When Queen + Adam Lambert wrapped up their 109-date Rhapsody Tour at Japan’s Tokyo Dome on Feb. 14, 2024, it didn’t feel like an event of enormous significance. The revitalized group had been gigging consistently since first coming together in 2012, and they grew in popularity with each outing until the 2018 Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody — which, while factually-challenged, grossed nearly a billon dollars worldwide — supersized their audiences.
Against all odds, and after decades of attempts, the band was finally packing many of the same stadiums as Queen at their peak. It seemed like another tour announcement was imminent.
But a little over a year later, Queen guitarist Brian May told Rolling Stone he was having severe doubts about the group’s future as a touring act. “I’ve had 50 years of touring and there’s a part of me that thinks it’s enough,” he said. “I don’t like the idea that you wake up in your hotel room and you’re trapped. I had a few experiences recently where stuff happened at home with my family and I could not go home. It got under my skin and I just thought, ‘I’m not sure if I want this anymore.’ I feel like I’ve given up my freedom too many times.”
This felt like the setup for a massive farewell tour, one that could have grossed them hundreds of millions of dollars. But earlier this week, May stunned fans by definitively stating he was done in an interview with The Times.
“I made a decision 18 months ago that I didn’t want to tour again,” May 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.”
Presuming he doesn’t change his mind, that transforms the Tokyo Dome concert into the final chapter of a saga that the band started back in 1971. Like all Queen + Adam Lambert shows, it was very heavy on hits like “Radio Gaga,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” and “Somebody to Love.” And in keeping with grand Queen tradition, they encored with a medley of “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions,” though they mixed it up by adding in a brief reprise of “Radio Gaga” to the middle.
As you can see from this fan-shot video, Lambert respects Mercury’s legacy by nailing every note. At the end, confetti rains over the audience while the band comes together for a bow as “God Save the Queen” plays over the PA. Percussionist Tyler Warren, bassist Neil Fairclough, and keyboardist Spike Edney then step up for their own moment, Lambert comes to the front for a solo bow, and finally Brian May and Roger Taylor put their arms around each other one last time before walking offstage together. (You can see every moment of the show here.)
Is this truly the end? It’s impossible to say for sure. One can easily imagine a Wembley Stadium blowout, similar to the 1992 Freddie Mercury tribute show, where they bring out a bunch of guest vocalists and give fans the chance to say goodbye. In a dream world, reclusive bassist John Deacon would even play a role.
But if they don’t feel like organizing such a thing, May and Taylor gave the world a lot more Queen than anyone had the right to expect when Mercury died in 1991. Sure, the Paul Rogers years were a little rough, and we’d all like to forget their 2008 album The Cosmos Rocks. But once fate brought Adam Lambert into their orbit via American Idol, everything changed. It allowed fans of all ages to experience the majesty of a genuine Queen concert. And if May and Taylor want to step aside now, they have earned that right. But if Lambert wants to form a group like Adam Lambert’s Queen Experience, he’ll have no trouble selling tickets. In one form or another, this music is going to live forever.
