ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus Shares Heartbreaking Update on Voyage

Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus has shared his uncertainty on whether the holographic Voyage concerts would continue after one band member dies.

The iconic band, whose international fame was solidified by their victory at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Waterloo, is composed of Björn, Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

Their seventies heyday has been reimagined by a long-running show where fans can watch ABBA’s avatars in a custom-built arena.

ABBA Voyage is a virtual concert experience in London where digital avatars of the Swedish pop group ABBA perform their greatest hits. 

However, the singer has now cast doubt over the future of the first of its kind concert, as he confessed to the Radio Times that the four of them need to decide prior to their deaths if they would continue the shows. 

Björn told Jane Mulkerrins for her new Sunday morning programme, ‘That’s a question I’ve never had before…I honestly don’t know, hadn’t thought about that. 

‘It’s good you raise that question – I’ll talk to the others about that as we need to decide beforehand between us if it’s OK for all four of us to go on after we’re gone’ 

Abba ‘s Björn Ulvaeus has shared his uncertainty on whether the holographic Voyage concerts would continue after one band member dies 

The iconic band, whose international fame was solidified by their victory at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Waterloo, is composed of Björn (bottom right), Agnetha Fältskog (top right), Benny Andersson (top left) , and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (bottom left)

ABBA was formed in 1972 and  released eight albums between 1973 and 1981.

They are considered one of the best-selling groups in history, with estimate album sales between 150 million and 385 million records worldwide.

The group had been disbanded since 1982 but their music still lived on in the intervening years.

The compilation album ABBA Gold was a worldwide best seller, and their music was adapted into the hit musical Mamma Mia in 1999, which was then adapted into two feature films – 2008’s Mamma Mia and 2018’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

The group reunited in 2016 and started working on this virtual concert, which used motion-capture technology from George Lucas’ visual effects house Industrial Light and Magic to create ‘ABBA-tars’ of the group, as they would have looked in 1979.

The group members all performed for several hours in front of 160 motion cameras to get the motion-capture look just right, with over 1 billion computing hours from ILM.

ABBA also started recording new music in 2018, which resulted in their first new studio album in 40 years – Voyage – also said to be the band’s final album, which has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide.

The Voyage virtual concert opened May 27 at a custom venue in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, earning rave reviews from fans, critics and even ABBA members themselves. 

He confessed to the Radio Times that the four of them need to decide prior to their deaths if they would continue the shows 

The show  avatars, created using motion capture technology, appear on stage alongside a live 10-piece band.

The concert is housed in a custom-built arena called the ABBA Arena.

The 90-minute concert includes such hits as Mamma Mia, The Winner Takes It All and Voulez-Vous. 

The Abba experience has backed more than 5,000 jobs in London, including people employed at the venue as well as those in other sectors.