For the most part this isn't Brian's fault, maybe tugging on the tremolo a little to hard, but his string breaks multiple times. I would shit his pants if I were in his position link
I know strings break, but when it happens twice in front of thousands of people, thats when it sucks. You're right though, I don't see how else you could handle that in that situation.
It's because of the freaking dime (sixpence)he uses for a pick. He's a monster....but Ive often wondered about the metal pick thing. Its a bad idea for a lot of reasons....but the biggest is the string breakage....its not worth the trouble.