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The return of the ABBA team. Voyage show in London. The first concert after 40 years

ABBA band members met with fans for the premiere of ABBA Voyage in London. This is the first of the planned unusual concerts, during which the band members will be replaced by avatars on the stage. Modern technology was used to create the show.

Agnetha, Frida, Benny and Bjorn from ABBA met after 14 years at the inaugural ABBA Voyage concert in London. A series of shows is a kind the band’s return to the stage after 40 years, although in the form of avatars.

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The ABBA team on the red carpetPAP / EPA / TOLGA AKMEN

ABBA and the show prepared from 2016

Frida, reports the BBC, watched the show with a big smile on her face as Benny clapped to the song “Dancing Queen”. “ABBA has never left us, it is in my heart,” singer Agnetha Faltskog told the BBC on the red carpet. – It was not such a difficult decision [o ponownym zjednoczeniu zespołu – red.]because music is part of us, she added. “Frida” Anni-Frid Lyngstad stated that she “dreamed about it for years”.

Many music stars appeared at the premiere of the show, including Kylie Minogue, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Jarvis Cocker. The Swedish king Charles XVI Gustaf and his wife Sylwia were also among the audience.

The show was prepared from 2016. It uses a breakthrough technology that recreates the image of the band members from the times of their greatest popularity, i.e. the 70s. During the concert, you can hear the group’s greatest hits, such as “SOS”, “Voulez-Vous” or “Lay All Your Love On Me.” “.

ABBA Voyage. Behind the scenes of preparations

To create the show, the team spent five weeks wearing special motion capture suits, and 160 cameras scanned their body movements and facial expressions. They have become the benchmarks for hundreds of animators and artists from visual effects to the creation of band avatars from their heyday.

Affectionately called “ABBA-tarses”, the characters are not 3D holograms, which is emphasized by everyone involved in the production. “I don’t think any hologram shows will be successful,” producer, director and writer Baillie Walsh told Dazed last year. “After five minutes, I don’t think they’re that interesting,” he added.

Instead, the characters appear on a huge screen with lights and special effects blurring the lines between digital elements and the “real world” in a concert hall. The producers explained that they wanted viewers not to have the impression that they had watched the performance, but to experience genuine emotions.

Audience about the concert: extraterrestrial

After the show’s premiere, the audience consisting of celebrities and fan club members was delighted, writes the BBC. – I cried four times. I did not know that I would feel like this – singer Zara Larsson told the BBC.

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ABBA fans in front of the arena in LondonPAP / EPA / TOLGA AKMEN

“It was an extraterrestrial, extraordinary display of fabulousness,” admitted choreographer Les Child. “They did an amazing job,” he added.

– I felt like I spent an evening with ABBA – said Hanna Rossman, who came to the concert from Berlin. “And the highlight was that they finally came on stage,” she said.

The band members then received a loud ovation.

Atypical return

The show, which takes place in a purpose-built arena in East London, will run until December 2022. Later, the stage can be transported to another place in the world, if the interest in the show is high.

READ MORE: ABBA officially ends its activities

It’s perfect for a band that vowed never to tour again after they disbanded in 1982. He even turned down a billion-dollar offer to play 100 concerts at the turn of the millennium. The new technology tempted them to return to the concert arena.

– Being on stage and performing for an hour or two while at home, walking the dog or making a carbonara? This is how it all started. This intrigued us, ‘Benny Andersson told the BBC last year. “And a vision of creating something spectacular that no one has seen before,” added Bjorn Ulvaeus. According to the band, after their show, there will be other artists who will want to do something similar “while they are still alive”.

photo-source">Main photo source: PAP / EPA / TOLGA AKMEN

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