THE North-East's most enduring music group, Lindisfarne, are calling time on five decades of music.

The Tyneside band have announced that the closing concert of their current British tour, at the Newcastle Opera House on Saturday November 1, will be their last.

The band, which will be best remembered for their folk-tinged songs from the early 1970s such as Lady Eleanor, Meet Me on the Corner, and the Geordie anthem Fog on the Tyne, said they felt they were losing their creative spark.

The decision to split, apparently taken in the middle of the tour, has stunned their army of fans, who expressed their sorrow on the band's website.

A statement said: "We are in danger of treading water, and to continue performing under those circumstances is not an option.

"We have always maintained that when the band stopped producing valid new music, we would call it a day.''

The original line-up -Alan Hull, Ray Jackson, Si Cowe, Rod Clements and Ray Laidlaw -formed in 1969 as The Brethren and, after changing their name the following year, went on to enjoy album and singles chart success.

Fog on the Tyne, produced by Bob Johnston, was the biggest-selling British album of 1972 but at the height of their fame, Lindisfarne split.

However, the original members were re-united in 1977 and went on to enjoy chart success with the single Run for Home and album Back and Fourth.

Chart success eluded Lindisfarne after that, apart from 1990's remake of the single Fog on the Tyne with footballer Paul Gascoigne, but they continued to be popular live.

Only Laidlaw and Clements of the original line-up remained when principal songwriter Alan Hull died in 1995, and long-time associate Billy Mitchell was recruited as frontman.

Tickets for the final concert are £13.50 and can be booked on 0191-232 0899.