Brian May Says Queen Won’t Tour Again: ’50 Years is Enough’

Queen + Adam Lambert haven’t performed since their Rhapsody world tour wrapped up at Japan’s Tokyo Dome on February 14, 2024. And in a new interview with The Times, guitarist Brian May revealed the band won’t ever return to the road. 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.” He’s not, however, ruling out other ways to bring Queen’s music into large communal spaces.

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… Data centers are a massive evil and have to be fought.” In September 2025, May told Rolling Stone that he was simply exhausted with life on the road, though he wasn’t quite ready at that time to forever rule it out, as he’s now done. I had a few experiences recently where stuff happened at home with my family and I could not go home. It got under my skin and I just thought, ‘I’m not sure if I want this anymore.’ I feel like I’ve given up my freedom too many times.

So my feeling at the moment is I don’t want to tour as such. I still want to play shows. I still want to innovate.” In January of this year, May told the Daily Mail that he didn’t want to cross the Atlantic for shows because “America is a dangerous place at the moment.” “It’s very sad because I feel like Queen grew up in America and we love it, but it’s not what it was,” he said.

Drummer Roger Taylor recently released his solo LP Violence Insane in a Beautiful World, and Lambert dropped his own album, Adam, in July. He also honored George Michael at the MTV Video Music Awards last month with a performance of “Freedom! ’90.” Trending Stories See Jack Black’s Black Sabbath Cover Band Perform With Geezer Butler at Power to the People Festival Ed Sheeran Enlists the Fray’s Former Singer, Isaac Slade, to Open Atlanta Show Metallica’s Life Burns Faster Sphere Residency May Be Bigger Than Metallica He Wanted to Modernize the Military. Pete Hegseth Forced Him Out There are also a series of archival Queen projects in the pipeline, starting with the new Queen concert film Queen Budapest.

It was filmed on July 27, 1986, when Queen became the first major rock band to play a show behind the Iron Curtain. Of course, it’s also quite possible that May will have a change of heart. If so, he’ll be far from the last rock star to launch a tour after claiming to be done.