With six decades of experience of playing live, Andy Scott knows what it takes to pull off a successful show.

Add to that the fact that as the sole surviving original member of The Sweet he’s experienced massive amounts of success - just the 55 million albums sold worldwide - he certainly knows what he is talking about.

“When you go on to that stage you can’t hold back,” he said. “If you do, someone in the audience will spot it and you will have to live with that.”

Bury Times: Andy Scott with The Sweet

Andy is preparing for a busy run-up to Christmas which sees The Sweet perform 13 shows in December including dates at Manchester Academy next Friday and the Lowther Pavilion at Lytham next Saturday.

But, he revealed, this might be the final tour.

“I’ve mentioned that we might be doing many more tours where we’ll do 20 dates in five weeks,” he said. “Having said that it’s not too bad in the UK as it’s a relatively small island but certainly the days of flying in to Switzerland then going on to Germany, Austria, Denmark and over to Sweden all in a short space of time are over.

“It doesn’t mean we won’t be playing live shows, just not as a condensed tour.

“My health comes first. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer 14 years ago and I’ll be taking medication for the rest of my life.

“At my age - he’s 74 - it’s your recovery rate that’s one of the problems. Being on stage for 80 or 90 minutes is still great but it’s all the travelling and having no time to rest in between shows that takes it out of you.”

But he’s quick to stress this is not a retirement announcement.

“Oh no, we’ll still be doing shows - that’s what we do. I still want to get my guitar collection out from time to time”

In the early Seventies The Sweet had a string of hit singles including Wig Wam Bam, Block Buster and Ballroom Blitz and the band’s performances on Top of the Pops saw them classed as part of the glam rock scene at the time which perhaps means that today the band doesn’t get the credit it deserves for the songs.

“Britain has the ability to play down its stars from the past,” said Andy. “The problem today is to how to get any kind of music on to TV. Ask anybody from 40 years ago if they know what number one was and they’d be able to tell you, thanks to programmes like Top of the Pops which everybody watched.

Bury Times: Andy Scott, left, performs with The Sweet at Concert At The Kings

“Now most people won’t have a clue what’s in the charts. I know I looked the other week and hardly recognised any of the acts.”

Many of the old Top of the Pops have been lost with the BBC having recorded over tapes of shows.

But Andy revealed that he has been helping to fill in some of the gaps, working with the British Film Institute.

“I taped virtually every Top of the Pops through the Seventies,” he said, “and I still have all those recordings. Someone like me had a pristine copy of Top of the Pops that we were on when David Bowie did a performance of Starman which meant that iconic moment wasn’t lost.

“It’s good to know there are people out there who kept things!”

It’s hard to appreciate the impact The Sweet had on TV audiences in the early Seventies. They were a visual band from lead singer Brian Connolly’s blond bob to bassist Steve Priest’s outlandish outfits.

“I remember how I felt when first saw The Shadows in the film The Young Ones,” said Andy. “The hair stood up on the back of my neck. They were different and I think in the same way, so were we.”

With such an extensive back catalogue which ranges from pure bubblegum pop to hard rock it must be difficult to put a set together which will please all the fans.

“We have an intro section and an ending and there are moments we can insert heavier material or newer songs,” said Andy. “You need that otherwise performances can become a bit regimented and we’re not that kind of band; never have been, never will be.”

The Sweet, Manchester Academy, Friday, December 15 and Lowther Pavilion, Lytham, Saturday, December 16. Details from www.seetickets.com