Legendary Queen guitarist Brian May declared that the US has become too much of a \u201cdangerous place\u201d for his band to tour in the near future. <\/p>\n
May, 78, said that Queen, who last toured with American Idol alum Adam Lambert in 2023, did not come to the decision lightly when they ruled out playing gigs in America.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerica is a dangerous place at the moment, so you have to take that into account,\u201d May told the Daily Mail<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n Brian May attends the Cirque du Soleil \u201cOVO\u201d VIP premiere at Royal Albert Hall on Jan. 14, 2026 in London, England. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very sad because I feel like Queen grew up in America and we love it, but it\u2019s not what it was. Everyone is thinking twice about going there at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n May did not specify what he considers unsafe about the US that would prevent Queen from touring there again.<\/p>\n The guitarist\u2019s comments come amid the rise in anti-ICE protests across America and the\u00a0fatal shootings\u00a0of Renee Good <\/a>and Alex Pretti<\/a> by federal agents in Minneapolis earlier this month.<\/p>\n However, the rocker did open up about another place he refuses to perform.<\/p>\n May said political differences would prevent him from ever performing at the world-renowned Glastonbury Festival, which is held annually in the UK.<\/p>\n May of Queen performs during the \u201cWe Will Rock You\u201d musical premiere at Stage Palladium Theater on Oct. 17, 2025, in Stuttgart, Germany. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t do Glastonbury next year because of the politics of the people who run it. Unless that changes, I won\u2019t do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey like killing badgers, and they think it\u2019s for sport and that\u2019s something I cannot support because we\u2019ve been trying to save these badgers for years, and they are still being killed, so that\u2019s the reason we\u2019re missing out on it.\u201d<\/p>\n A longtime animal rights activist, the guitarist founded the Save Me Trust to campaign for the rights of foxes and badgers and later quit his role as vice president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) over what he described as \u201cappalling\u201d animal welfare standards on farms approved under its \u201cassured\u201d scheme, according to the Daily Mail.<\/p>\n Asked whether the band had ever turned down the gig, May said it had never been discussed.<\/p>\n L-R) Drummer Roger Taylor, singer Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, and bassist John Deacon of British rock band Queen pose in London, England, in 1973. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the conversation of us doing it has ever taken place because they know how I feel,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n Although May has only openly ruled out the US and Glastonbury Festival for Queen performances, his wife of 26 years, Anita Dobson, may welcome the move, having recently said she pleaded with the 78-year-old to stop touring two years after he suffered a stroke. <\/p>\n \u201cI want him home,\u201d Dobson said.<\/p>\n Adam Lambert performs alongside Brian May of Queen at ANZ Stadium on Feb. 15, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. WireImage<\/p>\n May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor has been touring with Lambert as \u201cQueen + Adam Lambert\u201d since 2012, with the American Idol alum taking over vocals for rock icon Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991.<\/p>\n The band wrapped up its most recent tour in February 2024, closing with a final show at the Tokyo Dome in Japan during the \u201cRhapsody Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked when the band might return, May said he was unsure but believes it is not over.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was time to take a break and spend time with family, take stock,\u201d he told the Daily Mail. \u201cI don\u2019t know when Queen will be back on stage \u2013 it\u2019s an unknown. We\u2019ll take it day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n As for any new music Queen might be working on in the meantime, May alluded that something might be in the works.<\/p>\n \u201cBut never say never about not coming back, the rebuild of Queen Two is coming back, and there are a couple of things you haven\u2019t heard,\u201d the rocker shared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legendary Queen guitarist Brian May declared that the US has become too much of a \u201cdangerous place\u201d for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[71233,23,86187,7069,88,216,72395,12249,1049],"class_list":["post-438452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-adam-lambert","tag-america","tag-brian-may","tag-concert","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-queen","tag-rock-and-roll","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}