Stars, royalty watch ABBA’S return
“ABBA Voyage” is certainly a trip. Four decades after the Swedish pop supergroup last performed live, audiences can once again see ABBA onstage in an innovative digital concert.
“ABBA Voyage” opened to the public in London on Friday, the day after a red-carpet premiere attended by superfans, celebrities and Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. The guests of honor were pop royalty — the four members of ABBA, appearing in public together for the first time in years.
They were in the audience, though. Onstage at the specially built ABBA Arena were a 10-piece live backing band and a digital ABBA, created using motion capture and other technology. The voices and movements are the real Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-frid Lyngstad but the performers onstage are digital avatars of the band members as they looked in the 1970s.
The four band members got a rapturous ovation when they took a bow at the end of Thursday’s show, 50 years after they formed ABBA, and 40 years after they stopped performing live.
Watching one’s younger self perform must be a strange sensation, but the band members, now in their 70s, said they were delighted by the show.
“I never knew I had such amazing moves,” Ulvaeus said.
Lyngstad agreed: “I thought I was quite good, but I’m even better.”
Ulvaeus said the audience reaction was the most gratifying part of the experience. “There’s an emotional connection between the avatars and the audience,” he said. “That’s the fantastic thing.”
BTS launching Apple Music show:
BTS members will reveal their gradual journey to becoming K-pop superstars through a new Apple Music weekly limited series. The streaming service announced Thursday that BTS will launch its new show “BTS Radio: Past & Present” on Apple Music 1, with the inaugural episode set to air Saturday. The three-episode series will lead up to the release of the boy band’s new album “Proof,” which arrives June 10.
The members of the Grammy-nominated band will share stories and songs that helped shaped them.
Drummer White dies: Alan White, 72, the longtime drummer for progressive rock pioneers Yes who also played on projects with John Lennon and George Harrison, has died. White’s death was announced on Facebook by his family. The post said he died at his Seattle-area home Thursday after a brief illness.
White joined Yes in 1972, replacing original drummer Bill Bruford. In a band noted for frequent lineup
changes, White was a constant and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Yes in 2017. Though he didn’t play on the band’s iconic 1972 album “Close to the Edge,” White performed on every subsequent Yes studio album over nearly five decades.
Shelton named Indy 500 grand marshal: Blake Shelton will lend his voice to the Indianapolis 500 as the grand marshal for Sunday’s race. The country music star and coach on NBC’S “The Voice,” Shelton will give the traditional command for drivers to report to their cars during the official pre-race ceremonies.
May 28 birthdays: Actor Carroll Baker is 91. Singer Gladys Knight is 78. Singer John Fogerty is 77. Singer Kylie Minogue is 54. Rapper Chubb Rock is 54. Actor Justin Kirk is 53. TV host Elisabeth Hasselbeck is 45. Actor Jake Johnson is 44. Actor Megalyn Echikunwoke is 39. Singer Colbie Caillat is 37. Actor Carey Mulligan is 37.