ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2021 Sept - Dec

I've booked 30th May, going with a friend, paid about £100 each and yes its all one big RISK, but hey whats money for and sometimes you have to take a gamble.
Plus havent been on holiday for 3 years !!

I'm really going for the experience and missed them first time round ( live ) so hoping this will be as close as Ill get to the real thing..


Also its a Birthday Present , my 60th !!! (22nd the actual day.. )

FYI DSMD survives another week in the top 75 of the UK singles chart at 73 and Gold slips to 14...its 1014th week in the top 100...

Sorry amongst my suggestions were Bon Voyage and Journey. Nearly right.

I am planning to book, I definately want to visit that concert! When: September or October 2022. I am one of the lucky persons who saw them live in Rotterdam on the 24th of October of 1979. This has been one of the greatest experiences in my life (there are some more but this one was soo great)! I was 13 years old. I don't know if there are more on this forum who have been able to see them live. For me it was soo great! How it was, that's what we know from the Live At Wembley video material and CD. It was the same tour, with sometimes the one evening a song in and another out, the other evening again one song in and another out. I have read somewhere that in the USA leg of the tour they played sometimes One Man One Woman, not in Rotterdam. There are some more slighty different tracklists existing from all the evenings of that tour. I also like to tell something about the very exciting moments in that concert. Of course all the songs were common to me! Except: Summer Night City came with the long intro, first time I heard that, waauw, Agnetha came with her song I'm Still Alive, waauw, The Way Old Friends Do, new, waauw, and all the elements of rock in the songs, different than on the studio versions, waauw, all the never heard before new intro's or outro's of the songs never heard before, waauw!!! All very exciting! I hope you can understand that all this has been a highlight in my life. And it was 42 years ago. My goodness.

Me too, I also still have those tickets, 17 Dutch guilders, similar to €7,50. Unbeleivable! What was also interresting: the pauses the ABBA members took. Intermezzo No. 1: only Benny, the other 3 had a break. I'm Still Alive: only Agnetha, again 3 had a break. Why Did It have To Be Me: Agnetha had a break. So, counting: each had 2 breaks, except Benny, only one. I forget to tell that when Tomas Ledin did his song, I am not sure who were in the backing vocals. I remember I saw once a picture with Frida in the backing choir during the song of Tomas. But I don't remember that from Rotterdam. Those breaks were also used for changing from white to blue outfits. Mamma Mia was also not in Rotterdam, if I remember well.

Hi this is my first post here. I've been a mega fan of ABBA for about 34 years according to my mother (I'm 35 and had early access to my parents' LPs) and their return is just some of the greatest news in forever. I've ended up giving in to the capitalists at Universal by ordering 16 copies of Voyage: the "eco box", the 2 picture discs, the 4 ABBAtar tapes and corresponding CDs, plus the white, green, HMV yellow, Amazon orange and indie blue LPs. Plus, due to the rumours of ABBA being at opening night I persisted and got a pair of tickets for 27th May!!!! 😍😍😍

I hope nobody expects Christmas presents from me this year haha!

Alan, I honestly don't why the deluxe box set of " Voyage " is referred to as an " ecobox ". I think it is part of a marketing ploy. Foreverfan, I am shocked at the price of the concert tickets. I don't want to upset or offend anyone but I think the cost of the tickets is extortionate. However, I do hope you enjoy the show.

I’ve not seen it referred to as that, but yourself and HOMETIME have seen it. Sadly it’s anything but. The production of it and the additional distribution costs (like flying first class, the more space it takes up, the less ecological it is) outweigh the lack of plastic.

I paid about £43 per ticket for the show. I wouldn’t say that’s extortionate by today’s standards, but I can understand it might seem a lot to pay when ABBA themselves won’t actually be there.

Although there won’t be a DVD release, I’d be very surprised if at least one person doesn’t post the entire show on YouTube. They might try and do a Kate Bush and ban all cameras/phones but someone will find a way.

More about the Recording of 'Voyage':

Some more reflections from Bernard Löhr in his work together with Abba!
40 years after Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid went their separate ways, the group is now reunited and releasing a new album.

Bernard Löhr from Karlskoga has handled the work in the studio and is the residents' tool in the pursuit of pop perfection. Previously, in close collaboration with Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, he has recorded Abbasongs with, among others, Meryl Streep, Stellan Skarsgård, Cher and Colin Firth. Then to the "Mamma Mia!" movies. But it is only now that he has recorded Abba songs with Abba.

During the band's first heyday, that task was usually handled by sound genius Michael B. Tretow. Now it is Bernard Löhr from Värmland who bears the responsibility as sound and studio technician. He got to know Benny Andersson in the late 80's and has been Andersson's right hand man in the studio for many years. While working on the new album, Bernard has been the fifth in the room.

- It was a special feeling, Bernard Löhr begins.
- The recordings started with a song sketch from Benny, Bernard Löhr continues.
- Then we picked up musicians, from drums and guitar to strings, and together with Benny's finesse built up the songs. All work has been done at the National Mixing Agency and in Mono Music Studio, both on Skeppsholmen in Stockholm.

It all started in May 24, 2017. They began the recording of "I Still Have Faith in You" which also became the first single.
- When the music itself, the basics, have been finished, the girls, or women, I must say, have come in and put on their song. They really thought it was great fun.

From the beginning, only two songs were made without any direct plans for more.
- In January 2019, we continued with a few more songs and the rest are recorded this year."
- Agnetha and Anni-Frid had not sung together in over 35 years when they now sat opposite each other at each other Didrik De Geer microphone and I pressed the rec button.
But their voices sat together! Just like they always have.
That sound that their voices create together - that no one else has managed to recreate remained. It was both strange and fun to hear. A large part of the band's magic is in those voices, right?

- Mmm, that's it. Plus then of course the songs themselves. The sound of their voices together, there is nothing else that sounds like it. It is of course a very cool job to try to capture - record - that magic in the best possible way.
- But it's not just about the technical, it is important that those who are to sing or play feel comfortable in their role. That it sounds like they want in the headphones for example. Agnetha and Anni-Frid also want to be able to see each other when they sing, they sink through eye contact.
It was a bit nervous before everyone got started and felt comfortable.

It's 40 years since the band split - how was the atmosphere in the studio?
- It was probably as if the break never existed. Everyone thought it was very fun, everyone was involved and wanted to test new ideas and experiment. It was never just a song and then you went home. Everyone wanted it to be as good as possible.
- Mostly it was just the four of us in the studio, some dog sometimes.

Did you have an ambition to recreate a classic Abba sound or did you want it to sound here and now?
- No, I did not listen to the old records to keep that sound fresh in my memory. It is rather the sound that is in Benny's compositions. In addition, we use some musicians who were in the old days - guitarist Lasse Wellander and drummer Per Lindvall for example.
All in all, it probably gives an Abba sound no matter how we try to twist and turn it.
And when the voices come in, it will be Abba immediately.

As studio technicians, will you be Björn and Benny's tools when they have to carve out their ideas?

- Yes, that's it. I have worked with Benny for a very long time and usually know how he wants it. But he is also very impulsive in the studio, constantly coming up with new ideas. So for me, it is important to always be quick and open to new grips.
Have all four always been in the studio at the same time?
- Yes, when we have made a song order. Sometimes we have worked one by one with certain parties. But there are a lot of choirs and parts. Then they always sing at the same time. There is a lot of talk about Benny's role because he is responsible for most of the music, how would you describe Björn's role in these songs?
- He is involved all the time. I think his lyrics are divinely good on this record. There is an incredible amount of work behind it.
There is always a kind of story in the songs. Somehow I feel that the lyrics are often about themselves.

How have you experienced the enormous attention that the reunion, the album and the upcoming Abbatar show have garnered?
- I had a feeling it would be great. We met the record company, Universal, before the launch and they told us that this was the biggest thing they had done.
And the biggest thing they will do at all, because there is nothing that could be as big.
But that it would be this big ...

Was there any nervousness about how the new songs would be received?
- Yes of course. We thought many times during the work about how the reception would be. Most seem very positive.
"I Still Have Faith in You" I think is one of the best things Abba has done. And "Don't Shut Me Down" is very Abba-like.
It even has the galloping Benny piano.
- Haha yeah!
There are several winks to classic Abba grips on the album, I can reveal.

Very interresting!!

I'm no psychic, but a bit of me is prepared to predict Mamma Mia III... Here is DSMD introduced by Bjorn and played by the house band/cast at the Mamma Mia party thingy in Stockholm...


www.instagram.com/tv/CUyMItBjZdv/?utm_medium=copy_link

Sorry, but it’s a no from me on both Mamma Mia III or a Christmas film. Of those, I would say the Mamma Mia! option is the most likely.

Surely one of the best things about Voyage is that it’s separated ABBA from the Mamma Mia! franchise? The emphasis is finally on ABBA again? We shouldn’t be wishing that away. I’m happy for the album to be linked to the ABBATars show but not more Mamma Mia! trash. Enough is enough. It probably will happen though.