Abba Arena, London
June 5, 2025

My love of Abba has been previously documented. So when staying in London for the first time in a number of years, there was one item essential on the to-do list. Attend the Abba Voyage show, recreating the band in their late seventies prime. It was an ambitious endeavour, utilizing motion capture, work by Industrial Light and Magic, and digital projection in a three thousand capacity, custom-built venue, taking six years from concept to opening, and at a total cost estimated to be $175 million. That’s a lot of effort, but has paid off. Since opening in May 2022, the show has played seven times a week at 99% capacity. At an average ticket price of close to three figures… Well, do the math.

The arena is in the East End of London, part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, as used for the 2012 Olympics. You head out first to Stratford, and then change to the DLR. But from Stratford on, you will notice a sharp uptick in the age of passengers – and in particular, passengers wearing unexpectedly sparkly attire. It’s very much a party atmosphere, everyone heading to same location, right by the awkwardly named Pudding Mill Lane station (they couldn’t have renamed it something Abbappropriate for the duration?). Mind you, it is probably the only railway station in London with a merch store.

The venue itself is efficiently organized, in a typically Scandinavian way. Easy access to the seats, made for a quick in and out. There’s a large open dance floor, for those who feel the need to boogie (we, ourselves, are disinclined to do more than sway with moderate enthusiasm), along with tiered seats around it. The most expensive ones are not the closest, but those directly facing the stage, behind the dance floor. From our seats on the side, about half-way back, the Abbatars (as the recreated band members are called) did look a little skinny, presumably due to the perspective. But not enough to be an issue. As well as the main stage/screen, on either side are two giant video monitors, so there’s really not a bad seat in the house.

What really stood out – and this came as a complete surprise – was how emotional the entire experience was. I was on the edge of being overcome on a number of occasions, beginning with the band’s first arrival, rising up out of the floor. This is not normal at a concert, to the point I began to wonder if I had wandered into some bizarre CIA experiment in mass mind control. Chris felt similarly overwhelmed on occasion: in particular, she mentioned Chiquitita as especially intense, and I’d have to agree. Which is weird, because it’s not a song without particular resonance for us. If I’d been asked beforehand, it might have been ranked somewhere in the #11-20 range. But here, for whatever reason, it hit me hard. Is emotional manipulation by the use of specific frequencies possible? BRB, going down an Internet rabbit-hole.

Well, that was… interesting. MK-Abba aside, the show didn’t so much surpass expectations, as blow them away – still pics don’t do them justice, in the terms of how real they seem. After your brain got past the cognitive dissonance of seeing a band perform live, who haven’t done so for over forty years, it was almost completely convincing. There was something slightly “uncanny valley” about Frida on occasion, but the other three were stunningly real, even in close-up on the large screen. The music was a combination of a live band (who popped up and down intermittently) with the pre-recorded vocals, which worked very well. It did feel a little odd to be applauding digital projections, and the chat between songs was a little forced. Jokes about costume changes fell kinda flat. I’m sure any jokes I attempted in Swedish would be similarly greeted with polite disdain.

Whenever the music started though… Hoo-boy. As previously noted, the songwriting is what perhaps elevates Abba above everyone else. But there’s also the production and the harmonies of Agnetha and Frida, which are as much and as integral a part of the final result. The songs performed were almost all the ones you – and the crowd in attendance – would expect, with a token couple of ones from the 2021 Voyage album which were greeted with polite indifference. They’re okay, but it had been four decades since their previous studio release. We were here for the bangers, and got an all-you-could-eat buffet of those. As pure, undiluted pop goes, I can’t think of another band who have such a fine selection of tunes, and what classics there weren’t room to squeeze in here, would have filled a vinyl side or two.

The Abbatars were so good, it was kinda disappointing when they weren’t around. There were two songs, Eagle and Voulez Vous, which were played out in front of an animated video, telling the story of a young boy with a strikingly crap haircut, “on a quest to find the legend of ABBA.” I mean, these weren’t terrible, but they weren’t why we were there. The same goes for one song, Does Your Mother Know, where the backing band took center stage. Let’s be honest, if I wanted to see an Abba tribute band, I can do so at my local casino for twenty bucks. It’s not as if the Abbatars needed to take a break. They could perform 100% of the show, every night and with a Sunday matinee, without fatigue. I, for one, welcome our new Abbatar overlords.

And just when I thought my jaw couldn’t drop any further, after the final song, The Winner Takes It All, the contemporary version of the four members came out to take a bow. For one delirious moment, I honestly believed they were the real thing. Of course, they were just modern Abbatars. But the previous hour and forty minutes had me in a different version of reality, rewiring what my brain could and would believe. It’s not something I’ve experienced before, and “live” or not, it was likely a top three concert in my life. It’s not cheap: our mid-level tickets, bought direct, were a hundred pounds each including the fees. But no question, it felt like we got our money’s worth. If we go back to London, a return trip is absolutely on the cards. If it comes anywhere close – and my money is on a Vegas residency – we’ll make whatever journey is necessary.