{"id":287845,"date":"2026-02-12T16:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T16:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/287845\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T16:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T16:58:13","slug":"watch-the-wholesome-moment-james-hetfield-meets-a-10-year-old-fan-and-signs-his-esp-ltd-iron-cross-guitar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/287845\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch the wholesome moment James Hetfield meets a 10-year-old fan \u2013 and signs his ESP LTD Iron Cross guitar"},"content":{"rendered":"

They say never meet your idols \u2013 but this truly wholesome moment between Metallica<\/a> guitarist James Hetfield<\/a> and a 10-year-old fan is proof that, sometimes, you should ignore that advice.<\/p>\n

The inspiring meeting \u2013 which can be seen in newly uploaded social media clips \u2013 took place in Tampa, FL back in June 2025, when Metallica were passing through on their mammoth M72 World Tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the footage, 10-year-old Jacob K \u2013 who has cultivated a following of several thousand on Instagram thanks to his impressive metal riffing \u2013 has his ESP LTD Iron Cross signed by the Metallica leader. \u201cIs this yours?\u201d Hetfield asks before scribbling his signature on the guitar\u2019s lower bout, and turning it into an instrument Jacob will truly treasure forever.<\/p>\n

In an Instagram post, Jacob K reflects on the \u201ccrazy\u201d day, calling James Hetfield \u201cthe best musician\/guitarist and the reason I play guitar\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so amazing and cool,\u201d he continues, \u201cand so kind with me. It was the best day ever! I will never forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another post on Jacob K\u2019s Instagram page sees his parents reflecting on the wholesome meeting, writing: \u201cSome moments change everything. This was one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 7 June in Tampa, during Metallica\u2019s M72 weekend, something completely unexpected happened. After a night of pure magic at the show, a morning spent at the popup store buying ALL the Metallica gear, and gearing up for night two, our then-nine-year-old son Jacob got to meet his hero James Hetfield.\u201d<\/p>\n

They continue: \u201cWhat meant the most wasn\u2019t just meeting the GOAT. It was how humble, kind, and genuine James was with our son. He stopped. He talked with him. He encouraged him. He told him to keep playing and never stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until that moment, Jacob\u2019s world was countless hours of watching interviews, concerts, performances, learning Metallica riffs, listening daily, and even saving up for his Iron Cross guitar!\u201d<\/p>\n

They say the meeting made them bigger fans of Hetfield and Metallica than ever before: \u201cTalent is incredible, but character is everything. James isn\u2019t just a rock star. He\u2019s the real deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

So there, have another piece of evidence pointing to how James Hetfield is one of the coolest dudes in metal \u2013 and music.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

Sam is the Associate News Editor for Guitar.com and MusicTech. Thoroughly immersed in music culture for the majority of his life, Sam has played guitar for 20 years, studied music technology and production at university, and also written for the likes of Guitar World, Total Guitar, Metal Hammer and MusicRadar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They say never meet your idols \u2013 but this truly wholesome moment between Metallica guitarist James Hetfield and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3257,146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-287845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-artist","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}