ABBA superfans flock to avatar show in London

LONDON

Glammed up in satin knickerbockers, sequins and platform boots, ABBA fans streamed into a concert hall in east London on May 27 for the opening night of “ABBA Voyage,” the Swedish supergroup’s digital avatar show.

Many had crossed continents and had bought tickets for multiple nights.

The concert show at a purpose-built 3,000-seat theater features digital avatars, or “ABBAtars” performing hits from the 1970s and 1980s as well as songs released last year, when the septuagenarian former bandmates announced they had reunited to record a new album.

Band member Bjorn Ulvaeus, 77, told AFP ahead of the premiere: “I know that this is one of the most daring projects that anyone has done in the music industry, ever.”

Concert-goers see a 90-minute show, with a dozen live musicians on stage backing up the avatars.

It is set to run seven days a week until early October.

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

Critics praised them after previous shows “resurrecting” dead performers have been slammed as unrealistic and creepy.

This time, there was “nothing ghoulish”, wrote The Times.

The Guardian said the digital effects were a “triumph” and “the effect is genuinely jaw-dropping.”