40th anniversary of the official ABBA fan club

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ABBA fan club, Helga and Anita organized a weekend of festivities in Stockholm from April 16th to 19th, 2026.

400 fans attended, coming for at least one, two, three, or four days, depending on their availability.

On the first day, the first fans to arrive were invited to attend the Mamma Mia The Party show at Gröna Lund in the evening. Having seen it already, I didn’t go.

I can only share the video and photos posted on the fan club's Facebook page.

Some fans also took advantage of that day to visit Mono Music, where Benny and Ludvig gave them a warm welcome. They were probably getting ready for Saturday's concert.

On the second day, a Dolby Atmos demonstration of ABBA's songs took place at IMRSV studios. Eight groups of 50 people each could enjoy it in turn for an hour. That's why we had free time before or after. In my case, it was before, so I took the opportunity to stroll around Gamla Stan with some friends.

At 4:00 PM, I was at the IMRSV studios to listen to the songs in Dolby Atmos.

Dolby Atmos is a sound technology based on an array of speakers placed all around us (in front, behind, to the sides, and even above), allowing vocals and instruments to be positioned separately, offering a more realistic and detailed sound experience than traditional stereo.

Thanks to the large number of speakers, each instrument clearly audible, and the music is immersive.

(Estudio de Mono Music)

Bernard Lohr, Björn and Benny's current sound engineer, was in charge of converting the stereo tracks to Dolby Atmos. He had to use the old multitrack tapes, recorded on analog tape.

The recorders, as well as the tempo of the songs, weren't exactly the same, which took him a long time to figure out and improve. Benny gave Bernard a lot of freedom and knew the material so well that if there was even the slightest mistake, he pointed it out immediately, but otherwise, he seemed to be satisfied.

Bernard let us choose what we wanted to hear. In our case, it was "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!", "Fernando", "The Name of the Game", "I Still Have Faith In You", and "Dancing Queen". "Dancing Queen", with all its arrangements, is undoubtedly the best-sounding song and is very different from the original version. This was also the song that gave Bernard the most work due to the shortened or modified verses.

At the moment, only the songs from the albums ABBA Gold and ABBA Voyage exist in this format. You can already listen to "Mamma Mia", "Lay All Your Love On Me", and "Fernando" in this format on streaming platforms like Tidal.

It was a very good experience, especially because Bernard took the time to answer our questions.

Before the evening's event, Gerardo and I went to dinner at the Hard Rock Café, which has now moved across from the central train station, and we confirmed that Agnetha's coat is still there. Now you can see both sides. It's still the same as before; a bit difficult to recognize however, just as Agnetha wore it in 1985.

Afterwards, we got ready to spend the night at the ABBA Museum, which they opened exclusively for us fans.

There, we felt closer to our idols, enjoying their vast collection of memorabilia and participating in a fun scavenger hunt that allowed us to see the museum in detail, with prizes for the lucky ones.

At first, it was a lot of fun, but we got tired. Luckily, thanks to teamwork, we were all able to complete our questionnaires.

As with every traditional ABBA Day, we received a unique gift upon entering, which this year was a CD single of “Dancing Queen” with “Don’t Shut Me Down” as the B-side.

Now, the Museum has been updated and you can listen to audio guides in several languages on your own smartphone, featuring the voices of Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Frida created with artificial intelligence.

If you plan to visit, remember to bring your headphones...

They've also set up a selfie corner, where you can find ABBA costumes and props to take selfies with them. It's a brilliant, trendy idea that adds a fun touch.

Of course, we all ended up in the museum shop, where a 10% discount, and sometimes 20%, eased the financial burden, but not the luggage, which is so difficult to manage with some transport companies these days.

I didn't find anything that caught my eye, so I saved money on my wallet and my suitcase.

On Saturday, after a sumptuous breakfast in good company, we took advantage of the morning to stroll through Gamla Stan.

We tried to go to Bengans since it was Record Store Day, but a long queue kept us from going.

The big moment arrived, with a show lasting a total of 4.5 hours, featuring interviews, monologues, and special performances.
The show was held in the Intiman Room.

Although Helga and Anita greeted us, it was Anna Bromee who introduced the show. She is an actress who had notably directed a tribute show to Frida in 2018.

She began by treating us to a performance of "Dancing Queen," "Money, Money, Money," and "On and On and On."

The first monologue was given by Ingmarie Hallin, who was in charge of costumes in 1977 and the first director of the ABBA Museum.

She spoke about her work and shared some anecdotes from ABBA's 1977 tour and the opening of the Museum under her direction.

She explained that, during the tour to Japan, Discomate gifted a real kimono to Agnetha and another to Frida, and to demonstrate this, she showed us Frida’s kimono on one of their friends.

Afterwards, we were treated to a wonderful performance by Anki Albertson, the first singer of Mamma Mia The Party, accompanied on piano by Emanuel Olsson, also a musician from Mamma Mia The Party, performing "S.O.S." and "Kan Man Ha En Solkatt I En Bur" (the Swedish version of "Slipping Through My Fingers").

Next, photographer Anders Hanser presented a collection of photographs while recounting his experience working with ABBA and his meeting with Görel, who was his wife for many years. Their children have Benny and Frida as godparents.

Finally, the much-anticipated interview with Görel Hanser arrived, accompanied by Mia Segolsson. They answered questions that fans had previously submitted on the Club's Facebook page.

Görel, who worked with Stikkan and ABBA from a very young age and is now their manager, spoke with great emotion about her life with the members of ABBA.

Mia, who is in charge of ABBA at Universal Music, hinted, among other interesting answers, that Universal will soon release anniversary editions of "Dancing Queen" and "The Movie."

She reiterated, as she did in 2016, that they were working on the concerts in Australia, searching for good master recordings… They ended up giving Helga and Anita a surprise box, the contents of which remain a mystery.

Finally, it was Anders Eljas's turn for his monologue. Anders worked with Björn and Benny as arranger, from ABBA to Kristina från Duvemåla. He spoke about his musical career with ABBA and demonstrated samples of his arrangements for Björn and Benny on his synthesizer. He was very enthusiastic; they had to ask him to finish soon, and he couldn't complete his presentation, which was otherwise fascinating.

And the biggest surprise came in the most unexpected way:

No, it wasn't Björn and Benny who took to the stage, as we were really expecting, but Charlie, Felix, and Peter Gronvall, Benny's son and grandsons.

Malin Odedal, Benny's granddaughter with his first wife, and Maja Nilsson Rune, presumably a family friend, joined them on vocals, and Jan Bentsson, a musician from the Benny Andersson Orchestra, with his wonderful flute, delighted us with a mini-concert to put the finishing touch on such an extraordinary event.

As the icing on the cake, Ludvig Andersson, Benny's second son, joined the band, which meant that all of Benny's musical family members were there, except for Nanne, who was performing that day at the Cirkus in Stockholm.
Malin and Maja kicked things off with "The Piper," followed by Malin with "Wrap Your Arms Around Me," and Maja with "I Know There's Something Going On." Malin continued with "Alska Mej," and then Aparicio Ludvig joined them to perform "Where the Whales Have Ceased to Sing." Malin and Maja returned to ABBA with "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" and during the instrumental break, Jan whistled an excerpt from "Golden Bangkok" from the musical Chess on his flute.

Charlie finished the concert with "Does Your Mother Know?" and they all performed "Waterloo." Felix stayed on drums the whole time, and Peter played synthesizer. Ludvig and Charlie each had a guitar, which made all the live music sound like a concert.

The performances were so incredible that the fans did not want to leave, the applause and calls for an encore never stopped.

Peter couldn't refuse, and despite not being prepared, he ended the concert with a fantastic synthesizer version of "Arrival", while the fans joined in with the backing vocals.

An unforgettable afternoon in the life of an ABBA fan!

Since it wasn't possible to record or take photos at the event, I can only show you the videos and photos posted on the official fan club website.

This year, unlike in 2016, we weren't lucky enough to see Benny. We assume he didn't want to steal the spotlight from his family, who filled in very well.

Björn was in Oslo for the premiere of "Pippi Pär Cirkus".

That evening, we had booked a "Golden Hits" dinner show where we could mingle with the Swedes to sing local schlager hits and, why not, "Mamma Mia!" (they might have performed it just for us, since we were all dressed in ABBA-themed outfits).

The third and final day we had free time, and for fans who didn't know ABBA’s hometown, they were advised to visit some of the places mentioned in Sara Russell's Stockholm Guide.

That wasn't my case, so I took the opportunity to go with my friends to the Hotorget market, where you can find all kinds of second-hand items, including CDs and vinyl records.

Afterwards, we visited some record stores opened on Sundays to continue our search.

In the afternoon, some fans took advantage of Owe Sändstrom's presence at the Museum to go and see him.

That night, the big event culminated in an epic party at Mamma Mia the Party, where this time we, the fans, were the stars.

There, all the fans who attended, from all over the world, gathered, reunited with old friends, and also met new ones.

We were treated to a delicious Swedish dinner, which we enjoyed even more because of the wonderful setting.

The joy was palpable, it floated in the air. It was a heart-warming evening, filled with hours of dancing, laughter, and singing along to all the ABBA songs, proving once again that ABBA is THE BEST!

Just like at traditional ABBAdays, Alex Jones led us in clapping our hands to “As Good, As New.”

And we said goodbye in a circle with “The Way Old Friends Do”.

It's worth noting that, since the only way back to the city center is by tram 7, the atmosphere inside the tram was very lively this time.

Finally, on Monday, some fans were lucky enough to stroll around Stockholm before returning home, which wasn't the case for me since I had a flight at six in the morning.