ABBA back after 40 years with new album, virtual stage show
Associated Press
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LONDON (AP) — 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 forthcoming album “Voyage,” to be released Nov. 5, is a follow-up to 1981’s “The Visitors,” which until now had been the swan song of the Swedish supergroup. And a virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts in London on May 27.
“We took a break in the spring of 1982 and now we’ve decided it’s time to end it,” ABBA said in a statement Thursday. “They say it’s foolhardy to wait more than 40 years between albums, so we’ve recorded a follow-up to ‘The Visitors.'”
AP Photo/Ron Frehm
ABBA, from left, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Foltskog, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, perform at the United Nations General Assembly in New York during taping of a special on Jan. 9, 1979.
The group has been creating the holographic live show, using motion capture and other techniques, with George Lucas’ special-effects company, Industrial Light & Magic.
They call it “the strangest and most spectacular concert you could ever dream of.”
“We’re going to be able to sit back in an audience and watch our digital selves perform our songs,” the group’s statement said. “Weird and wonderful!”
The planned show spurred the making of the album, which features the new songs “I Still Have Faith In You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down.” It began with sessions in 2018 and was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Fredrik Persson/TT News Agency via AP
People look at the screen at the ABBA Voyage event at Grona Lund in Stockholm, Sweden, on Thursday.
The show will come 50 years after the founding of the group that consisted of two married couples for most of its existence and whose name is an acronym of the first names of its members, Agnetha Fältskog, 71, Björn Ulvaeus, 76, Benny Andersson, 74, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 75.
Their music has remained ubiquitous in the decades since their breakup, in part because of the stage musical “Mamma Mia!” and the two films that followed it.
They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.
Last week the group launched a website with the title “ABBA Voyage,” teasing the new announcement, which was lived-streamed on Thursday. Tickets go on sale Tuesday.
AP Photo
Members of the Swedish pop group ABBA pose together in London on Feb. 16, 1978. From left: Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus.
Swedish pop group ABBA celebrates winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest on stage at the Brighton Dome in England on April 6, 1974, with their song "Waterloo." L-R: Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Frida), Agnetha Faltskog, and Bjorn Ulvaeus. (AP Photo/Robert Dear)
Swedish pop group ABBA is pictured during a UNICEF benefit concert in the United Nations General Assembly hall in New York, Jan. 9, 1979. From left: Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
In this June 14, 1974, file photo, members of the Swedish pop group ABBA, Benny Andersson, back left, Bjorn Ulvaeus, back right, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, front left, and Agnetha Faltskog, are shown. (AP Photo)
In this file photo dated Nov. 5, 1982, Swedish pop group ABBA are pictured at the Dorchester Hotel in London, with from left: Benny Andersson, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Bjorn Ulvaeus. (AP Photo/Dave Caulkin, FILE)
Swedish rock group ABBA performs on the public television show "Wonderama" at WNET-TV in New York City on Oct. 21, 1976. Left to right are, Benny Anderson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaesus. (AP Photo/Lainie Wilser)
In a gaming mood at Crockford's Club, Carlton House Terrace, London, the Swedish pop group ABBA sit at a roulette table holding chips, Feb 12, 1978. From left: Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Bjorn Ulvaeus. (Press Association via AP Images)
Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog of the Swedish pop group ABBA are pictured at New York's WNEW-TV studios, Oct. 21, 1976. (AP Photo/Lainie Wilser)
Members of the pop group ABBA pose together at their hotel's Japanese garden, March 14, 1980. From left: Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Foltskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Women in traditional Japanese dress are unidentified. (AP Photo/Tsugufumi Matsumoto)
ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Foltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, left to right, perform before 10,000 fans in Tokyo, March 13, 1980. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)
Swedish pop group ABBA are pictured during rehearsals for the "Olivia! TV Special," with fellow pop stars Olivia Newton-John, right and Andy Gibb, background left, May 1, 1978. From left: Benny Andersson, Andy Gibb, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, unidentified, Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Olivia Newton-John. (AP Photo/George Brich)
Bjorn Ulvaeus, right, and Anni-Frid 'Frida' Synni Lyngstad, of the Swedish pop group ABBA, sit by their outfits from the 1974 winning Eurovision song contest performance of 'Waterloo' in Brighton, at the ABBA World exhibition in Earls Court London, Tuesday, Jan 26, 2010. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Caricature puppets of the members of Swedish pop group ABBA that were used in a music video, at the AbbaWorld exhibition in Earls Court London, Tuesday, Jan 26, 2010. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Frida), Agnetha Faltskog, from the Swedish pop group ABBA, sing during the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest at the Brighton Dome in England on April 6, 1974. (AP Photo/Robert Dear)
The Swedish pop group ABBA is featured on a campaign poster against drinking launched by the state-owned monopoly for alcoholic beverages, in Stockholm, May 4, 1982. The word "white" in the text also means "Non-Alcoholic." Clockwise, from top: Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog. (AP Photo)
Bjorn Ulvaeus, left, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, of the pop group ABBA, pose on the red carpet for the band's International anniversary party at the Tate Modern in central London, Monday, April 7, 2014. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP Images)
