The producers behind ‘ABBA Voyage’ have opened up about the future of the groundbreaking digital concert, revealing plans to take the show worldwide.
Having opened in May 2022, performances of the show – which sees the Swedish supergroup recreated as digital avatars – currently take place exclusively at the ABBA Arena in Stratford, east London.
The venue is purpose built for the show, which offers a 360-degree immersive experience, and speaking in Retro Pop’s August 2022 issue, producer Ludvig Andersson suggests they’re working on creating similar arenas around the world.
“The biggest dream is to stay in London and we build another one somewhere else,” he says. “Where that would be – I’d like to go places that are maybe not the obvious ones. It would be nice to take it to places that aren’t always visited by the big bands.
“The dream would be to have one somewhere in South America, one somewhere in Southeast Asia, one in North America. Who knows? But that’s the plan and we’re working on that already.”
‘ABBA Voyage’ currently features 20 songs, including global chart hits and fan favourites, which the group performed on a soundstage wearing motion capture suits to recreate their movements.
Recalling the sessions, Ludvig confirms additional performances were filmed, meaning the setlist can be changed and adapted as time passes.
“We did more songs than we knew we were going to use,” he teases. “So there is more material.
“If this keeps running and people keep wanting to come and see it, we are intending to change a song out or update the show – because that’s also fun to do.”
Meanwhile, fellow producer Svana Gisla is excited by the progression of the technology, which could soon allow the band to interact with the audience in London from their homes in Sweden, virtually, via their avatars.
“It’s all about render time. How long it takes to render and how big the files are. How heavy the digital stuff is,” she explains. “If that becomes lighter, the render time becomes quicker – then who knows? Benny and Björn could be sitting in their living room, talking to the audience from Stockholm as avatars.
“That’s the future. They could go, ‘Hello London, isn’t it a shame that West Ham lost this afternoon?’ And they could literally be sitting wherever they are in the world and talking. One day, that’s how quick the render’s are going to be.”
Read the full interview in the August 2022 edition of Retro Pop, out now. Order yours or subscribe via our Online Store or use our Store Finder to locate your nearest stockist.
