The classic rock outfit released three acclaimed studio albums before internal tensions boiled over, with Hughes last year revealing he was thinking of quitting because he wanted to play live, and Bonamassa insisted he wasn't available.

That led to a series of public outbursts in which the two musicians took pot-shots at each other before both said they were ready to "move on."

They appeared to calm down later and said they were talking to each other again. But Bonamassa continued to insist he'd always said he wouldn't have time to tour in support of 2012 album Afterglow � while Hughes, drummer Jason Bonham and keyboardist Derek Sherinian suggested they'd been led to believe otherwise before the record was recorded.