Noel Gallagher turned down Olympics Closing Ceremony because he didn’t want to mime

Noel Gallagher has said he turned down the chance to perform at the Olympics closing ceremony because he was asked to mime.

Eyebrows were raised at the event on Sunday, which seen his brother Liam perform Oasis hit Wonderwall, which Noel had written.

The High Flying Birds frontman spoke about performing at the ceremony, saying he would ‘rather watch it on telly’ and jokingly referred to his brother’s band Beady Eye as ‘Stratford’s finest Oasis tribute band’.

Many fans were left wondering why Noel was not part of the show, until he broke his silence during an interview with XFM.

Speaking to the station, he said: “I was asked to do it a long time ago and, to be frank, they were being so secretive about it.”

“I was like ‘Who else is playing?’ and they were like ‘We can’t tell you, you’ve got to sign a confidentiality agreement’. It’s like it’s the Iran nuclear programme or something.

“And then they wanted me to do it acoustically – and then they wanted me to mime. And I’m all for miming in TV shows – but if you’re in a stadium with 80,000 people and you’re pretending? I can play live!

“I said (to one of the organisers) ‘Why do you want me to mime?’ and he said ‘It’s a big gig’. Really? I do this shit for a living.

“In the end, I was just like, you know what, I’d rather watch it on the telly.”

He made his comments ahead of an intimate show he performed for the station and told presenter Danny Wallace that he waited until late on Friday to give his approval for Beady Eye’s version.

“They had to re-record it and then send it to me. I did play a bit of cat and mouse with them for a few days – I took it ’til Friday night at 10 o’clock before I said yes and they were shitting it.”

Noel jokingly referred to Beady Eye as “Stratford’s finest Oasis tribute band.”