professionally as Jason Aldean, is an American country music singer. Since 2005, he has been signed to BBR Music Group, Broken Bow Records, a record label for which he has released eleven alb ...

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin (Blake Shelton song), Austin" from his Blake Shelton (album), self ...

and

Miranda Lambert Miranda Leigh Lambert (born November 10, 1983) is an American country music, country singer. Born in Longview, Texas, she started out in early 2001 when she released her self-titled debut album independently. In 2003, she finished in third place ...

*2015:

Florida Georgia Line Florida Georgia Line was an American country music duo founded in 2010 by vocalists and songwriters Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley of Florida. Their 2012 debut single " Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was downloaded over ...

Thomas Rhett Thomas Rhett Akins Jr. (born March 30, 1990) is an American country music, country singer-songwriter. He is the oldest son of singer Rhett Akins. Rhett has released seven studio albums for Big Machine Records' Valory Music imprint: ''It Goes ...

, Gary Allan, Lady Antebellum,

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer and actor. He has released 17 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, five for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albums have reached number one on ...

and

Brett Eldredge Brett Ryan Eldredge (born March 23, 1986) is an American country music singer, songwriter and record producer. Eldredge has had five No. 1 singles on the ''Billboard'' Country Airplay chart, three of which came from his debut album, '' Brin ...

*2016: Headliners included

Luke Bryan Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and television personality. Bryan is a five-time "Entertainer of the Year", being awarded by both the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Count ...

Toby Keith Toby Keith Covel (July 8, 1961 – February 5, 2024) was an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and businessman. Keith released his chart-topping debut single, "Should've Been a Cowboy", in 1993. During the 1990s ...

Brad Paisley Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You (David Kersh song), Another You". After this, he signed with ...

Little Big Town Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group from Homewood, Alabama. Founded in 1998, the group has had the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Roads), Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook. Fa ...

and Chris Young *2017: Major acts were

Eric Church Kenneth Eric Church (born May 3, 1977) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has released seven studio albums through Capitol Nashville since 2005. His debut album, 2006's '' Sinners Like Me'', produced three singles on the ''Billb ...

Sam Hunt Sam Lowry Hunt (born December 8, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Born in Cedartown, Georgia, Hunt played American football, football in his high school and college years and once attempted to pursue a professional sport ...

Jake Owen Joshua Ryan Owen (born August 28, 1981), known professionally as Jake Owen, is an American country music singer. Signed to RCA Nashville in 2006, he released his debut studio album, '' Startin' with Me'', that year. This album produced three ...

and

Lee Brice Kenneth Mobley Brice Jr. (born June 10, 1979), known professionally as Lee Brice, is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Curb Records. Brice has released five albums with the label: ''Love Like Crazy'', ''Hard 2 Love (Lee B ...

*Since 2018: No festival due to the 2017 shooting.

2017 shooting

The 2017 festival was the scene of a

mass shooting A mass shooting is a violent crime in which one or more attackers use a firearm to Gun violence, kill or injure multiple individuals in rapid succession. There is no widely accepted specific definition, and different organizations tracking su ...

in which 60 people were ultimately killed, making the incident the deadliest mass shooting by an individual in U.S. history. The shooting began as singer

finished his sixth song on the final day of the festival and ended with gunman Stephen Paddock's

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. More than 1,000 shots were fired into the crowd as the shooting continued for over 10 minutes. More than 800 people were injured in the attack. At the time, the event was attended by approximately 22,000 people.

Aftermath

Following the mass shooting, organizer Live Nation decided not to hold the 2018 Festival. In December 2018, it was announced that the Festival might return in 2019, with it being held at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds at the corner of Sahara Avenue and

. However, this event did not come to fruition. A January 2020 article in ''Billboard'' magazine on the possibility of the return of the Route 91 Harvest Festival cited several significant challenges that would need to be overcome. These included finding a new venue for the festival, being able to successfully coordinate the booking of numerous performers and competing with existing residencies of country stars in other Las Vegas venues. In 2019, MGM planned to repurpose the Las Vegas Village as a community center which would host athletic events, and parking space for

Allegiant Stadium Allegiant Stadium is a domed multi-purpose stadium located in Paradise, Nevada, southwest of adjacent Las Vegas. Opened in 2020, it is the home field of the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of Nevada ...

, but that did not happen. Instead, in 2022, MGM sold most of the village.

References

{{Reflist 2014 establishments in Nevada 2018 disestablishments in Nevada 2017 Las Vegas shooting Country music festivals in the United States Festivals in Nevada Live Nation Entertainment MGM Resorts International Music festivals established in 2014 U.S. Route 91