Watch Pharrell, Kylie Minogue, Brian Wilson, Florence Welch, Lorde, A Tiger And More, In A Ridiculously Expensive Promo For BBC Music

Pharrell Williams. Sir Elton John. Lorde. Chris Martin. Florence Welch. Brian Wilson. Stevie Wonder. Kylie Minogue. Jools Holland. One Direction. Chrissie Hynde. Dave Grohl. Sam Smith.

Perhaps the most insane part of the enormous promo clip below, which was released overnight to launch BBC’s mostly digital music initiative to a global audience, is they somehow managed to shoot it without Bono getting involved.

Set in the Alexandra Palace Theatre in North London, where the BBC made its first broadcast from over 90 years ago, the  27 star cameos — dubbed ‘The Impossible Orchestra’, and backed by the 80-piece BBC Concert Orchestra — were shot via green screen, with some of the artists meeting for the first time at photo shoots to promote the clip.

In a broadcasting first, ‘God Only Knows’ was broadcast simultaneously across all of BBC’s TV and radio assets; with the artists giving their time for free, it will be released as a charity single to raise money for Children In Need.

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