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Abba announce new album and virtual live show
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 3 September 2021
Abba are back then. A whopping 40 years after their last album, ‘The Visitors’, all four members of the group have reunited for new LP ‘Voyage’. The band’s long-promised virtual live show is also set to open at a purpose built venue in London next year.
“From the very beginning of my career, and having had the privilege to work with them directly for many years since, it’s been a tremendous joy to be surrounded by Abba and their music”, says Universal CEO Lucian Grainge. “Their boundless creativity and timeless melodies makes us want to partner with them on everything they do because we know it will be simply great”.
‘Voyage’ is set for release on 5 Nov through Universal’s Polydor label. Two songs from it were released yesterday, ‘I Still Have Faith In You’ and ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’.
Meanwhile, the new live show, titled ‘Abba Voyage’, will open at the new 3000 capacity Abba Arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on 27 May. Created by an 850-strong team at visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic, the show will see digital versions of the group perform nightly. The avatars were created following months of motion capture work with the band members themselves.
“The magic of Abba and the herculean efforts of this whole magnificent team reaches a long awaited milestone today”, say the show’s producers, Svana Gisla and Ludvig Andersson. “To be able to finally share this endeavour with the world is a proud moment for us and we can’t wait to welcome you to our arena in East London, a place where we are so happy to be”.
The ambitious virtual show was originally announced in 2016, with news that the band also planned to record new musiccoming two years later. Initially it was announced that they had recorded two new songs, though plans to debut them in 2019 were postponed. Then it emerged that five new songs had actually been recorded. And now it’s a whole new album.
After a long silence on this whole venture, news that something was about to happen came last week, with the launch of the Abba Voyage website. Tickets for the live show will go on general sale on Tuesday, although if you pre-order the album you’ll be able to get early access on Sunday.
