COVID-19 Has Forced Keith Richards into ‘Un-Normal’ Normality
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards noted that he has “got into a more normal way of life” — including gardening — due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The 76-year-old recently revealed to Goldmine that he's enjoyed calmer times while the pandemic has halted the band's live plans.
“I’ve been in hiding, basically,” Richards said. “Hunkering down with the family and a few friends because we have to stay in a bubble, you know. I’ve been out to a restaurant with outdoor seating a couple times, but now it’s getting a bit chilly so we’re eating in. Thank God the wife’s a good cook, bless her heart!”
He reported that he’d enjoyed the experience of watching his garden grow, adding: “I spent the whole summer actually admiring the garden and also doing a bit of gardening myself – watering the veggies and the stuff. I got into a more normal way of life, which is un-normal.”
In another recent interview, he told the BBC that he’d hoped to have a more productive year.
“We was ready, primed to go on the road when this virus hit, so it was kind of, 'On your marks, get set, no,’” he said. “It's been very weird for everybody this year, hasn't it?" Asked how he might celebrate the Stones’ 60th anniversary, which takes place in 2022, he joked: “I might get a new wheelchair.”
He went on to reflect: “[I]t’s been pretty exceptional this particular life. I’m really at a loss sometimes to sort of figure out how the hell I got here. But the music is the thing that keeps you going, so that's what I try and concentrate on.”