Limp Bizkit guitarist Mike Smith injured his back in New York during a one-off concert on Wednesday and was taken to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a pinched nerve.

Smith suffered the injury at Webster Hall when he jumped while playing and landed wrong. Despite being hurt, he finished the band's entire set before entering an ambulance outside (see [article id="1474082"]"Limp Bizkit 'Stick' Fans With Two New Songs At Club Gig"[/article]).

Doctors ordered Smith to rest for a couple days, and said he should be good to go for Friday's (July 18) Summer Sanitarium show in Landover, Maryland. Because Thursday was an off-day, Limp Bizkit didn't have to miss a gig.

Smith, who used to play with Snot, joined the band in March (see [article id="1471357"]"Limp Bizkit Start Over On New LP With Guitarist Mike Smith"[/article]). He replaced original guitarist Wes Borland, who left the group in October 2001 to form the more experimental outfit Eat the Day.

"I ran into [drummer] John Otto at a bar one night and they were still looking for a guitar player," Smith said in Philadelphia during a moment of downtime at Summer Sanitarium. "I thought I might come down and jam with them if he wanted. And we kind of made that happen."

After jamming with the Bizkit, Smith was invited to play at their Wrestlemania appearance in March (see [article id="1470783"]"Korn, Snot Guitarists To Play With Bizkit At Wrestlemania"[/article]). That was the moment everything jelled.

"During soundcheck we wrote something just for fun, and it just felt good," Smith said. "So on the flight back, Fred was just like, 'I think there's an energy here. I think we need to start working. Let's write a couple songs, no pressure. We've got a record that's already in the can. Let's see what can happen.' "

Before the band went onstage, frontman Fred Durst described Smith as the perfect replacement for Borland.

"Mike is off the hook and we're just happy to be back in the mix, and it's time to take back the title," Durst said. "He just fits in right. When you see him onstage, he backs it up."

Summer Sanitarium runs through August 10 in San Francisco, after which Limp Bizkit will return to the studio to finish their upcoming record, which is tentatively due in September.

-- Jon Wiederhorn, with additional reporting by [article id="1453176"]Gideon Yago[/article]