- Brian May’s Decision: He decided 18 months ago not to tour again due to personal reasons.
- Clarification on Touring: May clarified that he never stated Queen would never tour again.
- Future Performances: He is open to innovative live performance formats instead of traditional touring.
- Technological Concerns: May expressed concerns about using AI in future performances.
Brian May has clarified comments he made recently about the end of Queen’s touring career.
Speaking with The Times, the guitarist said that he came to his own conclusion within the last few years.
“I made a decision 18 months ago that I didn’t want to tour again,” he said. “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.”
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May’s words suggested this meant that Queen would not tour again, as various news outlets, including UCR, reported. But May then took to his social media to clarify what he meant.
“This is a misinterpretation of what I actually said,” he wrote on Instagram. “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!”
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May did explain in his interview with The Times that he is open to the idea of other ways of performing live — a replacement for traditional touring.
“We do want to do something fairly revolutionary,” he said. “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.”
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
