The newly minted Grand Casino Arena in downtown St. Paul hosted its first live event Saturday night when about 12,000 fans showed up to see country star Jason Aldean.

Somehow, it was Aldean’s first arena show in the metro since he headlined the former Xcel Energy Center back in 2014. In the interim, he played a pair of Target Field shows with Kenny Chesney in 2015, Treasure Island Casino in 2023 and the Winstock Country Music Festival last summer. (He was booked to play the X in March 2020, the week when everything shut down due to the pandemic.)

The most notable difference in Saturday’s show was Aldean doubling down on his commitment to conservative causes. His wife Brittany’s anti-trans comments in 2022 led to Aldean’s longtime public relations firm dropping him as a client and his con

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