It’s been over four decades since their last tour, but ABBA are returning to the stage (sort of) for their ABBA Voyage concerts.
In actual fact, the members of ABBA won’t be appearing on stage themselves, instead they’ll be appearing as digital avatars.
Last year, the iconic Swedish pop group released their first studio album since the release of The Visitors in 1981.
Their ninth studio album, titled ABBA Voyage, sold over a million copies within its first week worldwide, and has received more than 190 million combined streams to date.
Now the pop group are hosting a ground-breaking concert following their return to music.
Here’s everything you need to know about ABBA Voyage.
What is the ABBA Voyage concert?
The ABBA Voyage concert is ABBA’s brand new concert that will see fans experiencing the pop group in a performance like no other.
Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid will appear digitally to perform for thousands of fans.
The ABBA Voyage concerts start today (Friday May 27) and will run until at least December 2022.
A custom-built arena, named the ABBA Arena, has been built specially for the shows at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
The 90-minute concert will feature a setlist of ABBA’s hit songs, including tracks from their recent ABBA Voyage album.
How does ABBA Voyage work?
ABBA’s “hologram” concert is not actually a hologram concert at all, but it is the first of its kind as it blurs the lines between physical and digital.
A hologram is a virtual three-dimensional image, but the show’s producers have said this isn’t what they’re using for the concert.
Last year, producer Svana Gisla told Dazed: “We’re not making three-dimensional holograms.
“I don’t think any hologram shows have been successful. After five minutes, I don’t think they’re that interesting.”
Instead, they’ve made avatars, nicknamed ABBAtars, to appear as digital versions of Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid.
The ABBAtars will appear on a 65million pixel screen and will bring the Swedish pop legends to life using the latest in motion capture technology.
The concert has been six years in the making. To create their digital selves, the band performed in motion capture suits for five weeks while 160 cameras scanned their body movement and facial expressions.
The ground-breaking technology used will allow the ABBAtars to take concertgoers back in time as they depict the group just as they appeared in 1977.
The ABBAtars will perform alongside 10 live musicians who will help bring the concert to life.
