Brian May Rules Out Any More Touring for Queen

Brian May has made one thing clear: as far as he's concerned, Queen is done touring, at least in the traditional way.

It's not a conclusion he came to recently, he explained to The Times: "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."

Not long after May said this, he posted a screenshot on social media of Rolling Stone's coverage of his words, describing it as "a misinterpretation of what I actually said."

He continued: "I have actually never said Queen won't ever tour again. I could never say never. I simply made a personal decision last year to take a break from touring. I've been making lots of music, and Roger [Taylor] and I are constantly working together on Queen projects behind the scenes. I don't know what the future holds. I'm ever open to new adventures."

Here's What Brian May Does Want to Do

To be fair, May emphasized to The Times that Queen will carry in some way, it just may be through less traditional — and more innovative — methods.

READ MORE: Queen's 10 Most Underrated Songs

"We do want to do something fairly revolutionary," May continued. "Not as ABBA did [with digital avatars], but along those lines. ... 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. ... Data centers are a massive evil and have to be fought."

What Does Roger Taylor Think?

Queen drummer Roger Taylor also doesn't know what the future looks like as far as live performing.

"Well, it is a big machine to gear up, if you know what I mean," he said on BBC Radio 2 back in July. "But, yeah, really, I think it's more down to Brian than me. 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."