SAN JOSE, Calif. — Queen fans treasure Brian May, the band’s longtime guitarist and author of some of the best-loved riffs and solos in classic rock history.

Yet, they aren’t likely to ever see May tour with Queen again.

The 79-year-old May reportedly has told The Times that he’s decided to stop touring.

“I made a decision 18 months ago that I didn’t want to tour again,” May reportedly 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 [the actress Anita Dobson], grandchildren, and a lot of astrophysics I want to do, so I’m thinking maybe 50 years is enough.”

But does that spell the end of Queen? Perhaps not.

The band is currently exploring some new avenues for how it might be possible to keep Queen music on the road.

“May and drummer Roger Taylor are working hard to figure out a solution, although May’s not too keen on the use of AI to bring their vision to life. Taylor told The Times that the pair wanted to do ‘something fairly revolutionary,’ along the lines of ABBA’s holographic Voyage experience,” according to a story published by Paste.

Of course, some might suggest that Queen would be perfect for a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Technically speaking, that wouldn’t constitute a tour — since it’s the fans who are doing the traveling, not the band. And, indeed, May appears to be interested in the Sphere, where Metallica just kicked of its multi-month residency over the weekend. But he also has some major reservations about the Las Vegas venue.

“Last year I went to the Sphere, my juices started flowing and I sketched out a whole Queen show,” May is quoted as saying in the Paste story based on The Times report. “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.

“(AI is) trashing our future. We all like AI. It helps us write emails. It’s even saved a few lives. But the harm it is bringing to the world is immense.”

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