ABBA pass the torch on to avatars

STOCKHOLM

In one of the longest awaited musical reunions, Swedish pop legends ABBA return to the concert stage tomorrow in London but only as avatars of their 1970 selves shimmering with shiny costumes, glitter and platform boots.

While fans will hear the quartet’s real voices, the band will not be on stage. Concert-goers will see “ABBAtars” projected as holograms, looking like they did at the peak of their fame.

“We put our hearts and souls into these avatars and they will take over now,” 77-year-old band member Bjorn Ulvaeus told AFP.

Fans will once again be able to see Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, whose first initials form the name ABBA, perform hits from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as their recent comeback album, at the “ABBA Voyage” show in London.

Other attempts at concert holograms have received lukewarm reviews, but the group hopes fans will feel they’re seeing the real deal.

“This is one of the most daring projects that anyone has done in the music industry ever,” said Ulvaeus, who wrote most of the group’s biggest hits with Benny Andersson.

“How it will be received by the audience, I don’t have a clue,” he said.

“But I think that they will feel an emotional pull from the avatars, they will see the avatars as real people.”

In addition to re-recording their songs for the show, the quartet also spent hours in a studio dressed in leotards, having their movements digitally recorded to reproduce them on stage.

The avatars will appear in the band’s kitsch 1970s outfits and are also expected to don futuristic get-ups, according to trailers.

The show will run seven days a week until early October in the purpose-built theaer ABBA Arena in east London.

The holograms are the product of a years-long project, designed in partnership with a special effects company founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas.

The concert was recorded using 160 cameras and five weeks of performances.

ABBA broke onto the international scene in 1974 when they won the Eurovision Song Contest with “Waterloo,” powered by a flood of British votes.

They went on to record a string of hits, including “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!,” “Dancing Queen” and “The Winner Takes it All”, before breaking up in 1982.

In London, concert-goers will be treated to a 90-minute show, with a dozen live musicians on stage backing up the avatars.