Every move assists the trickery: their mics swings, their clothes ripple, their bodies touch each other with an undeniable weight. Björn’s cheeky smile and Frida’s mannerisms are firmly recreated, making the figures spine-chillingly convincing (i.e. ‘Last time we played London was 1979,’ says Benny, who fumbles his words, adding to the effect. But ABBA have always been innovative, so it sort of makes sense that they’re pioneering one of the most exciting, and most ridiculous, technologies in live entertainment today. The 3D digital avatars (or ABBA-tars, as they insist on calling them) were created by George Lucas’s company Industrial Light & Magic and were made by blending five weeks of motion-captured films of ABBA’s current selves with a younger body double, engineered to look like their ’70s prime. Dressed in tight, sequinned jumpsuits, crowned with full heads of hair, they’re glowing, smiling and flawless. It even has dancing booths.Ĭhants roar through the audience as the show starts and then you see them: Benny, Björn, Agnetha and Frida. It’s not just any venue, either: it’s a purpose-built arena with 500 moving lights, 291 speakers and a capacity of 3,000. On opening night, the venue was full of everyone from older couples reliving their ’70s heydays to trendily-dressed Gen Zers who probably first heard the Swedish stars as a TikTok audio. You don’t find out what that really means until you’re in there. ‘ABBA Voyage’, which takes place in a new, spaceship-sized venue in Stratford, is a digital gig, which means ABBA themselves don’t actually perform. ABBA are back with their first live show in 40 years… but they’re not quite the band we once knew.
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