Sunday 3rd March 2013 by Ashley Clements | Photos by WENN.com

Tags: Status Quo

Status Quo have confirmed that the band's original members will reunite for the first time in 30 years as they embark on their upcoming UK tour.

Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster, John Coghlan and Francis Rossi otherwise known as the Frantic Four have been pictured preparing for the tour which starts on Wednesday (6 March) at the Manchester Apollo and will finish on 17 March at Wembley Arena.

Frontman, Parfitt told Sky News: "I think the really positive thing is that if we hadn't split up we couldn't have got back together again. It's very nice to see everybody again, to get to know everybody again, because there's a lot of water gone under the bridge." 

The original group split up after a series of different legal disagreements including a lengthy battle over the Status Quo name after Coghlan and Lancaster left the band in the early eighties whilst Parfitt and Rossi continued to tour.

The original Status Quo line-up will be back on stage together 

Status Quo have had more chart singles than any other British band and are responsible for hits such as ‘Rockin’ All Over The World’ and ‘Whatever You Want’, but Lancaster has warned that their tour won’t just be a greatest hits set.

He said: “It's the thing that struck me, what band who've had so many hits goes on stage and plays no hit records? We're hardly playing any of our singles whatsoever."

As Rossie and Parfitt recruited replacements and continued to tour after the other two original members left the band, Rossie admits that it hasn’t been easy to get Lancaster and Coghlan used to the changes to the music world.

Rossie added: "It's a different ball game than when those guys were here. The industry is different, our whole touring thing is more efficient. It's just completely different. Amplification is different. In-ear monitors they're trying to get used to.

"A lot of stuff they're trying to get used to that we just take for granted and there may be a bit of friction there because we're expecting it to be as it normally is."

Below: Status Quo still rocking at 'Quofestive' O2 Arena show