ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2022 Sept - Dec

My response is the same as Alan's above, only I have the standard black vinyl as well.

I'm embarrassed to say that in addition to not having played any of the records, I haven't even opened them. For all I know, some of the coloured variants could be incorrect but the accompanying serial numbers seem to be in order.

I did collect the various cd variants as well but once again, haven't unsealed any of them. I'm not only evil but strange as well. 

Wow, I’m impressed, evilincarnate. That means the resale value isn’t affected. I’m sure there are some out there that own two copies of each, one to open and one to remain sealed.

They should be the right ones if the barcodes are right. I didn’t have any problems there. The only issue I did have is a couple of them having ripped seams on the inner sleeves. I sent one back because of that, as the outer sleeve seam was also ripped, but the remaining two would have been very difficult to exchange. I’ve disguised the ripped seams using black or brown felt tip pen. I expected the Australian one to have the rips as well, being as it’s done almost the equivalent of a round-the-world trip, but it was fine. I surmise that the damaged ones leave the factory that way.

I kept all the cellophane wrappings. I very carefully cut them on one edge to get the items out, so they’re all intact. I’ve housed each item in a plastic sleeve.

I still haven’t bothered with the other eight albums picture discs that were released this year. For some reason they just don’t appeal to me. Plus having got so many of Voyage, I consider it was the wrong time for them to do them.

ABBA have 4 million subscribers on YouTube! I'm so happy about this as I don't like odd numbers. 4 million subscribers though! Impressive for a heritage act, especially when you consider a class act like Fleetwood Mac 'only' have 1.24m.

Other heritage acts youtube followers

The Beatles 7.0m
Bee Gees 3.8m
Pink Floyd 3.4m
Led Zeppelin 2.8m
Blondie 684k


So ABBA's 4 million is really good.

Svana Gisla, the producer of the Voyage show spoke at a Department of Culture, Media and Sport committee in Parliament recently.
She said ABBA chose London because of the loyal fanbase. She also mentioned other possible venues such as Las Vegas or Germany.


uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/abba-made-emotional-choice-voyage-103355112.html


➡️Here is the full transcript from the House of Commons
It is a long read where Svana is questioned by members of the Committee on the tech surrounding the show.
➡️The show had been planned to open in October 2021 but was delayed and cost £141m.
➡️It will take 3 years of 80% capacity tnd average ticket price of £75 to break even.
committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/11610/html/

Oh my, but when I read the Chairmans questions, I'm reminded of the ways power capitalism is taking further steps:

24/7 Shows with all possible artists??

Think that you work at such a venue:

"Hurry up guys! You have 10 minutes left to get the ABBA glitter out! The Cure are next!"

"John, I told you before, you cannot play the ABBA "Mamma Mia" notes during the Bohemian Rapsody Mamma Mia part, we get in troubke with our licence givers!"

😂😂😂

ABBA's Voyage album made the Top 3 in the Album Charts of Germany!

Beaten only by 2 local artists, beating Taylor Swift and Harry Styles.

They are therefore the most successful International artists albumwise in Germany. I reference the Annual Album Charts of 2022 of course.

🤩

I mean, well it is a screen! If you would stand extremely left sided and very near to the screen, the effect might vanish, but from my memories, the Auditorium and the Dancefloor Layout would not let you go into this position.

However, don't be fooled by badly shot Videos or pictures, it is an experience which needs to be seen live and IT WILL CAPTURE YOUR MIND OVER THE FULL 90 MINUTES!

Technically the ABBAtars may look like Avatars rather than humans - who knew 🤔?

But people will be wrapped up in the moment and won't take much or any notice

Voyage (album) has done exceptionally well in Germany. Its sales were reported to be 762,000 a few weeks ago. That's the sort of figure they were getting for their studio albums originally (apart from Arrival and Super Trouper which were million sellers). Very impressive sales - and especially in 2021/22 and for a group who weren't around for 40 years.

Interesting to hear about Voyage's success in Germany.
I'm guessing the songs just got a lot more exposure on the country's radio stations i.e. they weren't effectively restricted to just one as they were in the UK (Radio 2 - admittedly, a big station but its playlist alone is not enough for mega sales).

bennybjorn:

No, ABBA is treated on the radio in Germany like in the UK, the new songs are rarely played, and if then usually on the "schlager" waves.

The 3rd place (After Rammstein and Helene Fischer) lies in the way the annual Charts are compiled.
They take the overall sales revenue ( including physical sales, paid Downloads and Streaming as a factor) of each Album in the period from Calendar Week 50 of the previous year until CW of the actual year.
Last year Voyage was No.1 on the annual Charts because sales from 5. November until and including week 49 were high enough.
However, as Jonny pointed out, the album sold near to 800.000 units until now and continued to sell very well in December 2021 and well into 2022. Those figures were high enough to qualify for No. 3 this year.
Still impressing, I think.

Thank you Alan for the image of Agnetha's ABBA-tar during "The Winner Takes It All". 'Agnetha' looks particularly beautiful in this gown, just gorgeous!

I am located in Australia and have not yet seen the 'Voyage' show. I am beyond tempted to travel to the UK but am hoping that 'Voyage' might make its way to Sydney in the foreseeable future.

Due to my unbridled curiosity, I viewed audience-shot footage of 'Voyage' on Yotube some months ago. It was essentially the whole show and was quite correctly removed from the site within hours. I felt bad about watching it but simply couldn't help myself. Anyway, what I saw looked incredibly realistic, despite being filmed on someone's mobile phone. (The audio sounded great as well so I can only imagine what the true experience must be like.)

From what I glimpsed, the visual highlights were "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and "Mamma Mia". If I didn't know better, I would have thought the latter had been compiled from long-lost footage - it's that bang-on in terms of facial accuracy.

The only 'flaw' I observed was 'Frida's' face up-close during sections of "The Visitors" but I wondered if the bright lights featured during those moments might have been compromising her features? That said, I did notice in one of the promo shots (in the same costume), Frida looked a little 'strange' - as though her eyes had no life in them. It could be that this particular 'version' of her (during "The Visitors") has some limitations but it struck me as odd that the opening number would feature the worst likeness (in my opinion).

Of course, I say this with having had the dubious benefit of scrutinising the image from the comfort of my computer - i.e. not being among the crowd in the actual theatre and experiencing the show as it should be enjoyed. Therefore, I am not properly qualified to make comment. There you go - I just undermined my entire post! 

Each year the dutch vote for their favorite songs: top 2000. Don't shut me down is in it but I still have faith isn't.

Although I can see why Don't Shut Me Down is the crowning jewel on Voyage, I feel I Still Have Faith In You is right up there too. That melody is so affecting! I long to hear it given a full orchestral treatment. It's so beautiful. It hits me right in the solar plexus. This brief snippet is just that- far too brief.