"How do the other ABBA people feel about touring?

 Muziek Parade, January 1978: The ABBA Story, part 8

"How do the other ABBA people feel about touring? Agnetha: “To be honest, I don’t like to perform outside Sweden. I have a very good reason for that. I can’t miss my children for such a long time. They are still young now. I want to be with them in this period of their life. Whenever we have to work abroad and I really can’t get out of it, I’m regularly crying in my hotel room when I think about the children. I’m a real mother, when it comes to that.” It is known that Agnetha and Björn’s phone bills are sky high whenever they are on tour. Several times every day, they are calling Stockholm. It doesn’t matter if they are in Brisbane or Singapore, these calls will be made and they don’t care about the costs. Björn may come across as being insensitive, but he is homesick just as much as Agnetha. To suppress this homesickness, Agnetha and Björn have the same flaw: they start eating, as much as they can. They stuff themselves with the most delicious food and when they get back to Sweden, they realize that they’ve become too fat. But eating is their reaction on being away from home.

It is known that Anni-Frid and Benny love delicious food as well. Especially fish, with a fruity wine. Agnetha says: “Anni-Frid and Benny can eat whatever they like. French fries with mayonnaise and other greasy food like that. But they don’t get fat. And that’s not fair.”

Whenever ABBA is on tour, they always stay at the Hilton hotel. In Germany, this was cause for the following occurance. The organizer asked “and where will the technicians and road managers stay?” Benny replied: “With us at the hotel, of course. These guys are at least as important as we are. They deserve the best treatment.” And they think that’s weird, in our adjacent country. An entertainer is an ‘artist’ over there, someone who lives far from his servants. Benny: “It surprised me that they still think like that in Germany. There is no difference in social position with us. We are working in a team and we are staying together as a team. If you don’t do that, you can’t perform to the best of your ability.”

In Australia, ABBA bought clothes for a TV show, amounting to 50.000 Dutch guilders. Very pretty exotic dresses and suits. All very exquisite. When the show had been filmed, and on top of that had been a great success, ABBA gave the clothes to their employees, who had been in charge of light and sound."

***"The production is fine, but the technical side makes it sound cold.” Muziek Parade can’t understand why ABBA still wants to live and work in Sweden. The country is clearly anti-ABBA. Stikkan Anderson: “We love Sweden and perhaps all this resistance is an extra incentive to keep on producing good music. The more people are writing negative things about ABBA, the harder the boys get to work. The amazing thing is that these people from the press are not at all the voice of their readers. Their readers bought 500.000 copies of the ‘Arrival’ album within three weeks. That has never happened before in Sweden. That’s why we let these reporters do their talking. They won’t be able to destroy us.”

***

Stig Anderson mingles in the conversation again: “When we did our tour in England, people in the music industry thought we were crazy because we didn’t do any TV shows or commercials to announce where we would perform. We didn’t do that on purpose. This strategy of ‘we are doing it differently than others’ is working out really well. It has been proven. The tour was an enormous success. A lot of artists let themselves be used by television. It has to be the other way around. The artist has to use television. Television is a big monster that consumes creativity. An artist has to last longer than a couple of television shows that may or may not be directed badly. A lot of artists forget that. An artist is allowed to be picky. For instance, we have decided to appear on television in England twice a year at the most. Twice on Top Of The Pops, that’s more than enough. Apart from that, you shouldn’t forget about the danger of being overexposed. An artist has to be careful that he doesn’t appear on the television screen too much. People tend to get enough.” And then, Stig tells about a problem he encountered in Australia: “After the Eurovision Song Contest, we did a fair amount of television shows in several countries. And what happened? The Australian broadcasting company sent a special employee all over the world to buy the tapes of these ABBA shows. All of a sudden, we were on television every week in Australia, without our approval. Something like that can destroy an artist. Now we’ve taken care of that. Whenever we perform for television, we make sure that there is an agreement in writing that our performance can only be broadcast once and that it can’t be used for export.”

And Stig about America: “Personally, I would love to go to America. It’s a fantastic country, with a big audience with great purchasing power. But we are not ready for it yet. And we are not happy with the terms under which we would have to work. I am sure that there are people in America that laugh at our attitude. They can’t understand that we don’t accept these offers. Apparently they don’t believe in an ABBA that can still be big in years to come or even bigger than they are now.”

And he continues: “Maybe we are wrong. It’s possible. In America they are saying that you can only get bigger if you do long tours. We have a different opinion. First, we want to get even bigger and stronger in America and when we have acquired our position, we will fly over there and then the reception will be as huge as the Beatles had in their heyday.”

That the Anderson strategy is the right one has been proven in Europe. ABBA’s record sales had first reached astronomic heights before ABBA – after a lot of begging and pleading – came to Holland, France, England and so on. And ABBA can afford to wait until this begging and pleading will come from America as well.

complete here. http://abbaarticles.blogspot.com/.../muziek-parade...

--------------------

notes - old articles - magazines and posters - stig andersson

https://www.facebook.com/groups/abbaregistro/posts/1341290119930841

Abba were paralysed by nerves and critics loathed their ‘garbage’ songs at start of pop career

SUPER TROUPERS

Abba were paralysed by nerves and critics loathed their ‘garbage’ songs at start of pop career
Gareth Pearce
21 Jun 2020, 23:37
Updated: 21 Jun 2020, 23:37

IT’S time to say Thank You For The Music again – as Abba plan to release new songs more than 38 years since they were last in the studio together.
But it could all have been very different, because nerves nearly ended the band’s first major tour before it even began.

One music journalist was with members Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad backstage before that historic first live tour in 1977.
Here, he tells of the tension and torment as the pop legends took their first tentative steps towards conquering the world.
Abba walked out to their opening night of their first big tour as if to their own execution.
With nerves in the dressing room so shredded before the show, they almost called the whole thing off.

I was behind the scenes on that night in Oslo, Norway, on January 28, 1977, while writing about the Swedish band that had so surprised cynical music critics in Britain with their success.
But this was the first time all their hits — released after they won Eurovision with Waterloo in 1974 — were to be played live.
And the prospect filled the band with fear.
The venue, an exhibition hall called Ekeberghallen on the outskirts of the Norwegian capital, was packed to its 5,300 capacity.

Many of the crowd were strikingly good-looking girls dressed like blonde singer Agnetha — and there was real excitement in the air.
Norway’s Crown Prince Harald and Princess Sonja had been last to arrive, as if to give the show a stamp of royal approval.
A 12-strong team of backing vocalists and instrumentalists were already on stage.
But in the dressing room the atmosphere was one of sheer terror.

Both Bjorn and Benny — the two Bs in Abba and co-writers of their hit songs — were so nervous they were having difficulty holding their guitars.
I had been with the band beforehand in their hotel and travelled to the gig with them. I had witnessed the nerves.
But nothing had prepared me for the total silence in the dressing room and the faces which were close to tears.
It was minus nine degrees outside but it seemed colder in that room. There was a frozen atmosphere of dry mouths and utter dread.


Only their manager and mastermind, Stig Anderson, who had written the lyrics for their first hit, Waterloo — recently voted the greatest Eurovision song of all time — was looking calm.
I left them to take my seat six rows back in the hall, filled with the rumbling sounds of anticipation.
There was a long delay before the lights went out. Then came a rolling drum beat thundering like a locomotive gathering speed in the darkness.
Abba took their places on a pitch-black stage.


CLOAKS, LEATHER BOOTS & MICRO SKIRTS
Suddenly, there were dazzling lights and instant sound — everything in glistening white.
Full-length cloaks, long leather boots, micro skirts for the two girls and skin-tight clothing.
The first song was Tiger, with Agnetha and Anni-Frid (the As in Abba) clawing their hands towards the audience.
Then That’s Me, followed by Waterloo. Benny had told me he would reject any song they had written if it did not give him shivers down the back of his spine.


I got shivers with the fourth song, SOS, with the haunting introduction by Agnetha singing under a single spotlight.
The entire show seemed to move up a gear, the audience was transfixed and the band relaxed — all that preparation had paid off.
The girls, so much a visual part of Abba’s success on television, played out their stage roles superbly.
They were excitable girls for When I Kissed The Teacher. And cynical women about town for Knowing Me, Knowing You, which was to be released as a single the following month.

It sounded a winner at the first time of hearing.
Mamma Mia had already topped the charts in 11 countries, without being performed live on stage.
The same was true of Fernando, released months earlier and sung superbly by Anni-Frid with a star-lit sky effect behind the band.
Their biggest number ones at that point — such as Dancing Queen and Money, Money, Money — had been written in private, plotted and arranged in a studio, and never put to the test before a live audience.

So was the whole show fabulous? After an incredibly tense start, yes, it was.
There was also a 25-minute show within a show called The Girl With The Golden Hair, which included Thank You For The Music and I’m A Marionette.
Contact with the audience came mostly from Bjorn, who according to manager Stig had transformed himself in recent times.
“He was a bohemian and wastrel when we first met,” he’d told me bluntly. “He could not keep track of anything, including himself.”
'LET'S PULL OUT'
Bjorn was certainly having difficulty keeping track after the show, telling me: “Such were our nerves, I said, ‘If this is what touring means, let’s pull out and forget the whole thing’.
“Fortunately, the girls held it together enough for us to start enjoying appearing in front of a live audience.
“I realised then that we have become cut off by working only in the studios, writing and recording.”
At that point Bjorn was 31 and was married to Agnetha, 26, and they had three-year-old daughter Linda.

They travelled separately by plane so there would be a surviving parent in the event of a crash.
Benny and Anni-Frid, known as Frida, lived together.
And the band had already sold 40million records in three years, driven by the shrewd Stig, then aged 45.
So why was I there at all?
It seems incredible now after 45 years of hits, endless tribute acts, the stage show Mamma Mia! and two hugely successful films, but at the time Abba were regarded scornfully by most entertainment journalists.
The fact that they had won Eurovision was treated as no big deal.
According to the critics, their music was middle of the road, the lyrics naive.
But I was a genuine fan, writing glowingly of their feel-good factor and memorable songs.
SOVIET UNION PAID IN BARRELS OF OIL
I had travelled with them the previous October to Warsaw in Poland — then a communist country — where they recorded a TV show, and I watched just how slickly they dealt with business. Stig would not accept payment from any communist country in anything other than American dollars.
Only three refused — China, North Korea and Vietnam — and he ruled out having anything to do with them.
The Soviet Union, however, was allowed to pay in barrels of oil, which were stored in Stockholm.
It was Stig, who died in 1997 aged 66, who first pushed the reluctant band into touring.

He was a calming influence, with four rules for success: “Work very hard, do your best, don’t forget anything . . . and don’t take life too seriously.”
The band members had preferred to record, avoiding the spotlight, which fitted in with the quiet, low-profile lifestyle they enjoyed.
Touring was also expensive in those days. Ticket prices were reasonable (between £10 and £15) and the concerts were used to promote hugely profitable records.
It was the opposite of today. Now, touring can earn fortunes — and records do not.

So on their first big night in a live show, Abba knew they had everything to lose.
Even in their native Sweden, one newspaper headline that very week read: “They write garbage.”
But that first major tour played to packed audiences in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, West Germany, Holland and Belgium before ending on Valentine’s Day in London’s Royal Albert Hall.
They could have sold it out ten times over — and a legend was born.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/11920244/abbas-first-tour-nerves-critics-garbage-songs/

ABBA avatars

Das Gesicht zerfällt, der Schädel bleibt“




Stand: 06:00 Uhr | Lesedauer: 8 Minuten
Die Abba-Musiker Björn Ulvaeus und Benny Andersson wagen ein Comeback mit einer Tournee, bei der die Band nur in Gestalt von virtuellen Avataren auftritt. Ein Gespräch über ewige Jugend und den Wahnwitz des Ruhms
0


IQ-UV PERFEKT GESCHÜTZT. DEN GANZEN TAG.
Nur wer sich richtig schützt kann die Sonne unbeschwert genießen.

Als ihnen ein Veranstalter vor Jahren eine Milliarde US-Dollar bot, wenn Abba noch einmal auf Tournee gingen, sagten sie: „Nein! Kein Interesse.“ Benny Andersson und Björn Ulvaeus, die beiden Mitbegründer und Songwriter einer der erfolgreichsten Pop-Bands, hatten sich nach der Trennung 1982 auf andere Projekte konzentriert – und auch darauf, den Abba-Mythos gewinnbringend zu vermarkten in Musicals und Filmen, wie der Fortsetzung zu „Mamma Mia“, die jetzt in den Kinos zu sehen ist. Jetzt aber steht doch ein Comeback an – wenn auch der anderen Art. Andersson und Ulvaeus sowie ihre beiden Ex-Ehefrauen und Band-Mitglieder, die Sängerinnen Anni-Frid Lyngstad und Agnetha Fältskog, werden sich dabei durch Avatare, virtuelle Klone, vertreten lassen.

DIE WELT:

35 Jahre nach Ihrer Trennung versetzt jede neue Meldung über ein mögliches Weiterleben von Abba das Internet in Ekstase. Ein deutscher Journalist schrieb, er würde sich mindestens den kleinen Zeh abhacken lassen, gingen Sie nochmals auf Tournee. Und Fans schicken Ihnen Briefe, Ihre Musik habe ihr Leben gerettet. Wie gehen Sie mit diesem andauernden Wahnwitz um?

Björn Ulvaeus:

Wir hören sowas ja nun schon seit so vielen Jahren. Aber es ist immer noch ein kurioses Gefühl, wenn mich Leute ansprechen und mir sagen: „Sie haben keine Vorstellung, wie unendlich viel mir Ihre Songs bedeutet.“ Emotional ist das manchmal schwer zu fassen. Damals, in den 70ern, dachte ich, unsere Songs wäre nach spätestens zwei Jahren wieder vergessen. Ich sollte jetzt also gar nicht hier sitzen. Ich nehme all diese Wertschätzung mit Demut und Dank entgegen. Wenn ich morgens nach dem Aufstehen in den Spiegel schaue, stehe ich immer noch mit beiden Beinen auf dem Boden. Das macht es manchmal umso schwieriger, all das zu begreifen. (lacht)

Für viele Jüngere, die Ihre Lieder aus den „Mamma Mia“-Musical und -Filmen kennen, ist diese Musik vor allem Soundtrack zu einer Geschichte über eine alleinerziehende englische Mutter auf einer griechischen Insel, deren einzige Tochter potenziell drei Väter haben könnte. Hatten Sie nie Sorge, dass Abba durch den Erfolg des „Mamma Mia“-Brands zur Fußnote reduziert werden könnte?

Benny Andersson:

Als die Idee zu dem „Mamma Mia“-Musical vor 20 Jahren erstmals an uns herangetragen wurde, waren wir zunächst nicht überzeugt. Wie sollte das alles zusammenpassen? Nachdem wir aber die erste Fassung für die Bühnenversion gelesen hatten, gefiel uns die Art, wie sich eine ganz eigenständige Geschichte aus unseren Songs heraus entwickelte. Sehen Sie: Wir haben einen starken Beschützerinstinkt, wenn es um Abba geht. Das ist bis heute so. Wir könnten bei den Projekten jederzeit den Stecker ziehen, wenn uns etwas nicht gefällt. Das ist bisher nicht vorgekommen. Und so hat sich „Mamma Mia“ weiter entwickelt, vom Musical zu den Filmen. Inzwischen haben wir uns sogar daran gewöhnt, dass Schauspieler unsere Songs singen. Obwohl es vor zehn Jahren schon ein bisschen verrückt schien, als Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan und Colin Firth zum ersten Mal ins Studio kamen – um zu singen. Sie wirkten etwas angespannt. Es dauerte ein paar Minuten, bis ihnen klar war, dass wir nicht gefährlich sind.

Ulvaeus:

Wir haben uns nie gesorgt, dass der Erfolg von „Mamma Mia“ Abba in den Schatten stellen könnte. Denn ohne unsere Musik wären das Musical und die Filme – nichts. Die Story entfaltet durch die Allianz mit den Songs ihre Wirkung, wird zu etwas Neuem. Es ist ein großes Glück, dass es sich so gut ineinander gefügt hat. Das das Ganze derart erfolgreich sein würde, hätte am Anfang niemand vorhersehen können. Es war ein Experiment. Niemand hat zuvor je so etwas gemacht.

Andersson:

Das stimmt nicht ganz: Das Musical „Ain‘t Misbehaving“ ist nach einem Fats-Waller-Song entstanden. In den 70ern war das, glaube ich.

Ulvaeus:

Oh tatsächlich? Das wusste ich gar nicht.

Derzeit wird an Abba-Avataren gearbeitet, virtuellen Kunstfiguren, die aussehen wie Sie 1979. Die sollen ab 2019 Konzerte geben. Wollen Sie die erste Pop-Band sein, die wirklich „Forever Young“ bleibt?

Andersson:


IQ-UV PERFEKT GESCHÜTZT. DEN GANZEN TAG.
Nur wer sich richtig schützt kann die Sonne unbeschwert genießen.

Das ist der Grund, warum wir das machen. Bislang hat noch niemand etwas Vergleichbares gewagt und es live auf die Bühne gebracht. Die technischen Möglichkeiten sind inzwischen außergewöhnlich und so weit fortgeschritten, dass wir es anpacken wollten. Nur frisst die Vorbereitung des ganzen Projekts sehr, sehr viel Zeit. Wir haben bislang ein Video mit den Avataren produziert, wie sie zwei neue Songs singen, die wir eigens für dieses Projekt aufgenommen haben. Das wird als erstes im Fernsehen gezeigt – danach folgt die Tournee.

Bisher waren nur bereits verstorbene Stars auf ähnliche Weise digital wiederbelebt worden: Elvis, Tupac Shakur, Michael Jackson oder Heavy-Metal-Sänger Ronnie James Dio kamen als Hologramme zurück auf die Bühne, während eine reale Band dazu spielte. Sind virtuelle Doppelgänger zu Lebzeiten nicht etwas gruselig?

Andersson:

Nein, denn wir machen etwas anderes. Es wird keine Hologramme von uns geben, wir werden Avatare, das ist noch mal eine höhere Entwicklungsstufe. Wobei, das muss ich zugeben, wir selbst immer noch nicht genau wissen – wie wir dann wirklich aussehen werden, weil noch so intensiv daran gearbeitet wird.

Ulvaeus:

Na ja, es werden realistische, virtuelle Kopien von uns sein. Die Zuschauer werden nicht bemerken, dass unsere Avatare keine menschlichen Wesen sind. Das sagen uns zumindest die Entwickler aus dem Silicon Valley. Und die Avatare werden die Songs zu hundert Prozent so singen, wie wir es machen würden. Ich kann es kaum abwarten, bis es soweit ist, und wir das alles endlich live auf der Bühne sehen.

Andersson:

Ja, wenn es nicht so lange dauern würde, das zu finalisieren. Dauert ewig.

Anzeige

IQ-UV PERFEKT GESCHÜTZT. DEN GANZEN TAG.
Nur wer sich richtig schützt kann die Sonne unbeschwert genießen.

Ulvaeus:

Das sagtest du schon (lacht).

Um die Avatare zu gestalten, reisten Computer-Designer aus dem Silicon Valley nach Schweden und nahmen digital Maß. Komische Erfahrung?

Andersson:

Ich war schon überrascht, wie viel Aufwand sie da reingesteckt haben. Sie haben uns alle vier gescannt, Anni-Frid, Agnetha, Björn und mich. Es war nicht so seltsam, wie man es sich vielleicht hätte vorstellen können. Sie platzierten allerlei Knöpfe in unserem Gesicht, setzten uns Helme auf die Köpfe.

Ist es also vergleichbar mit aufwändigen Hollywood-Produktionen, in denen mit Hilfe von CGI-Technik die Mimik von Schauspielern minutiös erfasst wird, um sie dann auf virtuelle Affen, Trolle oder andere Kunstgeschöpfe zu übertragen?


IQ-UV PERFEKT GESCHÜTZT. DEN GANZEN TAG.
Nur wer sich richtig schützt kann die Sonne unbeschwert genießen.

Andersson:

Ja. Ich wurde von etwa 200 Kameras umkreist, die ständig Aufnahmen von mir machten. Ich wurde aus jedem nur vorstellbaren Winkel gefilmt ...

Ulvaeus:

... wie wir Grimassen schnitten. Wir mussten jeden uns möglichen Gesichtsausdruck, nun ja, vorführen, damit sie alles mit größter Akribie aufnehmen konnten.

Andersson:

Und dann konnten wir uns aussuchen, wie alt unsere Avatare sein sollten. Diese Entscheidung haben wir dann den Mädchen überlassen. Sie wünschten sich, die Avatare sollten so aussehen wie Abba 1979. Ich weiß auch nicht genau, warum es gerade dieses Jahr sein sollte, vielleicht weil sie ihre Frisuren in dem Jahr besonders mochten.

Mr. Ulvaeus, Sie sind 73, Mr. Anderson ist 71 Jahre alt. 1979 waren Sie 33 und 31. Wieso mussten für die jüngeren Avatare Ihre älteren Gesichter gescannt werden?

Ulvaeus:

Weil du die Gesichtsbewegungen, die Mimik, nicht so gut aus altem Filmmaterial rekreieren kannst. Das wirkt nicht authentisch.

Andersson:

Die Experten wollten erfassen, was unsere Gesichter ausmacht, damit sie es im Avatar so exakt wie möglich nachbilden konnten.

Ulvaeus:

Sie haben mir beispielsweise erklärt, dass sich der Schädel eines Menschen nicht verändert. Und dessen Maße sind wichtig für die exakte Ausgestaltung unserer Avatare. Der Schädel eines erwachsenen Björn, der ich ja auch 1979 schon war, ist immer noch derselbe Schädel, den Sie jetzt vor sich sehen. Nur der Rest von dir, das Fleisch sozusagen, fällt mit den Jahren in sich zusammen (lacht).

Andersson:

Genau: Es sind nur unsere Gesichter, die kollabieren. (lacht)

Ulvaeus:

Ha ha ha, aber nicht unsere Schädel.

Und wenn Ihre Avatare lebendig werden und Konzerte geben – werden Sie sich das ab und zu ansehen, inkognito aus dem Zuschauerraum heraus?

Beide:

Oh ja.

Andersson:

Ich werde natürlich zur Premiere gehen, wann immer die auch sein mag.

Es ist eine Sache, sich alte Filme anzusehen, in denen man 40 Jahre jünger war. Wird es nicht eigenartig sein, einer 40 Jahre jüngeren Version von sich selbst dabei zuzuschauen, wie es das Publikum mitreißt?

Andersson:

Nein, wir wollen ja, dass es so aussieht, als würden wir selbst dort dort auf der Bühne stehen. Das war die Vorstellung, die uns antrieb: Wie wäre das wohl? Wie könnten wir es schaffen, den Zuschauern noch mal Abba live zu bieten, ohne, das wir selbst dort oben in Fleisch und Blut stehen müssten. Das ist für uns noch mal eine immens interessante Herausforderung.

Lassen Sie uns aus aktuellem Anlass noch in einen anderen Abschnitt Ihrer Vergangenheit springen.

Ulvaeus:

In welchen?

Als 2008 der Präsidentschaftskandidat der US-Republikaner, John McCain, mit dem Abba-Hit „Take A Chance On Me“ in den Wahlkampf zog, ohne Sie vorher zu fragen ...

Andersson:

... da hatten wir ihm das sofort verboten, ja. ich erinnere mich genau. Das hatten wir sofort gestoppt.

Ulvaeus:

So eine Art politischer Vereinnahmung unserer Songs erlauben wir nicht. Grundsätzlich nicht.

Der schwerkranke Senator gilt inzwischen als das moralische Gewissen der Republikaner, er ist einer der wenigen Politiker, die Donald Trump seit dessen Amtseinführung energisch kritisiert.

Andersson:

Er ist ein rauer, unverschämter Kerl. Aber das wissen wir alle doch seit Langem.

https://www.welt.de/print/die_welt/vermischtes/article179799478/Das-Gesicht-zerfaellt-der-Schaedel-bleibt.html

ABBA tight-lipped over name of their comeback game

ABBA tight-lipped over name of their comeback game
By Neil McMahon17 February 2017 — 9:23am




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Forty years on from the legendary visit that stands as ABBA's biggest and Australia's craziest concert tour, band legend Frida Lyngstad says the Swedish icons will be back. But is it a reunion? She calls it "a new ABBA creation" – but if history is any guide, we'll lap it up whatever it is.
In a rare interview with Good Weekend to mark the anniversary of the 1977 tour, Lyngstad confirms she and bandmates Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson are busy with … something.
ABBA arrive at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne in 1977, when fans regularly crowded to get a glimpse of the band.
ABBA arrive at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne in 1977, when fans regularly crowded to get a glimpse of the band.

"We have just started to explore a new technological world, with virtual reality and artificial intelligence at the forefront," Lyngstad says. "Our fans are always asking us to reform and so I hope this new ABBA creation will excite them as much as it excites us."
Lyngstad reveals nothing else about the new project, but it's safe to say nothing in the virtual realm will ever match the flesh-and-blood fervour of that 1977 tour, in which the band played 11 concerts in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth across two weeks remembered for fan and media hysteria wherever they went.
Lyngstad remembers the fortnight in fond detail, including the first concert in Sydney that was nearly abandoned due to torrential rain. Lyngstad famously panicked fans and promoters when she fell over on the wet stage, which was also invaded by bugs.
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An "unforgettable" concert, says Lyngstad, while also recalling quiet moments away from the tour spotlight.
"We had a few days off, and were taken to a beautiful national park outside Sydney, and enjoyed a boat trip on the waters outside Melbourne, even swimming together with seals in a bay I do not remember the name of. A very special experience, to say the least."
The Melbourne leg of the tour is remembered for fan crushes on the streets at their hotel, the Old Melbourne Motor Inn in Flemington Road, and in Swanston Street where they greeted fans from the Town Hall balcony.
Alan Johnson, manager of the hotel at the time, remembers the constant crush of fans. "There was literally thousands of people at the Old Melbourne to welcome them when they arrived. We had the mounted police out the front to stop the crowd. We had additional security because there were so many people trying to get access to their suites. They were captive … because there was so many people outside."
Promoter Michael Chugg, then a tour manager for Paul Dainty, remembers the chaos of the Sydney show. "The Sebel Townhouse got the shits with us because we took every white towel they had to keep drying the stage. But they played in the rain, the audience turned up in the rain, they just absolutely loved it. It affected everybody from toddlers to grandma and grandpa. It was incredible to look into the audience and see the spread of the demographic."
That generation-crossing devotion is confirmed by musician Kate Miller-Heidke, who wasn't even born during ABBA's heyday but who is working on a keenly awaited ABBA-related project – writing a stage musical production of the ABBA-laden movie Muriel's Wedding, which premieres for the Sydney Theatre Company in November.
"They have basically formed part of the soundtrack to my life, their music is everywhere," Miller-Heidke says. "The songs are undeniable. As a songwriter I would never say that they were of no lasting value … just the way they put lyrics and melody together in a way that burns into people's minds."


https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/abba-tightlipped-over-name-of-their-comeback-game-20170216-gueszi.html

ABBA TOUR