Roger Taylor has opened up about the chances of Queen touring again.
The legendary band last hit the road in North America in 2023, as part of their “ambitious” ‘Rhapsody Tour’ with Adam Lambert. The tour came to the UK and Europe in 2022, while their most recent live shows took place in Asia in early 2024.
Now, Taylor has commented on the future of the band, telling BBC Radio 2: “Well, it is a big machine to gear up, if you know what I mean.”
He went on to say: “I think it’s more down to Brian [May] than me. I love playing live. I enjoy it, always have.”
Taylor went on to say the possibility of a future tour is largely down to how May “feels about it”, before giving it his approval, adding, “So if we both wanna do it, I’d be happy to. But we’ll see. Never say never.”
The drummer then praised Lambert, saying, “We have been working for a while with Adam Lambert, who has the most incredible voice.”
It comes after Brian May said earlier this year that he would refuse to tour in the US, reasoning that the country is a “dangerous place”.
Before that, he said that Queen would not headline Glastonbury Festival “because of the politics of the people who run it”. He cited founder Michael Eavis’ support of badger culling over the years.
“Unless that changes, I won’t do it,” May continued.
He revealed last autumn that Queen had worked on some new material with Lambert, and said they had considered bringing their live show to The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada. “ I’m very keen on the Sphere,” May explained. “It’s got my mind working.
May’s wife Anita Dobson implied in December that, despite Queen working on new music, it was unlikely that they would resume full-scale touring. “They will do little bits and bobs, but they won’t do those big tours,” she said.
May suffered a minor stroke in 2024, which he said came on “all of a sudden, out of the blue”. He explained that it left him without any control over one of his arms, and described it as “a little scary”. Last November, May said his health issues had served as a “wake-up call”.
Over the Christmas period, Queen released a never-before-heard festive song, ‘Not For Sale (Polar Bear)’. The band were also named as the UK’s most-played rock act of the 21st century back in October.
Lambert told NME earlier this year that there was “nothing going on at the moment with Queen” as the band are “all chilling” and taking some time away from writing new music.
Taylor himself is currently gearing up to release ‘Violence Insane In A Beautiful World’ – drummer’s seventh solo LP and his first since his 2021 studio effort ‘Outsider’. It is set to land on September 18 via Columbia. You can pre-order it here.
To celebrate the album, he’ll head out on his own UK tour later this year. You can find all the details here.
