ABBA teases new avatar material ahead of 'Voyage' tour
"ABBA is dance and always will be"
ABBA has just shared a preview of their digital avatars expected at their upcoming 'Voyage' tour, kicking off on May 27 in London.
Last November, the Swedish pop legends released their first album in 40 years, 'Voyage,' and are set to perform a series of "revolutionary" performances at London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in a custom made venue.
The show will see digital avatars of each member - Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid - performing alongside a 10-piece live band.
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Star Wars creator George Lucas’ studio Industrial Light & Magic helped develop the avatars, which is described as first-of-its-kind technology, utilising motion-capture of each member to create the young digital versions.
Now, ABBA has released four new photographs, one for each "digital" member of the band: Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, after the release of a stunning debut teaser for the project late last year.
The creators behind the project wrote: "With one month to go until ABBA Voyage begins, check out these four brand-new images of Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Anni-Frid's avatars. Get ready for the concert of a lifetime!"
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The avatar-led concert has been choreographed by world-renowned choreographer Wayne McGregor, who has been working with the group since 2020 to bring movement and life to the ABBA avatars. "ABBA is dance and always will be" the video text reads.
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Last year the ‘Voyage’ show producers spoke to NME about what to expect in the show. They said: "It’s a concert on steroids, basically,” explained Ludwig Andersson. “However technically advanced these avatars are, this can never only be about technology. Like all music, you need to keep that open highway into your soul. We need to work on that emotion.
“It needs to always be about the audience feeling something. We’re just trying to enhance that feeling and crank it up to 11 with everything we have at our disposal.”
The upcoming ‘Voyage’ gigs will see the so-called ‘ABBAtars’ performing alongside a 10-piece live band (put together with the help of Klaxons’ James Righton and featuring Little Boots) at a new purpose-built 3,000-capacity venue called ABBA Arena."
‘ABBA Voyage’ begins May 27 at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London – you can find tickets and further information here.
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Aneesa Ahmed is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter