Richards ready for Stones tour

On the eve of the relaunching of the Rolling Stones’ European tour, Keith Richards said he’s recovered completely from a head injury suffered in a fall.

“I feel great. I can’t wait to get back on the stage again. Basically everything is cool,” Richards said Monday in Milan, Italy, where the Stones are scheduled to resume their “A Bigger Bang” tour tonight.

The 62-year-old guitarist fell from a tree April 27 while vacationing in Fiji, forcing the Stones to postpone their European tour. He later had surgery in New Zealand to relieve pressure on his brain.

Asked what he’s been doing since the fall, Richards responded, “I recovered.... Six weeks, I mean, not bad for a brain job.”

The Stones were in a jovial mood, and when the inevitable question came -- what was Richards doing up in a coconut tree and did he find what he wanted? -- everyone was ready to set the record straight.

“That’s a good one. If you saw the tree, you’d realize the joke. Fiji is not just made of coconut trees. It was a little tree,” Richards said.