Abba reveal they will NEVER perform live again or make any new music as they launch groundbreaking series of concerts
AGNETHA Faltskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad will reunite for the final time before passing on the baton to their digital Abbatars.
There will be no more group appearances, no more new music and certainly no more live performances for the real musicians.
ABBA have sold almost 400million records, scored nine No1 singles, had a hit musical and one of the most highly anticipated musical comebacks of all time.
But as they open their groundbreaking concert residency ABBA Voyage at the purpose-built ABBA Arena in East London, it will mark an end for the real singers as the groundbreaking technology takes over to perform in the revolutionary new show.
In an exclusive interview with Bizarre, Björn, 77, confirmed his bandmates will all be there, despite questions over whether reclusive Frida, 76, and Agnetha, 72, who has a crippling fear of flying, would make the trip.
Quizzed on whether they will all be there, Björn tells me: “Yes. It will be so special, we are all gearing up for it. Frida saw a preview and Agnetha hasn’t seen it yet. We are going to enjoy the show together with lots and lots of fans. We just want to sit back and enjoy it.”
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Björn married Agnetha in 1971 and they divorced 1980. Benny, 75, and Frida were married from 1978 to 1981. Bjorn believes they are now closer than ever.
He explains: “I would say it’s even stronger now when we meet. We’ve gone through so much together.
“Above all, the fact that we can pull off a thing like this project, and that people still see us as relevant and listen to our music, that means we have something, the four of us, which I can’t describe other than a very, very special bond.”
The group shocked fans when they released their album Voyage last year, their first in 40 years and it went to No1.
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However, in what will surely be a blow for their millions of followers around the globe, he has insisted that is the last music they will release.
He tells me: “When you do a thing like that, you don’t know how people will receive it. It was with such pride that we released that album.
“I don’t think there will be any more music with ABBA. I think that was definitely our last album.”
The state-of-the-art ABBA Voyage show will involve digital versions of the group, looking like they did in their heyday, performing their biggest hits in front of a 3,000-strong audience.
It has been five years in the making, following a false start involving hologram technology which was deemed too old fashioned for the project.
Then they got the world’s leading special effects company, Disney offshoot Industrial Light & Magic, on board to create it.
To give some scale, 160 cameras were used to record ABBA from every angle, then 1,000 people worked on making the avatars. Ten million hours of computing have been needed to pull off the project.
“There has never been a movie, yet, with the kind of resolution that you will see in the ABBA Arena,” Björn explains.
“Someone told me that last year this was the biggest movie project going on in the world.
“What attracted me in the beginning was the idea of pushing boundaries and doing something nobody has ever done before.”
So how did he feel after the surreal experience of watching himself, 40 years younger, performing in front of his eyes?
He admits: “It’s very emotional at times. The lifesize avatars that you see on stage together with the live musicians, you have to pinch yourself. Even I get the feeling that they really are there.
'VERY EMOTIONAL'
“There seems to be a common reaction of, ‘What the hell was that?!’ Jaws were dropping to the ground. This is layer on layer of music, emotion and illusion in a beautiful texture.”
Away from the tech, the band had another huge headache when it came to putting the show together - working out which hits to leave OUT of the 20-song set.
Björn grimaces: “It wasn’t easy. There was a lot of back and forth between the four of us.
“We all have different favourites. It took some time but finally we arrived at something which has a nice dynamic. But if we had gone on tour we would have played something like this.”
Kylie Minogue and Sir Elton John are among the superstars expected to jet into London for the world premiere tomorrow and Björn reckons ABBA could set a trend.
He says: “A lot of famous people will be there. I guess I can think of some of my contemporaries, or just underneath my age, will come and look and think, ‘What the hell have they done? Is this something for me as well?’”
Björn will not be be putting his feet up after the show launches with tech to do the work.
On the prospect of retirement, he says with a chuckle: “Would I rather potter in the garden? No thank you. I’m a songwriter first and foremost and a music entrepreneur I suppose, and I will die with my boots on, definitely.
“I hope in some context or other, Benny and I would write a few more songs. I think there’s much more in us. We can write for other people and other projects.”
Mamma Mia 3 is not likely to be one of those projects though, especially if Björn has his way.
The first film, starring Meryl Streep and Julie Walters, became a huge blockbuster on its release in 2008. The sequel featuring Cher, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, came out in 2018.
Following the release of their ninth album last year, Amanda Seyfried suggested the new songs could soundtrack another movie. But Bjorn says: “I do not think there’s a Mamma Mia 3. But I’ve been wrong before.
“Someone comes up with an idea we can’t resist and here we go again… Perhaps. But I don’t think that would happen.”
'I'VE BEEN WRONG'
The digital universe is another story for the future. All four members spent weeks with ultra high tech reading their movements to create the avatars that will be seen in their ABBA Voyage concert.
But he believes they are destined for a life outside of their new Arena.
Björn teases: “The avatars and their adventures in the future, that’s another thing. I’ll leave that completely open because no one knows what is going to happen around the corner when it comes to Web 3.0.
“There might be exciting new ideas of how the avatars could appear in the metaverse. Fascinating things are happening as we speak and it is happening very quickly.
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“VR and metaverse and all of that stuff and we are going to be there as well, at the forefront, because that’s what we’re all about.”
Even after 50 years in music, ABBA are still shooting for the stars.
