The rocker took a nasty fall onstage at the 4 July (15) gig and knew instinctively he'd suffered some internal damage, but he feared that if he went public with his pain, tour bosses would scrap the gig and postpone the next few tour dates.

Richards tells Rolling Stone magazine, "Somebody tossed a red straw boater hat (onstage). It landed right in front of my feet. I kicked it aside... and it f**king bounced back in front of me, and I hit the floor.

"Suddenly I'm on my hands and knees in front of 60,000 people. My bracelet came off from the shock. It was, 'OK, get out of this one, pal!'"

"I might've cracked a rib," he adds, "There's nothing doctors can do about it. I thought, 'S**t, if I let them know how much I'm hurting, the doctors and the insurance companies will be like, 'Cancel the next gigs'. F**k it. I'll live with it. After 50 years on the stage, you're going to fall over occasionally and take a knock."