Abba Voyage.

[Chris Hobson]

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"
Arthur C Clarke.

I don't know the context of this quote. When I first heard it I imagined demonstrating a microwave oven to a 1930s housewife and imagining what her reaction might be. Having always had a fascination with technology and a reasonable idea about how stuff works, I was left feeling like that hypothetical housewife as the Abba Voyage show got under way. I'm quite an oldie now and I've been to a great many rock and pop gigs but I have to say that this is one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen. Initially I was just staring open mouthed thinking how is this possible? I knew before going what the show was. A live band together on stage with some kind of VR holograms of the Abba group members performing the band's back catalogue of hits. I wasn't prepared for the fact that they looked so completely real and I wasn't even wearing 3D glasses.

The show was conceived partly due to Abba being offered astronomical sums of money to reform and tour again. There were many reasons for them not wanting to, not least that they felt that fans would be disappointed when the members are all now in their seventies. So instead they turned to venerable movie special effects company Industrial Light And Magic, the company established by George Lucas to do the visual effects for Star Wars. So Abba did eventually reform to perform their hits but did so wearing black body suits covered in hundreds of little dots. The result was four CGLI characters that resembled the band as they were in 1979. I was surprised to learn that these Abbatars as they are called aren't three dimensional in any way but are simply projected onto a screen, surprised because they just look so real. In the modern music concert fashion the artists also appear on giant screens at either side of the stage. Seen scaled up and magnified the illusion is just not quite as perfect, Agnetha reminded me slightly of Princess Fiona from Shrek.

Anyone who has attended a gig at a sports arena will recognise the set up. Blocks of banked seating surrounding a rectangular area where the pitch would normally be with the stage at one end. This show takes place at a purpose built venue which reproduces this layout on a smaller scale, the capacity is just three thousand. This does mean that you aren't viewing the stage from half a mile away. While waiting for the show to start, big screens are showing an image of a pine forest with snow falling. There is an illusive figure carrying a lantern occasionally appearing behind the trees and the occasional squirrel is seen. The show opens with The Visitors but with a longer intro to build up the tension. This is followed by Hole In Your Soul and, since the vocals were re-done during the motion capture process, it seems that Agnetha can still hit that spectacularly high note. Next comes SOS and the reaction from the audience has my wife rolling her eyes at the superficial abbaphiles who only know the greatest hits and aren't familiar with any of the album tracks. We then shoot through a catalogue of hits, you know that there are lots when you realise that quite a few biggies had to be left out. Each of the band members does a little talkie bit between the various tracks. Bjorn talked about being hit on by a teenaged girl and writing what is to modern ears a slightly inappropriate song about it. He started the song and then let the band's backing singers take over. Eagle was accompanied by a surreal and psychedelic film sequence. Waterloo included footage from the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. There was of course a light show which was one of the best I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of them. In the spirit of recreating an actual live gig they even did the last two tracks as the traditional fake encore. Finally at the end, the Abba band members appeared and took a bow looking as they do now.

In conclusion, absolutely recommended, If you have even a faint liking of Abba get to see it before it moves on. It is even worth going to see just to marvel at the amazing technology.

As an aside, having attended on a coach trip, I have a small sample of the Voyage demographic. Predominantly middle aged women. A smattering of husbands of said women and daughters of said women, no sons as far as I could see. Quite a few dressed up in seventies glam chic for the event including a pair in the famous cat dresses, thankfully not as ridiculously short as the originals.

I've also managed to aquire a copy of the set list.
The Visitors.
Hole In Your Soul.
SOS.
Knowing Me Knowing You.
Chiquitita.
Fernando.
Mamma Mia.
Does Your Mother Know.
Eagle.
Lay All Your Love On Me.
Summer Night City.
Gimme Gimme Gimme.
Voulez Vous.
When All Is Said And Done.
Don't Shut Me Down.
I Still Have Faith In You.
Waterloo.
Thank You For The Music.
Dancing Queen.
The Winner Takes It All.

 

[Anna DUK]

It really does sound like an amazing experience!

 

[Chris Hobson]

The girls who took the trouble to dress up in seventies glam outfits made me think of the Mitch Benn song Glam On A Budget.

From memory and bearing in mind that I've never seen the lyrics written down.

Intro similar to T Rex Telegram Sam.

I was a groovy little goer with my heels and feather boa and my tailored suits of gold lame.
I like to keep myself glam 'cause that's how I am inside although they call it passe.
I was a dandy on the underground I glittered in the litter I was like a walking mirror ball.
But cutting such a dash uses up a lot of cash and one day I found I'd spended it all.

I went in search of second hand glad rags but I had no joy.
They said don't you know this is the twenty first century boy?
They said you can't do glam on a budget baby silver stack heels don't pay for themselves.
You can't do glam on a budget baby but anything's better than looking like everyone else.

They said why don't you take up a cheaper kind of make up, I thought that I would give it a bash, I put metallic car paint on my cheek bones baby but it just brought me out in a rash.

And purple velvet flares can't be found anywhere you know they can't be bought or borrowed or begged. So I bought myself a couple of A line skirts and I wore one on each leg.

I glued a pair of glass bricks to my shoes and I was ready to groove. But once I'd gotten everything on I found that you couldn't move.

You can't do glam on a budget baby you're looking like an oven ready turkey you fool. You can't do glam on a budget baby but I don't care I still think I look cool.