ABBA planea viajar por Australia - como hologramas?

‘70s pop stars ABBA to be digitally recreated for virtual reality world tour
Cameron Adams, National music writer, Sunday Herald Sun

ABBA are planning to tour Australia — as holograms, or ABBA-tars.

The ’70s pop superstars are being digitally recreated as avatars for a 2019 virtual reality world tour.

FORTY YEARS AGO A ROGUE BOMB THREAT NEARLY DERAILED ABBA’S AUSTRALIAN TOUR

The hi-tech tour would be the first of its kind, with holograms usually reserved for dead musicians.

“It’s perfect,” ABBA’s Benny Andersson told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“We can be on stage while I’m home walking the dogs. I don’t have to leave my house. If this really works there’ll be a lot of artists wanting to do the same thing, even artists who are still young and still touring. It’s a very interesting project.”


ABBA perform at Sydney Showgrounds in 1977.

‘Molly’ Meldrum interviews ABBA on ‘Countdown’.

All four members of ABBA are involved, being digitally “cast” for the virtual reality tour, which was an idea pitched to them by Spice Girls manager and Idol creator Simon Fuller.

The band have spent a year having measurements taken to make the avatars as lifelike as possible. However, the holograms will be based on how Benny, Bjorn, Agnetha and Frida looked in 1979.

“We got hooked on it because it’s at the forefront of technology and what it’s possible to do nowadays,” Andersson said.

“To create the four of us digitally, it takes so much skill and so much time to do every hairline, every blink, every iris. If it’s good enough when we finish it’s probably ready to launch in the spring of 2019.”

ABBA in Australia in 1977.



ABBA’s Agnetha Faltskog in concert in Melbourne in 1977.
Andersson, 70, said the ABBA-tars will be projected in front of an actual live band.

“It’ll be like you’re in 1977, with a live band, live backing vocals, a great set design with lights and sound, everything will be like a live concert,” he said. “But we’ll be there in the form of holograms and digital avatars. Our voices will be taken from the records, or maybe some of the live vocals from the Australian tour of 1977. If you’re sitting in the arena you’ll see us up there. It’s quite exciting.”

Hologram tours by the likes of Tupac Shakur, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and Michael Hutchence have long been rumoured as technology improves, but ABBA would be the first time major artists who are still alive are able to “tour” without leaving home.

ABBA at Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

ABBA band members Agnetha and Frida wear Carlton football jumpers.
HOLOGRAM ROCK

TUPAC

Late rapper Tupac Shakur ‘performed’ at the Coachella festival in 2012 as part of a set with the very live Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg. The hologram cost around $500,000 and an electronics firm used old video vision to get ‘Pac back on stage.

MICHAEL JACKSON

In 2014, five years after his death, Michael Jackson sang and danced at the Billboard Music Awards — his hologram joining a live band and live dancers. The footage took months to prepare for a few mintues of airtime.

OL DIRTY BASTARD


The Wu Tang Clan got late member ODB back via digital trickery and his son (naturally called Young Dirty Bastard) wearing a motion capture suit. Late NWA rapper Eazy-E was also recreated via hologram for a show, with three of his children helping recreate his voice and image.


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/70s-pop-stars-abba-to-be-digitally-recreated-for-virtual-reality-world-tour/news-story/be146a18ca86a3ef7c58d53923512074

Flashback: The day Abba came to Bournemouth – and left a £500 tip

13th September 2017

Flashback: The day Abba came to Bournemouth – and left a £500 tip

TOUCHDOWN: Bjorn, Agnetha, Anni-Frid and Benny at what was then Hurn Airport, September 12, 1981



IT came out of the blue – a visit to Bournemouth from four of pop’s biggest superstars who were also very big tippers.

Abba fans noted that yesterday was the anniversary of the only known occasion that the group visited Bournemouth.

And Daily Echo photographic technician Michelle Luther tracked down the negatives for these pictures of the group's arrival, some of them never before published.

The band flew in from Stockholm on a private jet to Hurn Airport, en route to a party at the end of CBS Records’ conference at the Carlton Hotel in 1981.


And when they left the next day, they left the biggest tip the hotel manager had ever seen – £500 (around £2,000 in today's money) and 150 copies of their greatest hits.

The Daily Echo, tipped off to their imminent arrival, met the band at the airport.

Agnetha Faltskog said it was unlikely the group would tour Britain, but said: “I love your country.”

Band members Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad had divorced that year, two years after Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus did the same.

Andersson told the Echo: “We find that we are working better together now that there is no pressure of marriage.”

The group didn’t perform at the Carlton, but joined around 300 delegates at a party, with the Nolans also among the guests.

They left the following morning, leaving that whopping tip behind them.

The hotel’s executive director, John Furlong, said: “I have been in the hotel business for a long time, and I have never known anyone to be so generous as this. They can come back any time.”


http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/15531558.Flashback__The_day_Abba_came_to_Bournemouth_____and_left_a___500_tip

update:  https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/15531558.flashback-the-day-abba-came-to-bournemouth-and-left-a-500-tip/

27 may 2022

*******************************

recycled article

When Abba stayed in Bournemouth for an industry party

Superstar music chart toppers left HUGE tip for hotel staff

ABBA landing at Hurn Airport 12th Sept 1981.

More than 40 years ago the Echo received a tip that a top musical group were coming to town, but this was nowhere near as impressive as the tip the singing quartet left for the hotel they stayed in.

Out of nowhere, like a bolt from the sky, four of the music industry's most renowned icons graced Bournemouth with their presence - Abba.

The band flew in from Stockholm on a private jet to Hurn Airport, en route to a party at the end of CBS Records’ conference at the Carlton Hotel in 1981.  

On the following day, as they bid their farewell, the hotel manager was astounded by the generous tip left behind - a staggering £500, equivalent to approximately £2,000 in today's currency.

Upon receiving advanced notice of their arrival, The Daily Echo eagerly awaited the band's presence at the airport.

Agnetha Faltskog said it was unlikely the group would tour Britain, but said: “I love your country.”

Band members Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad had divorced that year, two years after Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus did the same.

Andersson told the Echo: “We find that we are working better together now that there is no pressure of marriage.”

Instead of performing at the Carlton, the group decided to attend a lively gathering alongside approximately 300 delegates. Among the attendees were also the Nolans, who added to the celebratory atmosphere.

The next day, as they departed, they left an incredibly generous tip to mark their departure.

The hotel’s executive director, John Furlong, said: “I have been in the hotel business for a long time, and I have never known anyone to be so generous as this. They can come back any time.”

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/24258223.abba-stayed-bournemouth-industry-party

----------