​‘‘In order to explain Abba Voyage, you have to go and see it,’’ said Benny Anderson at the futuristic show’s premiere. Three years on, and already watched by over three million people, I finally got to see the show in which computerised avatars of the legendary Seventies band ‘perform’ hits such as​ SOS, Chiquitita and Knowing Me, Knowing You.
It was an uplifting, visually spectacular experience which had me singing along for the full 90 minutes, but I have to admit that as I left London’s purpose-built Abba Arena my brain was more scrambled than when I arrived.
Let’s try to explain matters by first rewinding to 1982.

That was the year Benny and bandmates Björn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad hung up their platform boots and sequined catsuits after a whirlwind eight years which began with a Eurovision Song Contest win.
In the decades that followed their popularity only grew, yet they resisted all temptation to reform, even after the global success of the stage show and subsequent film Mamma Mia!, which featured their incredible songbook.
At one point they were even offered $1billion to go back on tour. Björn later explained his reluctance by saying: ‘‘I could imagine the looks on the faces in the audience as they realised we had grown old.’’ Benny added that they didn’t want to tarnish memories of their glory days.
It now seems that they were holding out for technology that wasn’t available until a few short years ago.
First mooted in 2016, the origins of Abba Voyage can be seen in the 2019 film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, in which the late actress Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) appeared through a combination of previously unreleased footage and augmented by CGI.

The film’s visual effects supervisor, Ben Morris, of George Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic, was brought on board by the fledgling​ Abba Voyage team, only this time the much bigger challenge for him was creating a live show.
In the meantime, the band recorded two new songs for the show: Don’t Shut Me Down and I Still Have Faith In You. They continued recording what would become their first album in 40 years, also called Voyage.
The band then went into a Stockholm studio for the physically draining ‘motion capture’ process, which involved them being filmed by 160 cameras as they performed, over and over, what would become the Abba Voyage setlist.
They spent six weeks in tight bodysuits with dozens of electronic sensors that read and profiled every tiny detail of their body language. Dots were painted onto their faces to help capture muscle movement as they sang.
Boffins then used the data to painstakingly animate digital avatars (dubbed Abbatars) of the band performing. And it’s these avatars, built to scale, that take centre stage at the Abba Arena,​ on 65 million-pixel LED screens.
So they are not true holograms, as widely reported – that technology is still some way off – but the avatars are still incredibly lifelike, with some ‘smoke and mirrors’ giving them a convincing 3D appearance.
So as not to ‘‘tarnish memories’’, to quote Benny, the avatars do not depict four musicians aged in their mid-70s. Instead,​ they look like the Abba​ of 1979, the year of the band’s last British tour.
The show plays seven times a week and I took my family on a Friday night (‘and the lights are low…’). The arena was easy to find: we just had to follow all the Abba lookie-likies, some of whom, no doubt, had marriages on the horizon.
The hexagonal, 3,000-capacity arena, in the Stratford area of the capital, looks as space-age as the show itself. It was designed from the inside out with the audience experience always placed front and centre.
What we watched that night, in essence, were the performances the foursome gave during those six weeks in Stockholm. As ‘Benny’ remarks during the show: ‘‘This is really me. I just look very good for my age!’’
What we listened to were fresh vocals recorded by Agnetha and Anni-Frid during those sessions. Each band member also has a little aside between songs, with Benny joking about the ‘‘costume changes’’ he has to make.

Their many colourful costumes, by the way – including some glowing Tron-style suits – had to actually be created so that the movement of the fabric and the way it changes in the light could be replicated.
While the​ vocals are Agnetha and Anni-Frid’s, Björn and Benny have been replaced by a tight ten-piece band who are always on view to the side of the main ‘stage’ and given an opportunity to shine during Does Your Mother Know?
You don’t have to be an Abba fan (and if that’s you I don’t believe you’re not fond of at least a couple of their songs) to be impressed with Abba Voyage.
With huge screens almost wrapping round the audience and over 500 moving lights mapped to 30,000 points, there’s a lot going on. Throw in some creative use of beads, strobes and mirrors and you have a truly immersive concert.
We were seated centrally, in the best position to appreciate all the theatrics, but I couldn’t help wondering what the avatars looked like close up, from the large standing area on the floor.
On the big screens the avatars looked a little too perfect, so I preferred to stay focused on the ‘stage’ as much as possible and let my mind believe I was watching the real thing.
I was seriously impressed with some of Anni-Frid’s high-kicking dance moves, until I later learned that some of the choreography, while based on the band members’ real movements, was captured from younger body doubles.
In 2014, I was lucky enough to see Kate Bush’s stage comeback, which blurred the lines between concert and drama, without being a musical, and it remains my favourite ever show.
In a similarly pioneering way, Abba Voyage melds digital and reality. It was never far from my thoughts for weeks thereafter – and had me digging out my wife’s Abba Gold CD.
When All Is Said And Done, this is one show worth taking a chance on. Just be prepared to have your mind blown, especially when the foursome return to the ‘stage’ to take a final bow. No spoilers here.

MORE INFORMATION: For all ticket information visit abbavoyage.com

WHERE TO STAY

We stayed overnight at The Gantry hotel in central Stratford.
The swanky hotel offers a ‘’truly integrated eating, drinking, socialising and entertaining experience under one roof’’ and a ‘’contemporary urban haven for local artists, artisans and aficionados of food, drink and design’’.
Throughout this environmentally-friendly hotel, from the ground-floor coffee shop, to the first-floor restaurant and all-day lounge, to the rooftop bar and terrace, you’ll find artworks curated by the Jealous Gallery of Shoreditch.
All the 291 sound-insulated rooms and suites come with a queen bed, a chaise longue and a tablet for browsing and booking hotel services. For families like ours there were interconnected twin rooms.
The hotel is a 25-minute walk from the Abba Arena. It can be reached several ways but I’d recommend cutting through Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, venue for the 2012 London Games.
We had a leisurely wander through the park, with the aquatic centre and Olympic Stadium – now home to West Ham United – providing reminders of that wonderful fortnight. (Tip: You may want to check the Hammers aren’t playing at home on the evening or afternoon of your visit to Abba Voyage).
The park is also still home to the extraordinary 114m Orbit observation tower, Britain’s largest piece of public art. Come night-time it is illuminated bright red, looking even more impressive as we made our way back to the Gantry, singing Voulez Vous as we went.
We‘d parked overnight at the Westfield shopping centre, which is just a three-minute walk from the hotel and offers guests a discounted rate of £10 for 24 hours.
The shopping centre is built around Stratford’s stations (which are about 35 minutes from Euston) and after a breakfast fit for a Dancing Queen that’s where we headed to catch a Central Line tube train.
A 20-minute journey brought us to St Paul’s Cathedral – the start of a circular sightseeing tour that also included The Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, The Shard, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and The Monument.

MORE INFORMATION: The Gantry, Celebration Avenue, Stratford, London E20 1DB, (0) 204 549 760 / thegantrylondon.com

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