World premiere in London: Virtual ABBA band inspires fans

The new concert series “ABBA Voyage” celebrated its world premiere in London. The band members are not physically on the stage, but as fully animated, digitally rejuvenated virtual figures.

Cheers erupted as the four members of ABBA, Björn and Benny, Frida and Agnetha walked the red carpet together – the moment fans around the world had been hoping for. The two women are all in white, Benny in a 1970s outfit in a colorfully patterned floral coat and Björn in a dark suit. Björn then also admitted that the tension had reached its peak – for the first time the arena was full of hardcore ABBA fans – would you be able to convince them with the virtual show?

In the arena, it quickly became clear that the concern was unfounded. Cheers and amazement as the band virtually floated up from the stage floor: ABBA with the faces, the outfits and the singing from 1979. Recorded with motion capture technology and projected onto digital avatars.

Virtual band members speak to the audience

A spectacular light show on a screen that spanned half the hall, you really felt like there were four real people dancing and singing in the distance. The four Abbas were superimposed again and again with larger than life shots of the faces and colorful light spectacles – so that you felt like you were in a multimedia show.

The audience sang and clapped enthusiastically. With the new song “I Still Have Faith In You”, mobile phone flashlights were held up, with “Dancing Queen” everyone jumped up and danced along. Two songs alone, which were accompanied by cartoon animation, didn’t seem to go down so well – for some the opportunity to get a beer.

Each of the four virtual band members also addressed the audience with a short speech, Agnetha thanked the fans for their love and support for over 50 years, Björn introduced the ten-strong live band with background singers. When after about 90 minutes the last bars of “The Winner Takes It All” had faded away and the four real ABBAs came on stage, there was no stopping them.