Anyway, also last week was yet more Metallica-related fun, with the band back over in London to play for BBC Radio 1 to a crowd of about 200 people (i.e. 19,800 less than what they're used to) which was incredible. The next day they played the O2 Arena to a considerably bigger crowd where we literally had the best seats in the house thanks to a good friend. The evening invariably turned into another drinking insanity fest with some of the band at various nightclubs and hotels 'til 6am, d'oh.

This week has been the start of the WSOPE. I played the £1500 NLH side event, in which I lasted til just after dinner with 7 hours of card-deadness resulting in me taking a 50/50 with 10s and of course, losing. Something needs to be done about this inability to win a coin flip!!! Still, surviving with no chips for that long is vaguely comforting I guess.

However, now I'm all moved in and settled I have just one thing on my mind now... 4 DAYS TIL ARUBA!!!!

Layne Flack and I at WSOPE, before we got busted. We're so metal.

So, last time I left off on the craziness that was the night of the Kerrang Awards. The rest of that weekend was spent in much of the same way to be honest, with yummy dinners at top class restaurants and parties with some of my favourite bands.

However, the icing on the cake was being invited to Reading Festival which they were headlining on the Sunday night, and as such being given Access All Areas Metallica passes, which is like the holy grail of backstage passes. Not only could we go anywhere we want, but it meant we could watch bands from the side of the stage throughout the day. I got to briefly meet Jack Black (another hero!) before he went on stage as Tenacious D, who were fantastic, especially with their wizard and lizard costumes (don't ask).

When Metallica went on stage we were ushered into a special viewing booth which gave the ultimate view of both the stage and the crowd, which was enormous. How the hell these guys can get up there and perform flawlessly to 70,000 people without a hint of nerves amazes me, but I guess that's why they are the greatest metal band on Earth!

They opened with "Creeping Death", one of their classics from the 80s and played a perfect set for two hours, during which I nearly broke my neck headbanging and went temporarily deaf from the Pyros during "One". Effing awesome, is literally the only way to describe it! Even better, they're back in 10 days to play the O2 to launch their new album, Death Magnetic. Woohoo!