The Story of ABBA - Chapter 10
Chapter 10
On April 27, 2018, ABBA
announced that they had written two new songs to be included in a new hologram
show, which they planned to present at the end of the year.
First, due to a delay in
technical setup and then due to Covid-19, we didn't hear any more until
September 2, 2021.
2021
On September 2, 2021,
"I Still Have Faith in You" and "Don't Shut Me Down" were
revealed, the two new songs released as singles the following day.
But a new full-length
album titled "Voyage" was also announced, named after the hologram
show scheduled for May 2022.
ABBA Voyage (el álbum)
On November 5, 2021, the album "ABBA Voyage" was released, containing ten tracks, nine of which are new. The tenth is "Just A Notion," the complete, finished version recorded in 1978 and also released as a single a month before the album.
They say they've included
it so we can compare the ABBA of 1978 with the ABBA of 2021. And while there
are noticeable differences, as the sound of Michael Tretow is missing, they
don't alter the outcome of the new album, as the magic of ABBA's music can be
recognized from the first moment. The album has received good reviews from the
press and is a commercial success. According to the IFPI, the global voice of
the recording industry, Voyage is the eighth best-selling album worldwide
across all formats.
Later in the year,
"Little Things" was released as a single and video. It ends with a
children's choir singing about BAO's "Godnattvisa." It is a Christmas
song, the rights to which have also been assigned to UNICEF.
2022
ABBA Voyage (el concierto)
On May 26, 2022, ABBA
Voyage finally premieres in London in holograms. A 105-minute concert where
ABBA appears on stage in the form of holograms and sings twenty of their
greatest hits, from "Waterloo" to "Don't Shut Me Down”.
Although they are
holograms, they are exact replicas of the four members of ABBA, with their spectacular
mid-70s look. Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Frida have had to work very hard,
wearing suits with sensors to capture their every movement. They danced to all
the songs in the show, having to learn new choreography to look splendid in
concert. All of this was done in front of 180 cameras so that, after a complex
and innovative process, computers could reproduce them as faithfully as
possible and obtain a result never seen before, which has impressed everyone,
and even other musicians have become interested in the technique.
A special auditorium, the
ABBA Arena, with a capacity of 3,000 people, has also been designed to project
images and achieve exceptional lighting and sound effects, using the most
innovative technology ever seen. Furthermore, this hall is dismountable, allowing
it to be converted into a traveling concert in the future.
ABBA has chosen 20 songs,
most of which are represented by holograms, only a few are video montages, two
are represented with an animation that tells a story, and one song is performed
live by the choir on stage.
An orchestra performs the
music live every night, which is the only thing that is live.
ABBA's holograms and vocals come from the recordings of their studio albums, which is what Björn and Benny have always wanted: to reproduce their studio albums in concert!
For the concert, exquisite
new costumes have also been created. Nothing has been left to chance, from the
visuals, the surround sound, the choreography, the animations, the lights that
surround you, and the special effects. They make you feel like you're part of
the show, thrilling you throughout the entire concert. You even forget that
they're holograms, making you believe ABBA is there on stage. You feel like the
Dancing Queen of the scene. Whether you're a fan or not, it's a spectacle worth
seeing.
ABBA was present for the
show's premiere.
We'll do a brief recap
from September 2022 to September of this year.
After the premiere of
ABBA's London concerts, each of its members has gradually recovered their
routines and gradually disappeared from the music scene.
In 2022, Björn translated
the song "Hej Gamle Man" into English and recorded a video that was
presented at Tomas Ledin's 70th birthday.
Pippi el Musical
Björn and Benny's latest
musical recently premiered in Stockholm on July 12th and tells the story of the
world-famous Pippi Longstocking. The musical is set in a circus setting, which
is why it's being performed at Cirkus in Stockholm, which Björn recently
purchased.
There's also an album
featuring the musical's main songs and a CD single, both exclusively digital.
Standing ovation for the Kyiv Soloists and Benny Andersson at a benefit concert in support of Ukraine at Stockholm's Stockholm Concert Hall on the 27th March 2022.
2023
In 2023, Benny and BAO
made two television appearances:
On the program "Vilket
liv" dedicated to Tommy Körberg, where he was surprised to discover that
his BAO friends were waiting to perform "Allt Syns När Man Är Naken"
with him.
But BAO rose to prominence
by participating in the last four programs of "På Spåret," which is very
popular in Sweden and allowed us to see BAO performing, with guests, songs that
were hits in Sweden.
Furthermore, Björn wrote
the lyrics for the song "I Had It All and Let It Go" for Benjamin
Ingroso, which Benjamin then performed for him.
Björn added the song
"Gutta-Perka" to the Pippi at Cirkus album, performed by Kiana, a
young Australian singer.
In May, ABBA Voyage
celebrated its first anniversary, with over a million visitors and a resounding
commercial success. For the occasion, Björn, Benny, and Frida attended the
anniversary, where only fans had been invited.
The ABBA Museum was also
celebrating its tenth anniversary with a special event for fans and an ABBA Day
celebration at the same time. The museum opened an exhibition about ABBA
Voyage, including several of the original costumes worn at the concerts.
Starting in 2022, you can
purchase the rights to Mamma Mia the Musical and adapt it to your liking
without having to follow the set and arrangements of the original version. In
this way, several productions have been born, like the one in Madrid.
On August 31, 2023,
Agnetha gave us a new song, "Where Do We Go From Here?", included in
the new edition of the album A.
The album was released in
October to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the original album under the
title A+, which contains alternative versions of the original songs. Agnetha
promoted this event by participating in a BBC radio show, and a Barbie-style
animated manga was created for the new song.
On September 15, King Carl
XVI Gustaf of Sweden celebrated his 50th anniversary of reign. For the
occasion, he asked Björn and Benny to write a song, "Buller O Bång,"
which was performed that same day by students of the Royal Academy of Music in
Stockholm.
2024
On April 6, 2024, the 50th
anniversary of "Waterloo's" victory in the Eurovision Song Contest
was celebrated. At the event, Benny played a new version of the song on the
piano, which was performed simultaneously in several European cities.
To celebrate, Universal
released the compilation "ABBA The Singles" on CD, including the
latest singles.
In April, BAO released a new single called "Vårarna Som Försvann" and in September, "Lagt Kort Ligger”.
Finally, a new BAO album, "Alla Kan Dansa," was released, containing 12 new songs, some of which would be featured on a special SVT program.
ABBA Voyage's second
anniversary was celebrated with a Q&A session. with Björn and Benny.
On May 31, ABBA received
the Order of Vasaa, Sweden's highest royal honor, for their commitment to
music.
ABBA released the DVD
"ABBA Against The Odds" with the BBC program, which previously aired
on television.
The only musical
development, for now, in 2025 is Benny's participation in the program
"Sverige Och Kriget," for which Benny wrote the theme song.
On May 27, 2025, the third anniversary of ABBA Voyage was celebrated, with Benny and Frida in attendance. For this occasion, the concert setlist has been modified, adding two songs and removing one from the previous performance.
Mamma Mia returns to Broadway after a ten-year absence, and the musical Chess played in Dalhalla during the summer and will be performing in New York soon.
Dear friends, this
concludes the update on ABBA's history through their songs. We'll continue with
more updates as events unfold. See you later!
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