Without a song or a dance what are we?”
ABBA OPEN THEIR LONG AWAITED CONCERT
ABBA VOYAGE TO THE PUBLIC
A CONCERT LIKE NO OTHER
AGNETHA, BJÖRN, BENNY AND ANNI-FRID TOGETHER IN PUBLIC FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER FIVE YEARS
ALONG WITH HOST OF STARS
FROM THE WORLD OF MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT
KING CARL XVI GUSTAF AND QUEEN SILVIA OF SWEDEN ALSO IN ATTENDANCE
FIRST PUBLIC PERFORMANCE TOMORROW (FRIDAY 27TH MAY)
London, UK, Thursday 26th May – This evening, the four members of ABBA were in attendance for the opening night of ABBA Voyage, their revolutionary concert which sees them perform their greatest hits as digital avatars, in their very own ABBA Arena at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
Agnetha Falkstog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad were joined by the producers Svana Gisla and Ludvig Andersson, along with director Baillie Walsh, and an invited audience of VIPs, including the Swedish King & Queen and the Mayor of London, friends and family, media and fans.
ABBA Voyage is a concert like no other: with digital ABBA’s created by legendary vfx company, Industrial Light & Magic, in what is the company’s first foray into music, choreography by Wayne McGregor CBE, a ten-piece live band that play live throughout the concert, along with cutting-edge lighting and audio technology.
The 95 minute concert features ABBA re-imagined as 21st century pop stars, with costumes designed by B Åkerlund in collaboration with designers Dolce & Gabbana, Manish Arora, Erevos Aether and Michael Schmidt. Alongside some of their greatest hits the concert includes songs from Voyage, the band’s first album in 40 years, released last year to critical acclaim and reaching No. 1 in over 18 countries worldwide.
The concert also featured two short films by the award-winning visual arts collective Shynola, a two-part narrative that spans two of ABBA’s classic tracks to create a story befitting of the Voyage theme, that focuses on an inquisitive explorer Rora.
The purpose-built ABBA Arena has capacity for 3,000 fans and houses 291 speakers, producing 870,000 watts of audio amplification throughout the concert and over 500 moving lights mapped to 30,000 points in the arena helping create an immersive live concert.
ABBA Voyage is now booking until 28th May 2023 with more dates to be released soon. For all information go to abbavoyage.com.
About ABBA
With nearly 400 million albums sold worldwide, 17 No. 1 hits and over 16 million weekly global streams, ABBA are one of the world’s most successful music acts of all time. Ever since their breakthrough with ‘Waterloo’ back in 1974, ABBA’s music has captured the hearts of people all over the world. Today, the songs they created – written and produced by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and interpreted vocally with passion and commitment by Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad – are regarded as an important part of the international music canon. In the 21st Century, ABBA are more popular than ever. ABBA Gold, originally released in 1992, recently passed its 1000th week on the UK Album Chart, the first album in history to reach this milestone. Content using the #ABBA hashtag on TikTok recently reached one billion views, without the catalogue officially being available on the platform. ABBA was inducted into the Rock N’Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, and ‘Dancing Queen’, one of their most beloved songs, was added to the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 2015.
About ABBA Voyage
ABBA Voyage is a revolutionary new concert that will see Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid performing digitally with a live 10-piece band, in a purpose-built arena in London from 27th May 2022, at the ABBA Arena, a state-of-the-art 3,000 capacity arena located at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. The digital versions of ABBA have been created following weeks and months of motion-capture and performance techniques with the four band members and an 850-strong team from Industrial Light & Magic, the company founded by George Lucas, in what is the company’s first foray into music. The ABBA Voyage concert is made with the help of: Producer Svana Gisla (David Bowie Blackstar/Lazarus, Beyoncé and Jay Z for HBO, Springsteen and I), Producer Ludvig Andersson (And Then We Danced, Yung Lean – “In My Head”, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again), Director Baillie Walsh (Flashbacks of a Fool, Being James Bond, Springsteen and I), Co-Executive Producer Johan Renck (Spaceman, David Bowie Blackstar/Lazarus, Chernobyl) and Choreographer Wayne McGregor CBE (The Royal Ballet, Company Wayne McGregor, Paris Opera Ballet).
About Wallenius
The Swedish shipping company Wallenius, developer of the Oceanbird concept for wind powered vessels, has been confirmed as the official partner for ABBA Voyage. In the partnership, Wallenius will have status as exclusive logistics provider for ABBA Voyage, in addition to providing support and consultation around sustainability issues. Also, after a longstanding tradition of Wallenius ships being named after operas (such as Tosca, Traviata and Boheme), future ships have the option to be named after ABBA songs. Within the ABBA Arena, the Lounge section will now be named “The Oceanbird Departure Lounge”.
The Swedish company Wallenius is a leading service provider of Ship Management and Ship design/Newbuilding services. The vision is to lead the way towards truly sustainable shipping. A ZERO emission roadmap led to the wind-powered shipping concept, called Oceanbird.
The wing sail technique is developed by AlfaWall Oceanbird, a joint venture between Alfa Laval and Wallenius, and the first vessels from Oceanbird concept will be built by Wallenius. The first vessels of the concept will be sailing in 2026.
https://www.walleniusmarine.com/
