Noel Gallagher Covers Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” With The BBC Concert Orchestra: Watch

Tomorrow, Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds will release their new album Council Skies. That album rollout has led to lots of great Noel interviews, with spicy quotes about Matty Healy and about the Oasis reunion that isn’t happening. It’s also given us the unexpected spectacle of Noel Gallagher covering fellow Manchester legends Joy Division.

Today, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds paid a visit to the BBC Radio 2 Piano Room. Recently, that place has played host to a bunch of big stars, and they’ve recorded live-in-studio sessions with the BBC Concert Orchestra. There have been covers: Bono and the Edge doing ABBA, Depeche Mode doing Gordon Lightfoot, Suede doing Patti Smith.

In their Piano Room session, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds played their own single “Council Skies” with the BBC Concert Orchestra, and they also tried their own version of Joy Division’s iconic 1980 single “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” In his interview, Gallagher said that he’d been covering that song at home for years but that he wasn’t sure he could try it in public until he put together a demo version that he liked. Gallagher’s take on the song is nothing like the original, but I think it sounds really good.

Right now, the BBC hasn’t uploaded a full video of the “Love Will Tear Us Apart” cover. Below, though, you can watch a short clip and hear the whole thing. Also below, you can see Gallagher’s “Council Skies” video and Joy Division’s original “Love Will Tear Us Apart” video.

Council Skies is out 6/2 on Gallagher’s own Sour Mash Records.