Queen Guitarist Brian May Rules Out Future Tours After 50 Years on Stage
Queen guitarist Brian May announced at 79 that he is done touring after 50 years. Meanwhile, Roger Taylor hinted at a potential virtual or immersive show.
At 79, Brian May, the legendary guitarist of Queen, has decided to stop touring with the band. The decision came after a close family friend passed away, making May realize that touring prevented him from returning home even for a few days.
In a joint interview with Roger Taylor for The Times, the 79-year-old guitarist shared that this moment sealed his fate regarding his future on stage. "I made a decision 18 months ago that I don't want to tour again," May said. "A close family friend died while we were in the United States, so I told my tour manager, 'I'll just hop home for a few days and come back.' She looked me in the eye and said, 'You know you can't do that.' I love playing, I love traveling, but the price is giving up your freedom."
May added that life outside the band no longer leaves him with much desire to return to the road: "I have a wife, grandchildren, and a lot of astrophysics I want to do, so I think maybe 50 years is enough." According to reports, May performed with Queen on 18 tours, with his last time on stage with Queen + Adam Lambert taking place during The Rhapsody Tour, which concluded in Japan on February 14, 2024.
What's Next for Queen?
Meanwhile, 77-year-old Taylor hinted that Queen is still looking for a way to give fans a new experience without putting another heavy tour on the two veteran band members. The two were asked about the band's future after focusing on separate projects in recent years.
"We do want to do something quite revolutionary," Taylor said, cautiously comparing it to the virtual show ABBA Voyage, which is based on digital avatars of the Swedish band members. "Not like what ABBA did, but in that direction."
The problem, at least for now, is artificial intelligence. Taylor shared that last year he visited the Sphere in Las Vegas, the planetarium-like concert venue, and sketched out an entire Queen show. "I think an immersive experience is still on the cards and it can beat time and space, but at the moment you can't do it without AI, and I have serious concerns about that."
May himself has previously spoken about those exact concerns, especially around the environmental impact of the energy-guzzling data centers that power the technology. In an interview with Absolute Radio in September, he said: "I spent a lot of time designing what I thought could be a Queen show. I've kind of backed away from that now, because you can't do it without massive use of AI, with all the implications of that."
