Slip And Destroy — Kirk Hammett Falls Off Stage and Takes It in Good Humour

Some stories write themselves. On 19 June, Kirk Hammett lost his balance at Dublin's Aviva Stadium while walking the lip of the stage during the opening riff of „Seek And Destroy" — a cover on the stage edge appears to have given way. The Metallica guitarist fell towards the crowd, was unhurt, was helped back to his feet and carried on playing.

The occasion for the mockery was of his own making: days earlier, at the band's show at Budapest's Puskás Aréna, Hammett had appeared in a T-shirt bearing an image of Taylor Swift alongside the claim that she is a CIA psyop. A fan account promptly hit back, calling Metallica a has-been band.

So when Hammett stumbled shortly afterwards, the jokes were inevitable: karma, said the internet. The guitarist took it in stride, posting a video of the fall on Instagram with a laconic note that these things happen. In his stories he found the phrase that went around the world: „Slip And Destroy".

The second Dublin show on Sunday passed without incident. Metallica continue their M72 world tour across Europe into early July; in October their sold-out residency at the Las Vegas Sphere begins.

Source: Paste Magazine.