A triple-bill of rock legends is touring the UK throughout October and into November, an incredible 27 shows in 33 days.

Between them, Focus, The Groundhogs and Wishbone Ash were at the cutting edge of rock music throughout the Sixties and Seventies.

The headliner of the night is Focus, from Holland, which was formed in 1976 by flautist Thjis Van Leer, who still fronts the band. The group recorded the stunning album Moving Waves in 1971 and scored a brace of worldwide hits with the songs Hocus Pocus and Sylvia.

The line-up at this time was Van Leer on Hammond organ, flute and vocals – he yodels and does a version of what could loosely call 'scat' vocals; Jan Akkerman on guitar; Cyril Havermans on bass and drummer Pierre van der Linden.

I caught up with Thjis Van Leer just before he had to board a flight to Poland and asked him why he continues when there have been so many line-up changes. His reply was quite simple.

"It's because I have the same goal in life, and that is to bring my compositions into the light, and I love to be in a band. Playing music is one of the greatest joys in life.

"Also I have a brilliant band and I really like the way we perform."

It is difficult to describe the music of Focus, some say it is progressive rock and some say jazz. Thjis has his own ideas. "I know some rock musicians call us 'The Godfathers of Progressive Rock', but I describe the music as 'songs without words'.

"It is influenced by European classical music, R'n'B, folk and jazz. It's very much improvisational and has a signature all of its own."

It must be hard for a band to break through with no lyrics. "Probably, but we are a rarity," he said, "It is rare for a mainly instrumental band to have so many hits (Focus have had much chart success on the continent), and actually Sylvia DOES have lyrics, I wrote them about a girlfriend of mine."

The band was lucky in a way as their management managed to secure them lots of airplay in the early days. "That's right," he agreed, "Our management was actually Radio Luxembourg so they played our music a lot."

It was Moving Waves that broke the band worldwide. "Yes. It did. And then we had Focus 3 to follow. England did it for us and then America. And after all these years the music has the same attitude and mentality.

"Our latest album Focus 9 (out last year) has humour and earnest moments plus many elements of symphonic music, although I dislike the term 'symphonic rock'."

Thjis has strong memories of his first ever tour of England. "The first time we came to the UK was the time of the power strikes, so we actually had two vans. One van had the instruments and the second had a generator. Always I think the first applause we got was not for the music, but for the fact that we had played!"

With there being three bands performing in the shows, there won't be a lot of time for each band, I suggested. "Well," he explained, "The other two bands are hoping to do about one hour each and hopefully we have a little more. We usually have a programme of two hours which we have had to cut down."

And what can we expect from the Dutch Masters? "I can't tell you everything," he said, "every night will be different. All I can say is that Sylvia and Hocus Pocus will not be forgotten and Harem Scarem. Hopefully we can do Eruption as that's a long piece."

Former bandmate Jan Akkerman tours regularly and is soon to appear at the Bury Met. Could there possibly be a reunion sometime? Again Thjis was guarded, "Maybe, I don't know. There could maybe be a reunion sometime and I would look forward to it. But I'm very satisfied with the band I have."

Despite the fact that he has had nearly 40 years of success with Focus, Thjis Van Leer is proud of other things as well. "Obviously I'm proud of the mere fact that we broke the world with Focus, but outside the band I've done a lot of classically inclined music as a flautist and one of the albums I made became the all-time best selling album in Holland. It sold two million copies – and that's a lot for such a small country."

And of course, he's looking forward to touring the UK again. "Ah man," he cried. "We are rehearsing everything now. It's going to be a great night."

The other two bands that complete the line-up are The Groundhogs featuring Tony McPhee, and Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash.

Tony 'TS' McPhee was a fonder member of The Groundhogs back in 1963. They were a blues band who had taken their name from a track on an album by bluesman John Lee Hooker, who they supported on his first UK tour and recorded an album with him. They were highly regarded critically and had chart success, hitting the Top Ten with albums such as Thank Christ For The Bomb (1970) and Who Will Save The World? The Mighty Groundhogs (1972).

They split in 1976, but reformed in the Eighties until 2004 when Tony left. He formed Tony McPhee's Groundhogs in 2007.

Bassist Martin Turner, drummer Steve Upton and guitarists Andy Powell and Ted Turner came together as Wishbone Ash in 1969, pioneering the twin lead guitarists line-up. After a couple of pretty good albums, the band released Argus in 1972. It was voted the best rock album of the year by readers of Sounds magazine.

From the early Eighties onward, the band struggled to keep a stable line-up. After Martin Turner left he decided to form Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash in 2005. The other version of the band still has founder member Andy Powell.

* Classic Legends Of Rock, with Focus, Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash and Tony McPhee's Groundhogs appear at the following venues:
The Muni, Colne on Friday, October 3, tickets available from the box office (01282 664234) and all the usual outlets.
The Albert Halls, Bolton on Friday, October 10, tickets available from 01204 334400 and all the usual outlets.