Rock veterans Status Quo have said their tour at the end of this year will be the last one of its kind as they hang up their electric guitars.
The English rock group, whose music is characterized by their distinctive brand of boogie rock, will tour Europe in October, followed by UK performance dates in December, but it will be their last tour featuring their trademark electric guitars.
Founding member Francis Rossi, said the band - Rick Parfitt, Andy Bown, John 'Rhino' Edwards and Leon Cave - had been discussing hanging up their "electrics" for some time now.
"It's getting harder and harder for us to play those shows. It's 30 years since we last said we were stopping but this is a final decision," he said.
Guitarist Parfitt, who joined the band in 1967, said that the show "hurts now, physically".
"It's hard to maintain that level of energy and without that it's not really a Quo show. So we don't feel we should continue.
"This is definitely the end of our lives on the road with the electric set, life won't be the same for us - or many of the fans - but we can't go on at this pace any more," he said.
The group originated in The Spectres, founded by schoolboys Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster in 1962. After a number of line-up changes, the band became The Status Quo in 1967 and Status Quo in 1969.
They have had over 60 chart hits in the UK, starting with 1967's Pictures Of Matchstick Men, and the most recent being in 2010, which is more than any other rock group. Twenty-two of these reached the Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart.
In 1991, Status Quo received a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.
