ABBA voyage: Band announce first album in almost 40 years and a digital show



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bba have announced their first album of new material in 39 years and a London concert show featuring digital versions of themselves.

Speaking during a livestreamed press conference from the top of the Orbit sculpture at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London, band members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson said both projects would be called Abba Voyage.

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Two new tracks, I Still Have Faith In You and Don’t Shut Me Down, were also played publicly for the first time during the event.

The digital concert will open next May at the ABBA Arena, a state-of-the-art 3,000 capacity arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, with tickets on general sale from Tuesday.

Asked why Abba had chosen London to host the show, Andersson said: “Because London is the best city to be in. When it comes to entertainment – theatre, musicals, concerts – it is all here. It has been here for years and years and years. There is a big audience travelling here for that reason. It was a no-brainer.”

Ulvaeus added: “We have always felt the Brits see us as their own.”

The concert will feature younger versions of the band performing songs from their back catalogue with a live 10-piece band.

The “Abba-tars” were created through months of motion-capture and performance techniques with the four band members and an 850-strong team from Industrial Light and Magic, the company founded by George Lucas, in its first foray into music.

The Swedish band – Ulvaeus, Andersson, Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad – first revealed the existence of new music in 2018 and have been teasing an announcement in recent weeks.

Band member Bjorn Ulvaeus explained the meaning behind new song I Still Have Faith In You, saying: “It is about realising it is inconceivable to be where we are. No imagination can dream up that.

“To release an album after 40 years and still be the best of friends and enjoying each other’s company and still have total loyalty. Who has experienced that? Nobody.”

AP

The show has been choreographed by Wayne McGregor who said he had first been “transported” by the band’s music growing up in the 1970s.



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