Brian May confirms Queen will not tour again after 50 years on stage
Queen guitarist Brian May stated that the band has ended its live touring career after half a century, citing personal priorities, family commitments and astrophysics research.
End of half a century on the road
Queen guitarist Brian May has confirmed that the band will not embark on any future concert tours, ending half a century of live performances that began in 1971. In an interview with The Times, the 79-year-old musician stated that he finalized his decision 18 months ago to step away permanently from long-distance touring. The decision establishes the band's show at the Tokyo Dome on 14 February 2024 as their final tour performance. That concert concluded the 109-date Rhapsody Tour across North America, Europe, and Oceania alongside vocalist Adam Lambert. The collaboration with Lambert began after a joint performance at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast in November 2011, eventually filling stadiums worldwide following the 2018 Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which grossed nearly one billion dollars.
Sacrificing personal freedom
May cited family commitments, personal autonomy, and academic pursuits as the core reasons behind ending his touring schedule. The definitive catalyst occurred during a tour in the United States, when a close family friend died and tour management informed May that the schedule prevented him from returning home to attend to the bereavement. May stated that maintaining such commitments required an unsustainable loss of independence, prioritizing instead his time with his wife, actress Anita Dobson, his grandchildren, and his work in astrophysics.
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. I have a wife, grandchildren, and a lot of astrophysics I want to do, so I'm thinking maybe 50 years is enough.
- Queen and Adam Lambert perform together at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast
- Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody is released in cinemas
- Queen + Adam Lambert conclude their 109-date Rhapsody Tour at the Tokyo Dome
- Brian May reveals doubts regarding extended touring during a Rolling Stone interview
- Brian May confirms the permanent end of Queen concert tours in The Times
Health considerations and previous band remarks
The formal retirement from touring follows years of questions regarding the endurance of the band's founding members. May suffered a minor stroke in 2024 that briefly caused a total loss of arm control before he recovered. In September 2025, May told Rolling Stone that he felt trapped in hotel rooms during long campaigns and questioned whether he wanted to continue touring. Drummer Roger Taylor had addressed farewell tour speculation earlier that summer, while Dobson told The Mirror that the band would limit itself to small-scale appearances rather than large global tours as the members grew older.
Immersive concepts and opposition to artificial intelligence
Despite ruling out live touring, May indicated that Queen's music could still appear in specialized technological formats. Following a visit to the Sphere in Las Vegas, May created concept sketches for a venue-based Queen production capable of recreating the band's catalog without the physical strain of travel. However, May expressed reluctance about developing such projects due to their reliance on artificial intelligence tools. In August, May criticized Meta AI after generating an alternative cover for Queen's 1980 album The Game, arguing that data centers harm the environment and urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham to restrict AI infrastructure in the United Kingdom.
