Members of ABBA, from left, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson arrive for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) - 'œABBA Voyage'ť is certainly a trip.
Four decades after the Swedish pop supergroup last performed live, audiences can once again see ABBA onstage in an innovative digital concert where past and future collide.
The show opens to the public in London on Friday, the day after a red-carpet premiere attended by superfans, celebrities and Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. The guests of honor were pop royalty - the four members of ABBA, appearing in public together for the first time in years.
They were in the audience, though. Onstage at the specially built 3,000-seat ABBA Arena next to east London's Olympic Park were a 10-piece live backing band and a digital ABBA, created using motion capture and other technology by Industrial Light and Magic, the special effects firm founded by 'œStar Wars'ť director George Lucas.
The voices and movements are the real Agnetha Faltskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad - choreographed by Britain's Wayne McGregor - but the performers onstage are digital avatars, inevitably dubbed 'œABBA-tars.'ť In unsettlingly realistic detail, they depict the band members as they looked in their 1970s heyday - beards on the men, flowing locks on the women, velour pantsuits all around.
The result is both high tech and high camp, a glittery supernova of stupefying technology, 1970s nostalgia and pop music genius.
For many in the audience, it was almost like being taken back in time to watch ABBA perform classics including 'œMamma Mia,'ť 'œKnowing Me, Knowing You,'ť 'œSOS'ť and 'œDancing Queen.'ť The peppy 90-minute set also includes tracks from 'œVoyage,'ť the reunion album the band released last year.
It's a fusion of tribute act and 3D concert movie that transcends that description. At times it was possible to forget this wasn't a live performance, though when the backing singers stepped forward to belt out 'œDoes Your Mother Know,'ť a surge of live-music energy shot through the arena.
The four band members - two married couples during ABBA's heyday, though now long divorced - got a rapturous ovation when they took a bow at the end of Thursday's show, 50 years after they formed ABBA, and 40 years after they stopped performing live.
Watching one's younger self perform must be a strange sensation, but the band members, now in their 70s, said they were delighted by the show.
'œI never knew I had such amazing moves,'ť Ulvaeus said.
Lyngstad agreed: 'œI thought I was quite good, but I'm even better.'ť
Ulvaeus said the audience reaction was the most gratifying part of the experience.
'œThere's an emotional connection between the avatars and the audience,'ť he said. 'œThat's the fantastic thing.'ť
Producers bill the show as 'œrevolutionary.'ť Time will tell. Like the first audiences to watch a talking motion picture a century ago, attendees may leave wondering whether they are watching a gimmick, or the future.
The Times of London reviewer Will Hodgkinson judged the show 'œessentially an ABBA singalong with added sound and light show,'ť though he called the effect 'œcaptivating.'ť Writing in The Guardian, Alexis Petridis called the concert 'œjaw-dropping'ť and said 'œit's so successful that it's hard not to imagine other artists following suit.'ť
Gimmick or genius, 'œABBA Voyage'ť is booking in London until May 2023, with a world tour planned after that.
The fans who attended Thursday's show are just delighted ABBA is back.
'œI'm so excited,'ť said Kristina Hagman, a Swede who has been a fan since the 1970s.
'œI was bullied so much because you were not allowed to like ABBA at that time, because it was so commercial," she said. "But now we are taking revenge.'ť
Members of ABBA, from left, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson arrive for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The Associated Press
Member of ABBA Benny Andersson arrives for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The Associated Press
Members of ABBA, Agnetha Faltskog, right, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad arrive for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The Associated Press
Members of ABBA, from left, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Benny Andersson arrive for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The Associated Press
Members of the band Blossoms, centre right and center left, arrive for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
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Kylie Minogue arrives for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
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Sweden's King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia arrive for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The Associated Press
Zara Larsson arrives for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The Associated Press
Members of ABBA, from left, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Benny Andersson arrive for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The Associated Press
Sweden's King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia arrive for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The Associated Press
Members of ABBA, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad arrive for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The Associated Press
Members of ABBA, Agnetha Faltskog and Benny Andersson arrive for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022. ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the "Dancing Queen" quartet going entirely digital. The virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The Associated Press