Post by Ausfan on Sept 15, 2014 15:03:07 GMT
My name is Roxanne, I am 45 years old and I am from Australia.
I have been an ABBA fan since their music clips first appeared on Australian Television in 1975. I was 6 years old at the time ! I lived in a household of all females. I had one younger sister and 2 older sisters – and Mum of course.
'Mamma Mia' was the start of it all for my whole family. There were many discussions in my house about the girls – the costumes – the choreography. We simply could not get enough of ABBA !
My younger sister and I learned all the choreography from the clips and from the Bandstand Special – 'The Best Of ABBA' in 1976. We would perform ABBA shows for my older sisters and their friends – at their request
Mum bought us all the ABBA merchandise that became available – and my absolute favourites were the Bubblegum Cards and Poster Books. Birthdays and Christmas were always ABBA for me.
When we heard ABBA were going to Tour in 1977, my Mum was on the phone so fast to order tickets ! I remember at the time it was very expensive - $9.00 a ticket – so $45.00 for the 5 of us. But Mum was more than happy to pay it – she loved ABBA as much as we did.
We waited 5 months then for the concert which was to be held in Sydney on 3rd March 1977. The anticipation was almost as good as actually going to the concert.
This is my concert story:
I was 8 years old - it was 3rd March 1977. We boarded a train on the Central Coast in New South Wales at 4am - my Mum, 3 sisters and myself. We arrived at the R.A.S Showground in Sydney at 7am. Fully loaded up with food & clothes in a suitcase, we sat and waited outside the Showground with everyone else. There were people everywhere, and as the day passed, the crowd swelled to huge proportions. The thrill of the wait was almost too much to bear - the buzz in the air was electric. The time approached for the roller doors to the stadium to open. The crowd surged towards those doors - and as the time approached 5pm, the crowd began to push forward. The excitement became panic for those at the front - being crushed against those roller doors - and it seemed to take forever for the doors to start moving up. People were calling for everyone to stop pushing - there were many children amongst this crowd ! My Mum and 2 older sisters did what they could to surround and protect me and my little sister - Mum showed no fear - so we felt no fear.
We simply felt the adrenalin building in anticipation of getting in to the Showground - hopefully getting good seats - and of seeing ABBA. There was no allocated seating so it was first in best dressed. I can feel it now ! By the time those roller doors started to open, you could barely breathe - it was all too much. Mum told us 'When those doors go up, RUN !' mostly to avoid being knocked down by those behind us ... and that is what we did. My little sister in between Mum and one sister - and me holding onto my other sister. As she ran, my feet did not touch the ground. I was simply flying along behind her. We reached the seating on the lawn area of the Showground and she continued to run - all the way to the front rows of seats.
We were in the 2nd row ! And we were there alone - Mum and my other sisters had not caught up yet. So my sister laid down along the seats to save them - no one else was getting those seats ! Finally the others arrived and we settled in for the next 3 or so hours - happily eating the food Mum had packed, and staring at that stage. Were ABBA really going to be right there in just a short time ? It started to grow dark - it started to rain – the wind got stronger. Did we care ? Absolutely not. It was time ! Lights flashed on the stage, music boomed. Frida's voice rang out from backstage.
We all screamed. And suddenly, there was ABBA - right there in front of us. Pure magic. Mum moved us around closer to the stage after the show started. We ended up directly behind the Police who were supposed to be guarding the stage, but couldn't take their eyes off ABBA. I was standing on the suitcase so I could see over them, and my sister was picked up by one of the Policemen and sat on his shoulders for the rest of the show. She had the best view ! We saw Frida fall on the stage, and we were horrified - but what a magnificent woman she was - so professional. That rain ! We didn't care about the rain. After the show we went to an Aunty's house to stay for the night. She was terribly worried about us being all wet and cold. My Mum said to her, "We don't care about that. We just saw ABBA ! We would have stood up to our waists in mud to see ABBA". And to this day, we all still feel the same way.
My love for ABBA has never diminished – I am probably as obsessed now as I was when I was a child. It's hard to explain it to others – but as another fan once said “You can't explain love” !
I have been fortunate enough to have had many wonderful experiences over the years in regards to ABBA events including attending the Premieres of ABBAWORLD in Melbourne and Sydney. I have been interviewed for radio, newspapers, magazines – and for the documentary 'ABBA: Bang A Boomerang'. I even did a short morning television interview live on air ! LOL
My memorabilia was displayed at ABBAWORLD in Sydney – images from my collection were used for the 'ABBA Treasures' book and in Carl Magnus Palm's documentary 'ABBA: Dancing Queen'.
But the main pleasure in all of this, was being able to share my love of ABBA with others who love them too
I have been an ABBA fan since their music clips first appeared on Australian Television in 1975. I was 6 years old at the time ! I lived in a household of all females. I had one younger sister and 2 older sisters – and Mum of course.
'Mamma Mia' was the start of it all for my whole family. There were many discussions in my house about the girls – the costumes – the choreography. We simply could not get enough of ABBA !
My younger sister and I learned all the choreography from the clips and from the Bandstand Special – 'The Best Of ABBA' in 1976. We would perform ABBA shows for my older sisters and their friends – at their request
Mum bought us all the ABBA merchandise that became available – and my absolute favourites were the Bubblegum Cards and Poster Books. Birthdays and Christmas were always ABBA for me.
When we heard ABBA were going to Tour in 1977, my Mum was on the phone so fast to order tickets ! I remember at the time it was very expensive - $9.00 a ticket – so $45.00 for the 5 of us. But Mum was more than happy to pay it – she loved ABBA as much as we did.
We waited 5 months then for the concert which was to be held in Sydney on 3rd March 1977. The anticipation was almost as good as actually going to the concert.
This is my concert story:
I was 8 years old - it was 3rd March 1977. We boarded a train on the Central Coast in New South Wales at 4am - my Mum, 3 sisters and myself. We arrived at the R.A.S Showground in Sydney at 7am. Fully loaded up with food & clothes in a suitcase, we sat and waited outside the Showground with everyone else. There were people everywhere, and as the day passed, the crowd swelled to huge proportions. The thrill of the wait was almost too much to bear - the buzz in the air was electric. The time approached for the roller doors to the stadium to open. The crowd surged towards those doors - and as the time approached 5pm, the crowd began to push forward. The excitement became panic for those at the front - being crushed against those roller doors - and it seemed to take forever for the doors to start moving up. People were calling for everyone to stop pushing - there were many children amongst this crowd ! My Mum and 2 older sisters did what they could to surround and protect me and my little sister - Mum showed no fear - so we felt no fear.
We simply felt the adrenalin building in anticipation of getting in to the Showground - hopefully getting good seats - and of seeing ABBA. There was no allocated seating so it was first in best dressed. I can feel it now ! By the time those roller doors started to open, you could barely breathe - it was all too much. Mum told us 'When those doors go up, RUN !' mostly to avoid being knocked down by those behind us ... and that is what we did. My little sister in between Mum and one sister - and me holding onto my other sister. As she ran, my feet did not touch the ground. I was simply flying along behind her. We reached the seating on the lawn area of the Showground and she continued to run - all the way to the front rows of seats.
We were in the 2nd row ! And we were there alone - Mum and my other sisters had not caught up yet. So my sister laid down along the seats to save them - no one else was getting those seats ! Finally the others arrived and we settled in for the next 3 or so hours - happily eating the food Mum had packed, and staring at that stage. Were ABBA really going to be right there in just a short time ? It started to grow dark - it started to rain – the wind got stronger. Did we care ? Absolutely not. It was time ! Lights flashed on the stage, music boomed. Frida's voice rang out from backstage.
We all screamed. And suddenly, there was ABBA - right there in front of us. Pure magic. Mum moved us around closer to the stage after the show started. We ended up directly behind the Police who were supposed to be guarding the stage, but couldn't take their eyes off ABBA. I was standing on the suitcase so I could see over them, and my sister was picked up by one of the Policemen and sat on his shoulders for the rest of the show. She had the best view ! We saw Frida fall on the stage, and we were horrified - but what a magnificent woman she was - so professional. That rain ! We didn't care about the rain. After the show we went to an Aunty's house to stay for the night. She was terribly worried about us being all wet and cold. My Mum said to her, "We don't care about that. We just saw ABBA ! We would have stood up to our waists in mud to see ABBA". And to this day, we all still feel the same way.
My love for ABBA has never diminished – I am probably as obsessed now as I was when I was a child. It's hard to explain it to others – but as another fan once said “You can't explain love” !
I have been fortunate enough to have had many wonderful experiences over the years in regards to ABBA events including attending the Premieres of ABBAWORLD in Melbourne and Sydney. I have been interviewed for radio, newspapers, magazines – and for the documentary 'ABBA: Bang A Boomerang'. I even did a short morning television interview live on air ! LOL
My memorabilia was displayed at ABBAWORLD in Sydney – images from my collection were used for the 'ABBA Treasures' book and in Carl Magnus Palm's documentary 'ABBA: Dancing Queen'.
But the main pleasure in all of this, was being able to share my love of ABBA with others who love them too
