Brian May confirms Queen's touring days are over

Brian May says Queen will not tour again, and that a death in his circle changed how he thinks about life on the road.

The guitarist announced the change of heart in a new interview with The Times, saying he and bandmate Roger Taylor actually made the decision "18 months ago that I didn't want to tour again." 

He said the change came when a close family friend died while he was on tour in the United States. He told his tour manager he would "nip home for a few days and come back." She looked at him and said, "You know you can't do that."

May said that moment showed him the cost of touring. "I love to play, I love to travel, but the trade-off is sacrificing your freedom," he said. He added that he has a wife, the actor Anita Dobson, grandchildren and a lot of astrophysics he wants to do. "So I'm thinking maybe 50 years is enough," he said.

Queen's last tour was The Rhapsody Tour with Adam Lambert, which ended in Japan in February 2024. Their last live show as Queen was in 2022, at the tribute event for the late Taylor Hawkins. May and Taylor have spent recent years on solo projects.

May also said he had thought about a Queen hologram show, like London's ABBA Voyage. He has now backed off the idea because "you can't do it without massive use of AI, with all the consequences of that."