In one of the longest-awaited musical reunions, Swedish pop legend ABBA returned to the concert stage on Friday in London but only as an avatar of his shimmering 1970 self. Shiny, sparkly outfits and boots.
While fans will get to hear the quartet’s real vocals, the band won’t be on stage. Concertgoers will see “ABBAtars” projected in holograms, looking like they did at the height of their fame.
“We put our heart and soul into these avatars and they’ll take over now,” 77-year-old band member Bjorn Ulvaeus told AFP in an interview in Stockholm ahead of the premiere. .
Fans will once again be able to see Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad – whose initials first made up the ABBA name – perform hits from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as as their recent comeback album, at the “ABBA Voyage” Show in London.
The group announced their reunion last September, releasing the new singles “I still have believe in you” and “Don’t shut me down”.
They then released their 10-track album “Voyage” two months later and announced plans for a high-tech concert at a specially constructed London arena.
– On the tent –
Other concert hologram efforts have received rather lukewarm reviews, but the team hopes fans will feel they’re seeing the real deal.
“This is one of the boldest projects anyone has ever worked on in the music industry,” says Ulvaeus, who wrote most of the group’s biggest hits with Benny Andersson.
“How it will be received by the audience, I have no clue,” he said.
“But I think they’ll feel an emotional pull from the avatars, they’ll see the avatars as real people.”
In addition to re-recording their songs for the show, the quartet spent hours in the studio dressed as cheetahs, recording their movements digitally to recreate them on stage.
The avatars will appear in the band’s 1970s kitsch outfits and are also expected to have no futuristic styling, according to the trailer.
The show will run seven days a week until early October at the purpose-built ABBA Arena theater in east London.
“I don’t know about the others, but I, myself, felt more anxious a month ago than now,” Ulvaeus said, adding: “I know we did our best. “
– ‘Almost like someone else’ –
The hologram is the product of a multi-year project, designed in collaboration with a special effects company founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas.
The concert was recorded with 160 cameras and 5 weeks of performances.
For Ulvaeus, who is also staging a circus musical in Stockholm about Pippi Stockings, the protagonist of the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren’s series of children’s books of the same name, the large number of archival ABBA scenes means no strange to watch 40-year-old younger on stage.
“For most people, that would probably be very strange, but I’ve seen my youthful self almost every day, all my life. Ever since we broke up, whether in form or in form. one way or another, in some picture somewhere.”
“So I got used to ‘him.'”
“He was almost like a different person – he was me yes, but he was also a different person.
“And when I see my avatar on stage, it really becomes a mixture: It’s like I’ve brought life to this guy that we see on screen.”
ABBA entered the international scene in 1974 when they won the Eurovision Song Contest with “Waterloo”, backed by a huge British vote.
They went on to record a string of hits, including “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!”, “Dancing Queen” and “The Winner Takes it All”, before disbanding in 1982.
They’ve long shied away from a reunion despite the music’s enduring popularity, spurred on by a hit 1992 compilation album, “Mamma Mia!” film starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan and a supporting musical.
Having sold hundreds of millions of albums over 50 years, ABBA has helped put Sweden’s pop industry on the map.
The country remains the third largest music exporter after the United States and the United Kingdom.
In London, concert-goers will be treated to a 90-minute performance, with dozens of live musicians on stage supporting avatars.
Will the quartet ever perform together again for real?
“ABBA doesn’t have a plan. It’s how it is,” Ulvaeus said.
