Despite millions of fans still thanking them for the music, Swedish super group ABBA still look unlikely to reunite for another album or concert tour, even if they did perform together for the first time in more than 30 years at a private gala in Stockholm. But Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anni-Frid have teased fans with an announcement they will launch a “virtual and live experience” next year.
The project, which will be produced in partnership with the pop music mogul Simon Fuller, best known as the man who put the Spice Girls on the road to global domination, promises to be “a groundbreaking venture that will utilise the very latest in digital and virtual-reality technology.” Universal Music claims the experience will “enable a new generation of fans to see, hear, and feel ABBA in a way previously unimagined.”
Responding to the announcement, Benny Andersson said: “We’re inspired by the limitless possibilities of what the future holds and are loving being a part of creating something new and dramatic here. A time machine that captures the essence of who we were. And are.”
Added singer Frida Lyngstad: “Our fans around the world are always asking us to reform and so I hope this new ABBA creation creation will excite them as much as it excites me!”
ABBA last performed together in December 1982, but their place in the pop music pantheon has endured thanks to 30 million record sales of their 1992 greatest hits collection, as well as the adaptation of their musical canon into the jukebox musical Mamma Mia. Debuting on the West End in 1999, shows staged all over the world have grossed more than $2bn. A feature film, starring Meryl Streep was released in 2008, taking in almost $610m at the global box office.
Details of the digital and live experience have been kept tightly under wraps, with Universal Music saying more will be announced in 2017. The project is expected to debut at some point in 2018.
