ABBA Arena, England, United KingdomThe reason I had booked a trip back to the UK after 15 years was because the Abba Voyage show that has opened on Stratford East London. This is where I grew up and we would listen to Abba at family parties so I was so envious that a concert arena had been built in my childhood area, that the four members of Abba had come for the opening, and the people from around the world were attending the show in my childhood area of Stratford and that I could not go.
The show opened May 2022 but the travel situation in Canada at the time was so hostile fining people $6500 if they did not install the ArriveCan app on their phone and declare their medical status. These insane conditions ended Oct 1, 2022 too late for me to plan a September birthday trip in 2022.
I had planned a trip for the spring when the weather would be nicer and I could do all the other outdoor things I had done such as biking and the Isle of Man. Tickets were not cheap and were 100 pounds for good seating. This is quite pricey if you want to go as a family.
I had scouted the area by bike several days earlier. The arena is a side road just before the Bow Flyover, behind the Olympic Park with a new DLR station Pudding Lane.
On event day it was raining heavy and we had to cut our biking short earlier in the day and just wait in the hotel. People come from hotels all across London but as I am familiar with Stratford and this was my local base of operations, I had a local hotel walking distance at the Stratford Travelodge.
To stay out from the rain there is a souvenir shop at Pudding Mill station that only opens at show times. It was nice to look around but Abba can be a money pit for fans is you keep buying everything and I have more than enough.
Entry to the arena was by etickets on your phone. This was annoying as I dont want to use my phone everywhere but they were insistent with regular email that no paper tickets were accepted and only entry by phone. I had saved the ticket as a screenshot so I do not need to use wifi.
Inside the arena it was packed due to the rain and they were playing various 70s music. This seemed odd at an Abba concert why they were not playing Abba music.
There is also a strict "No Filming" policy which makes no sense when they insisted we all bring our phones as our ticket. I had my camera in my hand and one of the attendants started giving me a hard time that I had to check my camera in coat check. I wasnt going to risk losing it with all my pics from my trip so I told them it was off and continued to walk into the arena.
The venue was completely sold out and people had come from all across Europe. The people around us seemed to be German. Also this was not a "gay" crowd and gay people seemed to be a small minority of those attending. It was a larger female then male crowd in attendance, many of whom had dressed up on costumes.
The first song they open with is The Visitors. I like this from their last album in 1981 showing a more progressive 80s synthesizer sound but the average person with just a Greatest Hits compilation may not know this track.
They also have all new costumes for the four members. I was just expecting them to recreate their old ones in CGI but they actually went to the trouble to design new ones in the style of the era. The girls will open out their arms like umbrella's or peacock's to show off the new designs in the opening songs.
A unique feature of this show was the 3D Avatar recreations of each of the members from 1979. So I wasnt sure if this was going to be a CGI concert or what the experience would be like.
To make it more lifelike they have a live band and live backing singers to recreate the concert experience. As to the digital creations they have three large screens at the front stage angled inwards towards the crowd. They also have floating screens which would drop into the audience.
There has been fan debate as to whether the show will be released on DVD but with a multiscreen experience such as this the essence would be lost on DVD. I would buy a DVD of the show.
As to the "No Filming" policy, after they had insisted everyone bring their phone as their cameras, many were taking images during the show. I understand the reasoning to protect copyright after the investments to create the 3D imaging, but they need to relax the rule a bit.
Some vigilante fans have been very aggressive towards those that posted pictures online. They are missing the spirit of Abba is about having a sharing a good time together.
Not everyone can afford to fly to the UK, buy a ticket, and pay for hotels. I had to wait one year, buy a 100 pound ticket, and 85 pounds a night for hotel, on top of airfare and other expenses. Not everyone can afford to drop everything and fly to the UK for an Abba concert so there has to be some understanding if people take some pictures to share with their friends who will not be able to attend.
There is also talk of moving the show to other venues, or creating duplicate shows. Las Vegas has been mentioned, as well as Singapore or Australia. It could become like Disneyworld with one on major continents.
The quality of the CGI was mixed. At times it seemed like CGI, at times lifelike, at times reminded me of the Spitting Image style puppets in the mini Abba story The Last Video during the cartoon songs.
Other highlights of the show each of the four members will speak a solo dialogue. Benny started with playing the theme from Eastenders since we are in East London. Frida talked about how she had overcome adversity from childhood and the women that raise their families thru struggles that brought applause from the crowd.
When it came to Waterloo they started with their tv performance from Eurovision in 1974 and blended with other clips of tv appearances around the world performing the song.
What I found strange was during Eagle and Voulez Vous there was some adventure cartoon like Japanese Manga about some cartoon character going on some quest. I found this odd at an Abba concert, not what I had come to see.
The program book explains this is to do with Scandinavian folk lore but had I not read the souvenir program book which was 15 pounds most attending would not have understood and it seemed strange what any of this has to do with Abba?
Noticeable songs missing were Souper Trouper and One of Us. Perhaps they recorded more songs to release in later versions of the show the freshen it up a bit. When All is Said and Done (another favourite of mine from their 1981 album that average fans may not be aware of) they changed the format to more modern so it lost some of the traditional music elements.
Other noticeable absences Dance While the Music Still Goes on which is made for a stage performance and they failed to use in both of their Mammia Mia movies or stage show. As well If It Wasn't for the Nights could have been a big disco hit had it been released in the late 70s and they reused some of the backing music in their recent release of Dont Shut me Down. Also for a dance floor and dance booths they could have used more upbeat songs such as Ring Ring.
Bjorn started the male vocal of Does Your Mother Know then the three backing singers took over the stage to belt out a live rendition. I liked it but some fans had complained it was not Abba singing and just an imitation group. They have to mix up the format of the show rather than just watching the 3D avatars.
Some fan favourites the crowd all sing-a-long such as Fernando or Chiquitita. They also played two tracks from their new album Voyage [I still have faith in you, and Dont Shut me Down]. I would have liked Just a Notion as that is an upbeat song.
Overall it was a very good experience and well done. Abba always underestimate their support, whether the money spent investing would pay of and if anyone would take the show seriously. But one year on the show was sold out and it looks like London will be a permanent venue as there was talk of taking the show on the road to recover costs.
I would certainly go again on a future visit. There is the pain of buying the tickets but now I can choose cheaper seats having experienced it once. Many fans have gone multiple times but that is not a luxury I have living overseas.
There also talk of replicating this format show for other artists such as Elvis or The Beatles. That remains to be seen but we saw with Mamma Mia the stage musical Abba was also able to start a trend of 70s music being brought into a stage musical for new audiences which was also followed by Queen, Elton John, and Rod Stewart.
I can't wait to go for my next visit to the UK
See also Vlog (7 mins) - https://youtu.be/omXtQ9TClOk
See Visit to Abba Museum Stockholm - http://v2.travelark.org/travel-blog-entry/londone7/30/1434296281
See also Mamma Mia show in Korea - http://v2.travelark.org/travel-blog-entry/londone7/1/1355777667
2025-05-22