Sir Brian May has confirmed that Queen will not tour again, revealing that a heartbreaking loss and a desire for personal freedom drove the decision. The 79-year-old guitarist made the announcement in an interview with The Times, alongside bandmate Roger Taylor, 77.
Why Queen is stopping touring
May last toured with Queen + Adam Lambert on The Rhapsody Tour, which concluded in Japan on February 14, 2024. Reflecting on the choice, he said: “I made a decision 18 months ago that I didn’t want to tour again. A close family friend died when we were in the States, so I said to my tour manager, ‘I’ll just nip home for a few days and come back.’ She looked me in the eyes and said, ‘You know you can’t do that.’ I love to play, I love to travel, but the trade-off is sacrificing your freedom.”
He added: “I have a wife [the actress Anita Dobson], grandchildren and a lot of astrophysics I want to do, so I’m thinking maybe 50 years is enough.”
Potential immersive Queen show
Despite the touring hiatus, Taylor hinted at a new project for fans of the band’s music and late frontman Freddie Mercury. Drawing a comparison to ABBA Voyage, the virtual concert featuring digital avatars of the Swedish group, he shared: “We do want to do something fairly revolutionary. Not as Abba did, but along those lines.”
Taylor described his inspiration: “Last year I went to the Sphere [the planetarium-like concert hall in Las Vegas], my juices started flowing and I sketched out a whole Queen show. I think an immersive experience is still on the cards and it could conquer time and space, but currently you can’t make it without AI and I have serious misgivings about that.”
AI concerns from both members
May shares those reservations, having previously voiced concerns about AI’s environmental impact through data centres. He told Absolute Radio in September: “I spent a lot of time planning out what I thought could be a Queen show. I’ve kind of backed off now because you can’t do it without massive use of AI, with all the consequences of that.”
