Richie never really played more than some main chords while singing Lay Your Hands On Me and those neat fills he usually added throughout the song (with Jon on lead vocals) missed so much that it made it all seem very empty.
That's also what I felt when he went AWOL and Phil joined (no dig at Phil), especially in 2011 and on my first European concert in Munich 2013. As "simple" as most of Richie's playing might've seemed, even on an average day, there were tons of little licks and fills throughout the song that often went largely unnoticed, but really made for the band's sound.
I vividly remember being shocked how drained Raise Your Hands sounded in Munich back then, even though Phil played the main part very well.
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