City profile

The Abbatars

Back in 1976, “Abba fantasised about all the things they could do if they had a little money”, said Laurence Sleator in The Times. Almost half a century on, we are seeing the results. At vast cost, the Swedish group has launched “a virtual reunion” – featuring avatars of themselves, alongside real musicians – which will play for seven months at a purpose-built, 3,000-capacity venue in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. So far, 380,000 tickets have been sold. Abba will need to sell a lot more to recoup a whopping £140m in costs, “a task made harder by their decision to shun almost all corporate sponsors”.

Fortunately, the band’s “return” has “earned rave reviews”, said Liam Kelly in The Sunday Times: a mark, perhaps, of the monumental effort it took to turn the four Nordic superstars into “Abbatars”. An army of visual-effects experts at Industrial Light & Magic (the company founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas) filmed five weeks’ worth of new live performances to bring them to life; the process took more than a year. Asked why Elvis and The Beatles had yet to make their virtual debuts, band member Benny Andersson replied: because it is “so bloody expensive”. In the music industry, “a timeless catalogue is the ultimate source of value”, said John Gapper in the FT. Abba’s Gold greatest hits album sold over 30 million copies. But the band has always shown “business acumen”, too: the jukebox musical Mamma Mia! boosted its fortunes. Abba’s digital extravaganza “could easily flop” – but at least the tunes will be catchy.