One of the Greatest Rock Bands of All Time May Be Done Touring: “Maybe 50 Years Is Enough”

Brian May, the famed guitarist of legendary rock band Queen, appears to be done with any future Queen tours. In a recent interview with The Times, May hinted that the era of Queen tours might be over, namely due to how much of his personal life he has sacrificed over the years for the sake of the band.

“I made a decision 18 months ago that I didn’t want to tour again,” May told The Times. “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.”

50 years is no joke. Queen formed way back in 1970, about 56 years ago. The band has more or less toured non-stop throughout those 56 years, even after the passing of their famed frontman, Freddie Mercury, in 1991. Few would fault May for wanting to hang it up.

Back in July, Roger Taylor, Queen’s famed drummer, echoed that whether or not a future Queen tour would happen was up to May.

“Really, I think it’s more down to Brian [May] than me,” Taylor told BBC Radio 2. “I love playing live. I enjoy it, always have. … So if we both wanna do it, I’d be happy to. But we’ll see. Never say never.”

Never say never indeed, according to some clarification from May later in The Times interview.

Is Queen Really Done Touring for Good?

Fortunately, May clarified in the interview that Queen will likely continue on in some fashion, possibly just without a traditional large-scale tour schedule in the future.

“We do want to do something fairly revolutionary… Not as ABBA did [using digital avatars], but along those lines,” May said. “Last year I went to the Sphere, 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.”

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