Following the announcement of their best of album Black Gold and UK and European tour earlier this month, Editors have today given fans a first taste of the deluxe version’s second disc, ‘Distance: The Acoustic Recordings’, with a gorgeous new version of ‘Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors’.

Black Gold, which will consist of 13 tracks from Editors 6 studio albums, alongside 3 brand new offerings, also comes in a deluxe 2CD version, including a second disc of 8 stripped back recordings of tracks from the band’s catalogue titled ‘Distance: The Acoustic Recordings’. 2007’s ‘Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors’ is the band’s highest-charting UK single and the Distance version is a fresh take on the classic indie rock anthem. Replacing Chris Urbanowicz’s energetic lead guitar with soft acoustic strumming, gentle piano and melancholy strings, the Distance version is a hauntingly beautiful ballad that retains the emotional intensity at the core of the original, with Tom Smith’s inimitable vocals soaring above the sensuous arrangement.

Remembering the creation of the original, Smith explains: “I remember looking out the back of a van on tour somewhere in England, and saw a group of smokers outside a hospital. I wrote down the observation my notebook. Then later, coming to write songs, there were a few things going on in my life, people around me getting poorly – older people – for the first time. So a lot of the songs were fixated on mortality. And to have that title on this big, grand indie-rock song and have that land in the Top Ten, was interesting.”

The band will be embarking on a 27 date European and UK Greatest Hits tour in early 2020, which will see them play shows in Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin and Glasgow, with a landmark performance at London’s SSE Arena Wembley set for Friday 28th February. The Manchester and Glasgow shows have swiftly sold out. Full tour schedule below.