ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog has admitted the band's forthcoming Voyage concert experience may well be their last. ORDER NOW: The Rolling Stones are on the cover of Uncut’s November 2021 issue The iconic four-piece made their monumental comeback earlier this month, announcing the release...
ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog has admitted the band’s forthcoming Voyage concert experience may well be their last.
The iconic four-piece made their monumental comeback earlier this month, announcing the release of their new album also called Voyage, on November 5 – and dropping the singles “I Still Have The Faith In You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down”.
They also revealed their forthcoming tour will see a “digital” version of ABBA (not holograms) perform alongside a 10-piece live band. The run of shows will take place at the purpose-built, 3,000-capacity ABBA Arena at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, starting Friday May 27, 2022.
Speaking to Radio Sweden about the rehearsals, Fältskog said: “None of us probably knew what to expect but we’ve worked with it a lot so you grew into it eventually. We stand there doing these songs with I don’t know how many cameras and people.
“It felt great to do it in the end because it was so different. Also there was a vibe, one felt that maybe it’s the last thing we do. Same thing with the album.”
When asked when the band will get together again in the future, she added: “I don’t really dare to say. We’re a bit older now, and have our minor ailments. But we struggle on.
“But I don’t dare to say, because it’s a bit uncertain. At the moment we feel happy that we got this together, and let’s hope everything goes well in London, at the premiere over there.”
ABBA’s return has been in the works since at least 2017, when they first announced plans for a virtual tour, then slated for 2019. When those plans were delayed in 2018, the band announced they would be sharing their first new tracks in 35 years that December. The two-song offering then expanded to five last year, before eventually becoming a full album.
The Voyage show has been put together by Svana Gisla (who produced Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s On the Run Tour), choreographer Wayne McGregor, Johan Renck (who directed David Bowie‘s videos for “Blackstar” and “Lazarus”), Baillie Walsh (who has directed for Massive Attack and Bruce Springsteen) and producer Ludvig Andersson (son of ABBA‘s Benny Andersson and producer of And Then We Danced, Yung Lean‘s In My Head and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again).
Meanwhile, pre-orders for ABBA’s new album recently broke records in the UK after over 80,000 copies were purchased in just three days.