I didn't for a second say Richie was as famous as Keef, however I'm not sure The Edge is an awful lot more well known than Richie, especially not with the Average Joe. To say The Edge is a 'worldwide megastar' is probably a bit ridiculous too.
My point was that someone had said the frontmen of these bands were irreplaceable, and I countered that to the real fans the whole package is irreplaceable.

It actually brings up a good point though. When Keef fell from the tree, they postponed their gigs for about 2 months while he recuperated from surgery. Could they have played on without him? They had Ronnie, they could bring in someone else to play guitar too. It would have been the wrong decision, but they could have done it and his absence wouldn't have been as huge as Mick's. The Average Joe would have been happy because the songs would have sounded about right because Mick was singing it; again real fans would be disappointed though not to have Keef. If Mick had feel from the tree, a replacement singer wouldn't have worked with Average Joe, so couldn't be considered. The Stones simply made the right call, by postponing, maybe because they get that it should be about the whole package!