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Queen’s Brian May has declared that he has no desire to tour again as he is done with “sacrificing freedom”.
The legendary guitarist spoke about the band’s future while explaining that he wanted to spend more time with his family and on astrophysics.
“I made a decision 18 months ago that I didn’t want to tour again,” May, 79, told the Times on Saturday.
“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.’”
May said that while he loved to perform and travel, “the trade-off is sacrificing your freedom. I have a wife [Anita Dobson], grandchildren and a lot of astrophysics I want to do, so I’m thinking maybe 50 years is enough.”
However, May suggested that the rock band, which has toured with different singers – first Paul Rodgers and then Adam Lambert – since the death of Freddie Mercury in 1991, could do something “fairly revolutionary” in creating a new experience for fans.
“Not as Abba did, but along those lines,” May said, referring to the hugely popular Abba Voyage experience, which uses holograms known as “Abbatars”, which “perform” at a purpose-built venue in London.
“Last year I went to the Sphere [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.”
May has been a vocal opponent of AI and has repeatedly urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to block usage of the technology “before it’s too late”.
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In August, he expressed his distaste for AI after checking what Meta AI would create when he asked it what the cover of Queen’s 1980 record The Game looked like.
“This is what it gave me! Good job, eh?” he wrote on Instagram. “So this is the kind of intelligence that will soon be ruling the world ??! Well, great. Maybe this is the time to realise WE ACTUALLY DON’T NEED AI !!!”
He continued: “I believe the price we are about to pay for this ‘inevitable’ development is way too high. We must not allow these hideous Data Centres to be built in the UK. They will destroy our beautiful country, like they are already destroying beautiful America.
“Dear Andy – you must stop it now. Before it’s too late.”
Queen last toured with Lambert as lead singer for their Rhapsody world tour, which concluded in February 2024.
Later that year, May suffered a “minor stroke” and temporarily lost movement in his left arm. In a health update shared on Alan Titchmarsh’s ITV show Love Your Weekend, he said he was lucky to have recovered.
“I’ve been lucky, I get these things, but I seem to be able to get out of them,” May said. “They give you a wake-up call.”
He returned to the stage in 2025 at Coachella festival, when he made a surprise appearance with Benson Boome for a rendition of Queen’s 1975 hit “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
