“And so the first thing I do is put it in the middle position and play Oh Well”: Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr on that time he brought Duane Allman’s 1957 Les Paul to a Metallica show and ended up playing Kirk Hammett's Greeny

This composite image features Charlie Starr playing a TV Yellow Les Paul Junior on the left, while Metallica's Kirk Hammett plays his Greeny Les Paul Standard, and James Hetfield plays his his ESP Snakebyte.

The first time Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr saw Metallica live in concert he was 14 years old. It was at the Lakewood Amphitheatre in Atlanta, the year 1989, and Metallica were tearing it up on the Damaged Justice Tour. It was a “very profound” experience. Starr remembers it to this day.

But maybe the second time he caught the Bay Area behemoths live will live even longer in the memory. Speaking to Otis Gibbs for his YouTube channel, Starr says it was not only a date with metal royalty, but a chance to play one of the most iconic electric guitars of all time.