Latest news with #ABBA-tars
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Talks Reportedly ‘Failed' in Efforts to Bring ABBA Voyage to Australia
Plans to bring ABBA Voyage – the virtual concert experience from the eponymous Swedish pop group – to Australia have reportedly failed. First launched in May 2022, ABBA Voyage saw the quartet – which comprises Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog – taking to the first stage for the first time in 40 years, albeit as digital avatars (or 'ABBA-tars'). More from Billboard Jeremy Zucker Announces 2025 Australian Tour Black Sabbath Members Pay Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne: 'Goodbye Dear Friend' The Damned Cancel North American Concert Dates Following 'Catastrophic Event' While the group themselves have resisted lucrative offers to re-form since their 1982 split, the virtual, live concert experience provided a way for fans to relive the band's live concerts in the modern age. First launched in London in 2022, the immersive spectacle features 1979 versions of the band playing their biggest hits, backed by a 10-piece live band and a lofty light show. Currently, the experience is scheduled through Feb. 1, 2026, with questions having been raised as to where it may be held next (or if it will be extended). While reports of a Las Vegas debut have surfaced recently, discussions in regard to an Australian edition of ABBA Voyage have been in the works since 2023. Initially, both the cities of Sydney and Melbourne were in competition to host the production, with the latter reportedly winning out as the Victorian state government entered into what were labelled 'advanced conversations.' However, reports in May 2024 of an imminent announcement of a production at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse were later replaced by reports of stalled negotiations, with an unnamed government official claiming that ABBA Voyage organizers – which includes Melbourne's Craig Hartenstine as CEO – 'got greedy.' Now, a new report from the Herald Sun has stated the event is 'not going ahead' in Melbourne after talks had 'failed,' with money and value for taxpayers being the sticking point. Reportedly, the ABBA Voyage production would require a purpose-built 3,000 seat venue to host the event and would cost $100 million AUD to be staged. Paul Dainty – who serves as the president and chief executive of promoter TEG Dainty, and was responsible for bringing the group to Australia in 1977 – called the news 'disappointing.' 'It's been a long journey, but [ABBA Voyage] is a super expensive project,' he added. 'Maybe we can revisit it in the future.' Though it's unclear what sort of value ABBA Voyage had been predicted to generate for the Australian economy, a December 2024 economic and social impact report noted that in the two years since its opening in May 2022, ABBA Voyage had generated £1.40 billion for the U.K. economy. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart Solve the daily Crossword
RTÉ News
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
ABBA 'need to decide' if Voyage show will go on posthumously
ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus has said he does not know if the ABBA Voyage virtual concerts in London will continue if one of the quartet dies. Since opening in May 2022, more than three million people have seen the show that brings to life younger versions of the ABBA members through digital "ABBA-tars". They are backed by a 10-piece live band in a purpose-built arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. The influential pop group, also made up of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Fältskog, and Benny Andersson, were the first Swedish winners of the Eurovision Song Contest with their hit Waterloo in Brighton in 1974. Asked on Times Radio if the virtual concerts will continue if a member of ABBA dies, Ulvaeus told the station: "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." Fältskog and Ulvaeus married in 1971 before splitting almost a decade later. Andersson and Lyngstad married in 1978 and divorced in 1981, a year before the group broke up. ABBA had a string of chart-toppers including Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!, Dancing Queen, Super Trouper, The Winner Takes It All, and Mamma Mia!. , their ninth studio album. Their songs also inspired the musical Mamma Mia!, which began in London in 1999 and became a worldwide sensation. Two spin-off movies, 2008's Mamma Mia! and 2018's Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, followed the musical's success.
