When you have been around as long as The Hollies have, fitting all your songs into a two-and-a-half hour show can be something of a challenge - particularly when you have a new album to promote as well.

According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles, the band had more hit records than The Beatles in the 1960s and 1970s - scoring their first number one with I'm Alive in 1965 and having a grand total of 24 top 40 hits over the course of the next decade.

They didn't stop there though and have singles charting in the top 50 every decade bar this one. They recorded numerous albums, the latest being Then, Now and Always (Dolphin Days), due out later this year.

The album deals with the decision of bandmates Bobby Elliott and Tony Hicks, the only two original Hollies, to leave their group the Dolphins and move to London.

"People will come wanting the hits but we like to give them a little bit of an insight into how the band works and what we are thinking," said 66-year-old Elliott.

"We are going to have a bit of a problem squeezing everything in and we are bound to leave somebody’s favourite out.

"We try to please everybody, get a balance to the show and end with a bang which is what everybody’s ultimate goal is in this business."

One of the band's most famous members to have come and gone since they formed is guitarist and singer Graham Nash, who left over creative differences in 1968 and formed supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash.

He has appeared with the band several times since though and Elliott even hinted he could make a surprise appearance at Fairfield Halls, but laughed at the idea that former session singer Elton John might join them on stage.

"He is welcome to come along if he wants," he grinned.

"He was a bit of a session singer in those days and in the studio with us quite a lot, featuring on He Ain’t Heavy, He's my Brother and I Cant Tell the Bottom from the Top.

"He was still Reg I think and was starting to get something together with Dick James.

"Maybe Graham might be there. We are still buddies and have been chatting."

The Hollies, Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, March 7, 8pm, £21.50. Call 020 8688 9291 or visit fairfield.co.uk.