Chris Stapleton to Perform Route 91 Fest-Inspired ‘Watch You Burn’ at 2022 ACM Awards

Chris Stapleton will perform "Watch You Burn" at the 2022 ACM Awards on Monday (March 7). The Entertainer of the Year nominee wrote the song after the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on the Las Vegas strip.

While a few lyrics in the opening verse of the track from his Staring Over album (2020) serve as tribute to a city that persevered after the attacks that killed 60 and injured hundreds more, "Watch You Burn" is primarily an unguarded country-rock song that focuses on what will become of the shooter in the afterlife. Rarely has Stapleton sounded as angry as he does when he sings:

"You're gonna get your turn / Yes, you're gonna get your turn / Oh, you're gonna get your turn / Devil gonna watch you burn," he sings.

Mike Campbell helped him write the song. People reports that the singer will be backed by a 16-person choir and a special guest.

Jason Aldean was on stage at Route 91 on Oct. 1, 2017 when the shooting began. Jake Owen and Chris Young were there, too and took cover, avoiding injury. Eric Church and Sam Hunt also played the festival that weekend.

At the start of the 2018 ACM Awards, Aldean was joined by Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Luke Bryan and Thomas Rhett for a show-opening statement.

Two months prior, at the 2018 Grammys, Church, Brothers Osborne and Morris paid tribute to the victims with a performance of "Tears in Heaven," originally by Eric Clapton.

As the song points out, Stapleton wasn't in attendance for the festival. "I wasn't there, I didn't see / But I had friends in your company / If I could snap my fingers, if I could flip a switch / I'd make that last bullet first, you son of a b---h."

The shooting ended when the gunman took his own life.

The 2022 ACM Awards will be stream on Amazon Prime on Monday night, beginning at 8PM ET. The show will come from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, with Dolly Parton, Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett set to host. It's going to be a two-hour show with no commercial interruption.

Remember: The best way to watch the 2022 ACMs is on TV, with ToC on your phone!