"I wouldn’t do Glastonbury because of the politics of the people who run it." Brian May rules out Queen performing at Glastonbury festival for the foreseeable future

(Image credit: Scott Legato/Getty Images)

Brian May has shot down any suggestion that Queen might grace a Glastonbury festival stage when the event returns in 2027.

The world-famous British festival has seen the likes of Guns N' Roses, Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and Paul McCartney headline in recent years, but Brian May doesn't foresee Queen at Worthy Farm any time soon.

The guitarist told the Daily Mail, "I wouldn't do Glastonbury next year because of the politics of the people who run it, unless that changes, I won't do it. They like killing badgers, and they think it's for sport and that's something I cannot support because we've been trying to save these badgers for years, and they are still being killed for years, so that's the reason we're missing out on it."

May is a committed animal rights activist, and he founded the Save Me Trust in 2010 to campaign against fox hunting and badger culling.

Asked by the Daily Mail if Queen had regularly turned down invitations to play Glastonbury, May responded, "I don't think the conversation of us doing has ever taken place because they know how I feel."

Queen and Adam Lambert haven't played a live show since February 14, 2024, when they closed out their hugely successful Rhapsody tour at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.

"I don't know when Queen will be back on stage, it's an unknown, we'll take it day by day," May says. "It was time to take a break and spend time with family, take stock."

The guitarist is currently working on collating material for a box set reissue of Queen II, expected later this year.

On December 22, May gifted fans a pre-Christmas treat with the broadcast of a never-before-heard, unreleased song from Queen that will be included in the forthcoming box set.

The song, Not For Sale (Polar Bear), actually pre-dates the 1970 formation of Queen, and was co-written by May and vocalist/bassist Tim Staffell for Smile, a power trio completed by drummer Roger Taylor. According to the Queen Vault fan website, the song was first recorded by Smile during a session at De Lane Lea studios in London in September 1969.

Following Smile's break-up, May brought the song to his new band Queen, and the quartet reworked the song with the guitarist singing lead vocals on the verses, and frontman Freddie Mercury singing the chorus.

May shared what he described as a "work-in-progress" version of the song at the close of his December 22 show on Planet Rock radio.

Queen - Polar Bear (2025 Planet Rock Broadcast) [Work In Progress Mix] - YouTube

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A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.

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