Brian May has said Queen will not tour again. The guitarist told The Times that he made the decision 18 months ago, which means the band’s show at the Tokyo Dome on 14 February 2024, the final night of the Queen + Adam Lambert Rhapsody world tour, is likely to stand as its last concert on tour. Queen + Adam Lambert has not played live since that night in Japan.
May said a death in his circle changed his thinking. A close family friend died while the band was in the United States, and the experience made him question the life of a touring musician. In his view, the price of touring is your own freedom. He told the newspaper he wants time for his wife, the actress Anita Dobson, for his grandchildren and for his work in astrophysics, and suggested that 50 years on the road may be enough.
He has not ruled out other ways of presenting the band’s music to large crowds. After a visit to the Sphere, the immersive venue, May said he had sketched out a complete Queen show for a space of that kind, and he believes an immersive experience could reach beyond time and place. He has serious doubts, though, about any project that would depend on artificial intelligence, and he described the data centres behind the technology as a great evil to fight.
The interview follows earlier signs that May was stepping back. In September 2025 he told Rolling Stone that five decades of touring had worn him out, and that he disliked waking up in hotel rooms feeling trapped, unable to leave when family problems came up at home. In January he told the Daily Mail that he would not cross the Atlantic to play, describing America as a dangerous place at present and not what it once was.
The other members of the line-up remain active. Drummer Roger Taylor has released a solo album, Violence Insane in a Beautiful World. Adam Lambert released an album called Adam in July and performed George Michael’s Freedom! ’90 at the MTV Video Music Awards. Queen also has archive projects in progress, including the concert film Queen Budapest, recorded on 27 July 1986, when Queen became the first major rock band to play behind the Iron Curtain.
