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Post by ed on Mar 4, 2023 10:30:35 GMT
Hi Johnny, I appreciate your help. Unfortunately I can't change my personality. I have suffered many traumatic lifetime experiences including disturbing bullying at school and at work. All this unpleasantness has left me scarred. Believe me I have sought and sought medical advice but to no avail. The Crisis Team were called upon several times in my life and I have been admitted to hospital too. The nurses weren't any help at all to be honest. You have to be prepared to tell all of your mental problems over and over again. Also, it doesn't make matters any better when you have to put all your plans for the day on hold simply to wait for them to visit. There is no time limit. THE CRISIS TEAM ARE USELESS. I am a sensitive " wallflower I'm afraid. There is a little madness in everyone. So if I drone on and on I apologise. It is down to the crippling anxiety that plagues me. I can't change the way I am. Personally I don't think anyone can. A few years ago I even tried to take my own life. Depression and anxiety completely took over. I was in a very dark place. I don't really want to remember the " bad black dog " period. I want to put it behind me. Hi BAAB, your views regarding the setlist are spot on. I agree completely. It is a mighty fine concert setlist. So why change it ? Obviously maybe a few little tweaks and adjustments wouldn't go amiss but overall it is a very good setlist. It is just " the pick-me-up " any doctor would prescribe for me. I can't wait to see it. Unfortunately I am only attending a matinee performance on Sunday Ist October. A long, long time to wait ! There all sorts of setbacks and problems at the moment with strikes aplenty and the spiralling cost of living crisis which I don't think will ever resolve itself. All these disputes and challenges in life trigger my anxiety. As I have mentioned I just want to see the show. Apologies to all forum members if I AM A PAIN and deleting my account every few minutes. This is the anxiety taking over.
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Post by Ed on Mar 4, 2023 14:09:08 GMT
As I live in Melton Mowbray in the heart of Leicestershire I will have to largely rely on the trains to reach London and from then catch a taxi to The Voyage Arena. My ticket for the matinee performance has been booked and paid for. Certainly a challenging time currently as their are ongoing railway disputes. Will they ever reach a resolution by October 1 2023. You see, all these setbacks do not help my condition. Due to the anxiety so many questions pop into my head. I keep telling myself I will see the show and I want to see the show but I don't have the privilege of owning a mobile or a car ( as I can't drive ) and it will be difficult for me to travel to London as I live in The Midlands. It would be ideal if I resided next to The Voyage Arena but unfortunately I don't. Richard, I take on board everything you say and I am grateful for your input as I am Tony's and Johnny's.
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Post by breifne on Mar 4, 2023 15:30:02 GMT
Hi Ed - glad to hear you have decided to go to see ABBA Voyage , I am sure you won't be disappointed. I am going to see it in November and as I don't live in the UK I have been looking into how to get to the arena. I think if you get to central London you can connect to the DLR line which stops right beside the Voyage arena. That would save you the expensive of a taxi and also there might be a good atmosphere on the train with groups of fans travelling to the concert ( especially on the way back I imagine) !! Here is the link to the train directions : seatplan.com/london/abba-arena-venue/map/
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2023 8:55:18 GMT
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Post by joseph on Mar 5, 2023 9:12:35 GMT
In other news, I Still Have Faith In You has achieved over 40 million views on YouTube. Incredible.
And for those who like a boppy little remix, shake your arthritic hips to Matt Pop's latest remix of Money Money Money. It's actually inventive and fun.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2023 10:33:47 GMT
I Still Have Faith in You also 40 million streams on Spotify.
Don't Shut Me Down has 25 million youtube streams but 62 million spotify streams.
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Post by Ed on Mar 5, 2023 10:47:54 GMT
Thanks Breifne and Johnny. I will certainly take on board your advice. I am looking forward to seeing the show.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2023 13:00:44 GMT
Where should the show go next?
I think it really should be somewhere in Europe. That's where ABBA's core and casual fans are based. Probably Germany.
They haven't the fan base in America or Asia (big place!) which have been touted.
As for Australia. Maybe a lot of intetest at first but then it collapses. Apart from that Europe in a continent of 500m plus, Australia and NZ only 30m. Far more ABBA fans in Europe than Australia.
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Post by foreverfan on Mar 5, 2023 13:18:12 GMT
^^ I agree, Australia would be good for a few months, 6 at the most really; and probably in Sydney; but I can’t see them going to that expense for such a small time, so Asia wise that’s going to be tough, Singapore was touted, but hey China has the population, but all in all they weren’t that popular in Asia, Japan adore technology....
North America, alas is has to be Las Vegas, on the tacky side but it’s such a huge entertainment venue......
Europe probably the hardest, but somewhere central, like Munich, In Germany, Austria and Switzerland have big fan bases as well. You can forget Belgium , Netherlands and even Ireland all massive fans but far to close to London...
It’ll be interesting, I have a feeling it will happen sooner than we think......
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2023 13:39:54 GMT
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Post by Michal on Apr 19, 2023 18:57:33 GMT
I've got tickets for the anniversary performance on 27th May and though I expect something special to happen, I actually hope it won't be a change in the set list. On one hand I would love to see a new number, on the other I would hate any of the current ones to be left out. Especially The Visitors, as it is such a great opening number! It is the one song I'm looking forward to most of all, as it gave me goosebumps last year on during both shows I saw. If I had to sacrifice any of the songs in the show, I would choose Does Your Mother Know (but it's likely to stay in), Waterloo (again, not likely to be left out) and the rest would be very difficult - Chiquitita and Fernando probably.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2023 19:29:51 GMT
SPOILER ALERT QUESTIONS
I read that Does Your Mother Know starts off as the ABBAtars but then goes into the band taking over. Is this right?
And also, there are four video songs that they have to prevent over-heating. If so, these would stay..unless new videos.
SPOILER ALERT (possibly) for reply.
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Post by foreverfan on Apr 19, 2023 19:42:04 GMT
SPOILER ALERT ANSWER....
Yes....
More info if needed...
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Post by Michal on Apr 20, 2023 3:54:32 GMT
DYMK is there to give the backing singers and the live band their moment in the show, so it will definitely stay. As for the animations, I'm afraid they're seen as piece of art and I don't expect them to be removed either. The "video" songs could probably be replaced by other videos but not the 3D performances, as johnny rightly pointed out. And let's not forget that The Visitors is segued with Hole In Your Soul and Lay All Your Love On Me with Summer Night City - so either both have to be left out or both have to stay in. If we consider all of this, there's really not much room for change.
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Post by lamont on Apr 20, 2023 8:55:22 GMT
I wouldn’t mind Thank You For The Music going for Take A Chance On Me or Super Trouper.
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Post by HOMETIME on Apr 20, 2023 18:30:06 GMT
Same. I've never really liked the song. But I imagine it's one that'll never be dropped.Yep. It could echo the 1977 tour quite nicely. Depending on what they have in reserve, I think On And On And On could work as a rockier album track in that slot too. Then again, everyone will have different favourites.
I wonder if setlist changes can accommodate songs being moved around. Like segueing The Visitors and LAYLOM, for instance, and moving SNC to where HIYS is (just random question for illustrative purposes). Or are the songs inextricably linked with the costumes, meaning that they couldn't move too far from where they currently are in the set?
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Post by BAAB on Apr 20, 2023 22:59:01 GMT
Hometime,
you've chosen exactly the Songs which cannot be moved around just Like that.
The Change from The Visitors to HIYS includes a costume change on the stage. But you could produce one of the yet unplayed Songs and connect it to The Visitors, that might work. But you still would need to produce the new Song in the same costumes as HIYS. I would prefer a complete new Design and setting with a new Song.
LAYLOM and SNC have such a spectacular transformation that the audience gasps and even gives extra applause - it's one of THE visual Highlights! It should definitely not be touched in my opinion.
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Post by BAAB on Apr 20, 2023 23:16:48 GMT
Ah, and in Addition, the costumes have a "choreography" on their own! If you would place Songs in a different Order, you would need to change the costumes and I think this also would again cost an awfull lot of money.
Again: They need to sell 3 Million Tickets to break even and I don't think they will change anything in the show until they make profit.
So 2 more Million Tickets to go.
And honestly: The shows play to 95 to 98 % capacity, the audience goes wild in their praise of the show. Many people attended the show for the second, third, fourth, tenth time already, no Show Producer in their right minds would perform very costly changes just to please some very minor groups of fans, who in case of e.g. Hometime and Johnny even haven't seen the show at all?!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2023 8:01:27 GMT
... no Show Producer in their right minds would perform very costly changes just to please some very minor groups of fans, who in case of e.g. Hometime and Johnny even haven't seen the show at all?! It's not often or indeed ever me and Hometime get lumped together 🤣 For my part, on the setlist, the only change I would make would be to remove HIYS for TACOM. Happy with 19 of the 20 choices. That's a 95% approval rating from me. You read many of my posts? 😀 Nothing wrong with a Fantasy Set List.Yes, I take the point there are practicalities such as custume changes. I haven't been...yet. But will soon.
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Post by BAAB on Apr 21, 2023 8:32:22 GMT
I didn't want to offend Hometime or you, Johnny, I'm just saying that there are still a lot of people who haven't seen the initial show including some real ABBA fans (of which some even don't like the ABBAtar project at all) and of course "keeping the interest in the show fresh" is a valued point but we need to be aware that they intend the show to be running for years and years.
As a comparision, Musical Shows like e.g.Cats or Phantom receive a light "fresh-up" every ten years or so.
I mean, for me personally they can Change the setlist now anytime, I've seen the show and will see IT again in Autumn this year, but it will just not happen so soon...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2023 8:39:58 GMT
Not offended BAAB.
Yep, don't think the venue will change anytime soon as you say they need to get their money back. Being in London not only gets the UK market - but countries in Northern and Western Europe, ABBA's strongholds. Why take a chance on Vegas?
Pretty sure there will be set changes but maybe not anytime soon.
I think some fans assuming set changes for the anniversary next month. Media assuming it will end in January because tickets aren't for sale (yet) beyond that point.
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Post by HOMETIME on Apr 21, 2023 17:52:41 GMT
Absolutely no offence taken at all, BAAB. My posts on this topic are just general conversation. Actually, I think it's fair to say that that goes for most of us here. But it's good that you could confirm my suspicions about whether the costumes were easy to change - so, thanks! Do you work in that kind of area?
I like the point about long-running West End shows not changing much, if at all. It makes sense to think of Voyage in this way too.
I'm curious, too, about which four songs have been held in reserve. I'm guessing that TACOM and ST are there. Maybe TNOTG or MMM? They seem to be the next biggest hits not included. IHAD, maybe? Or should be take some clues from the lyric videos - maybe HNY is among the four. I'm sure we'll find out eventually! I'd like to see the setlist as it is for now - two of my absolute favourites are in the show right now.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2023 15:33:44 GMT
Here's an interview with Bjorn a few days ago on ITV's This Morning about the Voyage concert
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Post by clumsylikeaclown on May 17, 2023 20:26:15 GMT
Same. I'm more than happy to go a second time if they switch a few songs around.
As for which songs they could drop? I'd think the most likely options are Hole In Your Soul, Eagle and When All Is Said and Done. I was also very surprised Summer Night City made it in there given Bjorn and Benny historically never liked that song much!
The biggest shocker for me was Take A Chance On Me not being there. I thought that would've been one of the #1 dead cert songs after Dancing Queen and Mamma Mia!
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Post by HOMETIME on May 22, 2023 11:44:41 GMT
It seems that Ludvig has given an extensive interview about the Voyage show. The fanclub posted about it on their FB page. "On the question “were there any other tracks recorded”, Ludvig answered that “there were five or six more songs filmed”, and he confirmed ‘Money, Money, Money’ and ‘Take A Chance On Me’ to be among them; ‘Super Trouper’ he “couldn’t remember”. He also shared that plans were being made at the moment to add/swap songs. He added that on top of that, possibilities to record even more songs are being considered, perhaps without the need for Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid to be locked into the room at ‘Filmhuset’ for another six weeks, using new technical solutions instead." Aaaaannnnnnnd...."Ludvig said that ABBA Voyage is set to expand to two additional locations around the world, including one in North America (Las Vegas) and one location in Southeast Asia (possibly Singapore, Australia, or other) and the question came up how far the ABBA phenomenon could potentially be stretched even further? “Well, I think this may be enough when it comes to the exploitation of ABBA”, Ludvig added, “but a new album could very well possible, as this wouldn’t be to exploit, but to artistically create and as all four of them have enjoyed the recording of Voyage so much, I don’t think they would have anything against it”. He then rushed to say that with this statement, he didn’t want to start all sorts of speculations and that he hadn’t heard anyone saying that a new album was being considered in any shape or form, but “he’d pass on the suggestion to his dad”." The podcast interview is in Swedish and available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music.
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Post by bennybjorn on May 22, 2023 12:56:39 GMT
It seems that Ludvig has given an extensive interview about the Voyage show. The fanclub posted about it on their FB page. "On the question “were there any other tracks recorded”, Ludvig answered that “there were five or six more songs filmed”, and he confirmed ‘Money, Money, Money’ and ‘Take A Chance On Me’ to be among them; ‘Super Trouper’ he “couldn’t remember”. He also shared that plans were being made at the moment to add/swap songs. He added that on top of that, possibilities to record even more songs are being considered, perhaps without the need for Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid to be locked into the room at ‘Filmhuset’ for another six weeks, using new technical solutions instead." Aaaaannnnnnnd...."Ludvig said that ABBA Voyage is set to expand to two additional locations around the world, including one in North America (Las Vegas) and one location in Southeast Asia (possibly Singapore, Australia, or other) and the question came up how far the ABBA phenomenon could potentially be stretched even further? “Well, I think this may be enough when it comes to the exploitation of ABBA”, Ludvig added, “ but a new album could very well possible, as this wouldn’t be to exploit, but to artistically create and as all four of them have enjoyed the recording of Voyage so much, I don’t think they would have anything against it”. He then rushed to say that with this statement, he didn’t want to start all sorts of speculations and that he hadn’t heard anyone saying that a new album was being considered in any shape or form, but “he’d pass on the suggestion to his dad”." The podcast interview is in Swedish and available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music. Ooh, nice one HOMETIME ! This was my rationale for optimism (regarding more new material) all along i.e. that they had devised an enjoyable and almost pressure-free way of recording and releasing new music, at least that's how it seemed to us. If that truly was the case, why on earth not continue recording a few songs every now and then? EDIT have only just realised that Ludwig is actually Benny's son! So, this is an informed view - had assumed it was journalist speculation. Am super encouraged even if nothing comes of it.
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Post by foreverfan on May 22, 2023 15:53:35 GMT
Not sure if this has been mentioned before but a good friend of mine, did say the following, which potentially could be a possibility..
For instance TACOM., Is already to go with the costume already allocated for that part of the show, i.e. drop HIYS for TACOM So no need for costume change as already sync'd to do so,
So I'm guessing they know which tracks to replace when time comes....
Interesting news ^^^^^
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Post by justabba on May 22, 2023 16:42:43 GMT
And this just in! A new interview with Bjorn in the netherlands...
Ulvaeus has sporadic contact with the other three ABBA members, now a little less than two years ago when the new album Voyage was released. As fun and lucrative as that was, it really was the final piece. That was definitely our last album. Not our last activity, because now we have to start thinking about next year, when it will be fifty years ago that we won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo.”
Thanks to compatriot Loreen and her hit Tattoo, that party is at least celebrated in our own country. ,,Amazing, right? Our anniversary and the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden coincide beautifully. Yes, that's a coincidence. I know there are people who think it's intentional, but it's not planned. I'm glad Loreen won, although unfortunately I missed it myself. I was writing that night. Although I had seen her perform in our national preliminary round, so I am familiar with her act and her song.”
Oh this is perfect! This is all I need, do you think we can rent this? Björn Ulvaeus (ABBA) about Royal Theater Carré
It is inevitable that ABBA will have a role in the Eurovision song contest next year. ,,Hopefully in Stockholm, our home city”, Ulvaeus gives a cross. ,,ABBA and the Eurovision Song Contest belong together and next year even more so. How are we going to do it? We have no idea yet. We're just now thinking about that. Our record company recently started talking about it. We have to do something with it, it will not be a re-release, we find that very boring. We need to be more resourceful.”
They don't want to perform anymore, not even on this occasion. Or it must be the ABBAtars, that is of course possible. “We will also think about that. I am especially happy that we can celebrate this next year, it feels unreal that it has already been fifty years.”
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Post by HOMETIME on May 22, 2023 18:28:41 GMT
Not sure if this has been mentioned before but a good friend of mine, did say the following, which potentially could be a possibility.. For instance TACOM., Is already to go with the costume already allocated for that part of the show, i.e. drop HIYS for TACOM So no need for costume change as already sync'd to do so, So I'm guessing they know which tracks to replace when time comes.... Interesting news ^^^^^ It looks like all permutations of the setlist have been worked out. I'm guessing there's probably a substitute song for each set of costumes. With all of the mutterings about things overheating, I guess the prospect of expanding the setlist is probably not on the cards for a while yet - as in, it'll just be a few swapped-out numbers every now and then? With regard to Eurovision next year, I wonder how freely we should interpret Bjorn's "it will not be a re-release, we find that very boring. We need to be more resourceful” comment. A new song? Possibly as a pre-recorded video by ABBA themselves and/or the ABBAtars?
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Post by Alan on May 22, 2023 18:33:41 GMT
Björn’s comment “not a re-release as we find that very boring” is promising. I would hope that means they’re either opening up the vault and unearthing unreleased recordings, finishing off the two Voyage outtakes or recording something new (even if not a full album). I’m starting to feel more optimistic!
It seems from Ludvig’s interview that all of ABBA wanted The Visitors and Hole in Your Soul to open the show, so I’d be very surprised if they’re taken out. I hope they aren’t.
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