Queen was honored as Laureate of the 2025 Polar Music Prize in Sweden Tuesday, with Brian May and Roger Taylor on hand to accept the honor.
"When we started our band ... we had ambitions, but never dreamed of the journey that was to follow,” Taylor said at the ceremony. “We were fortunate in the fact that our four wildly different personalities came together to achieve a wonderful chemistry."
Taylor noted that the honor “is exceptional in the fact that unlike other awards it recognizes the entirety of an artist’s career." He added, "What an honor to be included in the glittering cavalcade of previous laureates. ... We are so proud to be the recipients of this incredibly prestigious award."
Meanwhile, May reflected on the longevity of his career: "In this special moment, I contemplate how that younger Brian May in 1974 would have felt if he knew that we would be living this kind of dream 50 years in the future."
The night also featured performances celebrating the band. Adam Lambert, who’s toured with May and Taylor in recent years, performed "Who Wants To Live Forever" and "Another One Bites The Dust." Ghost’s Tobias Forge, Opeth guitarist Fredrik Åkesson and the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir performed the classic "Bohemian Rhapsody," and Swedish singers Erik Grönwall and Miriam Bryant performed "Stone Cold Crazy" and "The Show Must Go On," respectively.