The surprising reason Queen will never play Glastonbury Festival

16 January 2026, 11:30 | Updated: 16 January 2026, 12:00

Brian May will not be badgered into playing Glastonbury any time soon.

The first Glastonbury Festival took place in 1970 and over the decades has become one of the most famous music events on the planet.

That was the same year that Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor formed Queen (John Deacon would follow a year later), but both before and after Freddie's tragic death in 1991, the band never played the festival once.

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Glastonbury wasn't actually running for much of Queen's heyday, with it disappearing after the 1971 event and only returning in 1977 as a low key free festival. It had a proper resurgence as a major festival a couple of years after that.

With the greatest of respect to those who topped the bill, in the 1980s it's fair to say that Queen were likely too big for Glastonbury, playing their own sell-out stadium shows across the world.

Into the 1990s and beyond, the festival has made a point of snaffling major rock names to headline the Pyramid Stage, including the likes of Rod Stewart (twice), U2, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney (twice), Elton John, The Who (twice), and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, among others.

After a stint (and album) with Paul Rodgers fronting the group, Queen + Adam Lambert have toured regularly since the former American Idol star joined the group in 2011.

But while theres been plenty of speculation that the current Queen lineup might play Glastonbury Festival, Brian May has repeatedly shut down the suggestion.

And it's not because the band believe they're bigger than the event, or are too picky about their sound and video setup.

It's all because of badgers.

For years, Brian May had hinted that he'd like to play the festival, saying that only scheduling issues had got in the way.

“Look, these things get put on the table," May told Bang Showbiz in May 2015.

"It would be interesting to do Glastonbury if we were an operational unit at the time. You see, this year Adam's off doing his solo work at the moment so it wouldn’t have worked. You only look at things that are possible logistically at the time."

Adam Lambert himself added to Alan Carr a few months later: "Why do we even care about the rumours baby? I don’t know! That's the first time hearing of it so I don't know. If they invited me, yes of course I would."

Back in 2009, Brian May even suggested that he could pop up in Pilton with Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant.

"I'd play with Robert any time and when we have played together he’s wonderful," he said after Plant said he was exploring options of who he could perform with if he rocked up at the festival.

"Robert is a rock god and an inspiration to us all, always will be."

But in 2016, that all changed. And badgers were the culprit.

As a dairy farmer, Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis had expressed his support for the government's culling of badgers, which aimed to stop the spread of bovine tuberculosis.

May had been a long-time animal welfare activist. In 2010 he founded the organisation Save Me, which was especially focused on preventing the culling of badgers and hunting of foxes.

In March 2012, he wrote the foreword of a paper urging the government to reconsider its culling plans, arguing that it simply didn't work.

He continued to fight for the critters, recording the single 'Save the Badger Badger Badger' with actor Brian Blessed and cartoonist Jonti "Weebl" Picking in 2013.

That was the same year he launched the 'Badger Swagger' campaign alongside Guns N' Roses star Slash and Sir David Attenborough as supergroup Artful Badger and Friends.

May would later front a 2024 TV documentary Brian May: The Badgers, the Farmers and Me.

"I have a problem with the organisers' attitude to animals because of the badger cull, so I wouldn't get involved with them," May told the Evening Standard in 2016.

In response, Michael Eavis is said to have called May a "danger to farming".

Brian May told Zoe Ball in 2019: "No, we won’t [play at Glastonbury], and there are lots of reasons for that.

Save The Badger Badger Badger : animated music video : MrWeebl

"One is that Michael Eavis has frequently insulted me and I don’t really particularly enjoy that. What bothers me more is that he is in favour of the badger cull, which I regard as a tragedy and unnecessary crime against wildlife."

In 2023, he added to The Sun: "Would I ever do it? No. As the man who runs it advocates killing badgers for no good reason and I could never level with that. Have they tried to book us? I think the feeling is mutual so I think they understand how I feel."

A few months later he said that the door wasn't closed completely, but it would need a change from the Eavises on the whole badger issue.

"You can never say never, but it’s a very big matter of principle to me," May told The Guardian.

David Attenborough, Brian May, Slash, Shara Nelson, and Kerry Ellis - Badger Swagger

"I am convinced, more than ever, that the badger cull is the greatest crime this country has ever committed against wildlife. It’s completely pointless and the tragedy is immense: you’re talking about nearly half a million native animals killed and it’s not benefited farmers one bit.

"The fact that Michael Eavis supports badger-culling is difficult for me to swallow. I don't really want to endorse his festival, but it's not impossible that we could sit down and talk. I'll talk to anyone – that’s the way we go forward."

And as the badger culls – and the Eavises' presumed support – still continue, May hasn't changed his mind.

Glastonbury is taking a year off in 2026, but the guitarist has ruled out his band making appearance at the 2027 event.

"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," he told the Daily Mail.

"They like killing badgers, and they think it's for sport and that's something I cannot support.

"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."

On whether he's turned down a request from the festival, May replied: "I don't think the conversation of us doing has ever taken place because they know how I feel."