Queen guitarist Brian May spoke to NME about Monday night’s Manchester terror attack, in which 22 people were killed and 59 injured at pop star Ariana Grande's concert.

Says Brian: “I woke up this morning and saw the news of Manchester, and the first thing I did was Tweet about it, just to say, you know, express my grief and my sympathy with the people. I mean, there were mums there that we're seeing online, that didn't even know if their child was alive or dead, it’s the most terrible thing. To me, it's almost impossible to imagine the kind of hatred that has to exist in someone if they would bomb children.

"I'm afraid I regard everything as an opportunity. Out of tragedy comes knowledge and realization. And, to me, 9/11 and all these terrible disasters are an opportunity to re-evaluate ourselves, and I think we failed to do that in 9/11, and we went on bombing people. Tony Blair. David Cameron still have this attitude that you can solve a violent situation by violence. I don't believe that. I believe we have to sweep all that away and start again.

"If we really think that we can solve this kind of violent behaviour by being violent ourselves and being racist and reacting in that way, then we are in for the most terrible tragedy for the world now, because this is how it escalates. To me, you have to break the cycle of violence and you have to treat horrific events with compassion, strangely enough. And I don't mean compassion for the person who did the bombing. I mean, you have to look at the world and say, 'What part do we play in the world?'

“Of course we have to tighten up security. We’ll be playing that arena in December, in Manchester. We’ve played it before, we’ll be playing in December. No we won’t cancel.”

Queen + Adam Lambert Tour Dates 2017:

June
23 - Phoenix, AZ - Gila River Arena
24 - Las Vegas, NV - T-Mobile Arena
26 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl
29 - San Jose, CA - SAP Center

July
1 - Seattle, WA - Key Arena
2 - Vancouver, BC - Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
4 - Edmonton, AB - Rogers Place
6 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center Arena
8 - Omaha, NE - CenturyLink Arena
9 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
13 - Chicago, IL - United Center
14 - St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
17 - Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
18 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre
20 - Detroit, MI - The Palace of Auburn Hills
21 - Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena
23 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
25 - Boston, MA - TD Garden
26 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
28 - New York, NY - Barclays Center
30 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center
31 - Washington D.C. - Verizon Center

August
2 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena
4 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
5 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center

November
1 - Prague, Czech Republic - O2 Arena
2 - Munich, Germany - Olympiahalle
4 - Budapest, Hungary - Sportarena
6 - Lodz, Poland - Atlas Arena
8 - Vienna, Austria - Stadhalle
10 - Bologna, Italy - Unipol Arena
12 - Luxembourg, Amneville - Galaxie
13 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Ziggo Dome
17 - Kaunas, Lithuania - Zalgiris Arena
25 - Dublin, Ireland - 3 Arena
26 - Belfast, Ireland - SSE Arena
28 - Liverpool, England - Echo Arena
30 - Birmingham, England - Barclaycard Arena

December
1 - Newcastle, England - Metro Radio Arena
3 - Glasgow, Scotland - The SSE Hydro
5 - Nottingham, England - Motorpoint Arena
6 - Leeds, England - First Direct Arena
8 - Sheffield, England - Motorpoint Arena
9 - Manchester, England - Arena
12 - London, England - 02 Arena
15 - London, England - The SSE Arena, Wembley