Covering up your mistakes is one of the defining qualities of any good musician, but sometimes the music just gets away from you and you've got to restart from the top.
Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammet has had his share of musical gaffes in his career, but fortunately for us all, no one has a better sense of humor about screwing up in front of 40,000-plus people than him.
Kirk got lost in the intro of "Nothing Else Matters" at this past weekend's Boston Calling festival, but rather than forge ahead and try to right the ship, he comically pivoted and created a funny moment with the audience on-hand.
After teasing the melody from Boston's "More Than a Feeling," Kirk landed on the stark intro of the Black Album classic "Nothing Else Matters." Fewer than 8-bars in, however, he lost track of where he was and playfully fell over in embarrassment, drawing laughs from the crowd.
As bassist Robert Trujillo signaled for Kirk to get up and get on with the set, the guitarist hopped to his feet and stepped up to the microphone to apologize.
"Sorry, guys, you're so kickass" he said. "I got distracted by how kickass you are. We'll try that again, okay?"
After a brief reset, Metallica played through the song with typical aplomb, making way for the final song of their encore, "Enter Sandman."
Check out fan-shot video of Kirk's screw-up via the player above.
It's not the first time Kirk has been able to laugh off a momentary foible.
In the rain during a 2019 concert in Italy, he hilariously slipped on his Wah-wah pedal while playing the song "Moth Into Flame" and went down in a heap. Video which Kirk himself later shared to Instagram shows him laughing as he ambles back to his feet.
"It rained so much I felt like I was playing guitar in the shower," he wrote at the time.
Metallica is about the head to Europe for a tour before returning to the U.S. in July to anchor more U.S. festivals. Get all the band's live dates here.
Photo: AFP