Brian May has clarified recent comments that led fans to believe his touring days with Queen were over, telling Rolling Stone that he never ruled out future tours with the band. The guitarist said he is currently enjoying a break from the road but remains open to performing again.
May’s remarks came after statements he made were misinterpreted by some as a final goodbye to touring. He was asked directly about the impression that he had sworn off touring with Queen.
Question: “So people were under the impression recently that you swore off touring with Queen.”
“Oh, yeah, I got kind of misinterpreted, slightly misquoted there,” May said. “I never said we’ll never tour again. I don’t know how I could ever say that. I couldn’t. I feel like I’m on a break, and I’m enjoying my break, and I’m getting to do all the things which I dreamed of doing when there was no time all those years on the road.”
“So I’m getting to see my kids, I’m getting to see my grandchildren, getting to do a lot of projects on the side which I’ve dreamed of doing. I get to do more astrophysics. I get to do more animal welfare and animal campaigning work. And all round, it’s been a good decision for me so far.”
“Maybe one day I’m gonna wake up and think, ‘Ah, maybe we should get out on the road.’ But I don’t think I will be committing to nine-month-long tours again. I think I’ll be happy just doing — I mean, at the moment I get to play just when I want to, which is not a bad deal really. I just played with Andrea Bocelli at the Starmus Festival. It’s great fun. It’s a different kind of challenge altogether. And I played with Benson Boone, which I really enjoyed, and I get to do loads of stuff in the studio.”
May was also asked about a potential Sphere residency, an idea he had previously expressed interest in exploring.
Question: “What about the Sphere? You were fairly warm on that idea when we last spoke.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what to tell you about that,” he said. “I don’t even know where we are on that. I really don’t. Things change so fast.”
“I’m still very much caught up with the idea of this 360-degree surround environment for music, and particularly for us in some kind of retrospective. It wouldn’t be like the ABBA thing. Everybody says, ‘Oh, you’re gonna do what ABBA did.'”
“But no, it would be something different from that, because we have a different history and a different path or whatever. And I still have a template in my head of what we could do, but I don’t think we’re progressing very fast on it for various other reasons. So you’re kind of getting ‘I don’t know’ from me.”
May made these comments as he discussed his current life away from Queen’s traditional touring schedule. The guitarist’s clarification addresses the confusion around his previous statements about the band’s future.
May’s comments come after Queen wrapped their Rhapsody Tour with a February 2024 show in Tokyo. The guitarist’s decision to step back from extensive touring followed a difficult experience during the band’s US tour when a close family friend died and he was unable to leave to be with his family. May decided 18 months before this interview that he no longer wanted to commit to traditional touring schedules.
Despite the break from the road, May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor have continued working together on band projects behind the scenes. The two have explored creating something they described as “fairly revolutionary,” including an immersive Queen experience inspired by Sphere in Las Vegas. May visited the venue and sketched out an entire Queen production concept, though concerns about artificial intelligence have complicated those plans. As May explained to Rolling Stone, there is little momentum toward making the Sphere residency a reality.
In October 2026, May performed with legendary tenor Andrea Bocelli at the Starmus Festival, where they performed Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever” and an Italian version of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Taylor, speaking in September 2025, had similarly rejected the idea of a farewell tour and expressed belief that Queen could continue. The drummer also revealed that the band had tried recording with Adam Lambert, though those sessions had not resulted in released material at that time.
