Through the Past (Lightly)

I hate to keep talking about Richards, but he is an amazing figure, and when you're trapped in a stadium watching Mick Jagger attempt to strut you'll settle for anything. The show's one alluring moment was of course Richards' solo spot. He did two songs: One was "Wanna Hold You," the faux-soul rave-up from 1983's Undercover. For me the one zinger of the evening was "All About You," the clangorous ballad, done Hi Records style, from Emotional Rescue. Sung in Richards' disreputable growl, the song delivered echoes from the band's dark period, Richards taking potent swipes at his blood brother: "I'm so sick and tired/ Of hanging around/ Jerks like you." Some years ago you might have found the song daringly subtextual; at the show that night, after too many lousy albums and so many money-grubbing tours, it sounded merely bald and unpleasant. Then Richards' leg raised again and it was hard to begrudge him the pleasure. Keith Richards is rock's last naked lifer, and he'll do anything, even stand on a stage with a nostalgia band fronted by Mick Jagger, to play one more show.