You don’t have to be a Dancing Queen to enjoy a good night out when ABBA Voyage brings you a surrealistic live performance on stage in an animated version of their pop star primes.
With motion-capture technology and Hollywood-graded lighting, the ABBAtars gives you a mesmerising show on “stage” that leaves many concertgoers, including myself, jaw-dropped.
Set in an intimate purpose-built ABBA venue just outside London Stratford, it’s not a recreation of the 1979 Wembley concert but a trip into the virtual world where Agnetha Faitskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad ‘immortalised’ themselves into a younger form.
This is the closest you could get to listening to the group perform after they “retired” some 40-odd years ago. Yes, it’s still performed by the real ABBA but they have it recorded in a studio in Sweden.
ABBA Voyage is now booking until May 2025 at the ABBA Arena, London. For information and best availability of tickets go to www.abbavoyage.com
Tickets for the ABBA Voyage starts from £38.50, plus a handling fee per transaction and fans can upgrade with access to the Oceanbird Lounge (£99 for pre-show access or £119 for pre- and post-show access) an hour and 45 minutes early to enjoy the buffet canapes and free-flow drinks before the concert.
ABBA Voyage plays seven performances per week (aside from seasonal exceptions where additional performances may be put on). These are: Monday-Saturday at 7:45pm, with extra showings on Saturday at 3pm and Sunday at 1pm & 6pm.
Choose from classic drinks like wine or Prosecco to signature cocktails like the Oceanbird Gin Buck (gin and ginger ale in blue) and Aperol Spritz, the service is top-notched and they have waiters going around with plates of mini burgers. As you head out, you will also get to order a ‘drink to go’, a lanyard with the Oceanbird Lounge pass and a choice of ABBA-branded water for rehydration because they say ‘you’re going to need that on the dance floor’.
While the curtains lifted and the ABBAtars appeared on stage, I was trying to figure out “how did they do this”. Admittedly it was a slow start and the crowd didn’t quite get the dancing vibes until they sang ‘Gimme, gimme, gimme’.
The lights, done by the Hollywood visual effects powerhouse, Industrial Light & Magic, did an incredible job bringing the characters alive. There are no intermission throughout this concert but the ABBAtars have outfit changes and while they do that, they have a 10-piece live band to take over the stage.
At this point, I started to follow the crowd and clapped to welcome ABBA, now in their neon, intergalactic-style jumpsuits, back on stage. Taking the show to climax is a series of their upbeat hit songs, Mama Mia, Voulez-Vous, Lay All Your Love On Me and Money, Money, Money.
When it comes to the end of the show, there were a few songs presented in big screens in form of Nordic-theme anime, which was probably an attempt to engage with younger audience.
Knowing the whole performance was pre-recorded, there were moments that it also touched many fans in the auditorium, especially when the group came on screen in current 70-something form for a bow at the end while the audience gave them a standing ovation.
Abba Voyage is a one-of-a-kind immersive concert that is fun for a girl’s night out or one that delights your parents with a nostalgic surprise. Now booking until 27 October 2025, the ABBA Arena has plenty of ticket choices: have the time of your life on the dance floor, party in style in your own dance booth, or take in the atmosphere from our auditorium seating.
