So I will be going next year with some family members to celebrate a 65th birthday..my choice of present for someone with less brutal taste in music than me.

One the one hand, its a bit naff thinking about just the concept of avatars on stage and the price, but on the other I have no doubt the almost everyone who goes will be Abba fans and will love the experience. And there is something generally appealing about being in a large crowd and listening to music watching a show...just this one isn't live human beings so no chance of an impromptu change of set or amusing fuck up. With this crowd, no chance even of someone climbing on stage and stage diving back into the audience sadly. Craziest thing that might happen is someone spills their popcorn or coke (cola, not the other coke we sometimes experience at gigs).

The unexplained thing here is that I am quite happy to see the Abbatars, but I wouldn't really want to see Ronnie's avatar, even with Simon there in the flesh.

Would I see ACCADACCAVATARS, if such an abomination were to ever become true?? Truth is, I probably would, but I would never admit it on this forum for fear of being flamed.

Mentioned this on another thread, I love a bit of Abba and am interested in seeing the show. It does have a ten piece live band backing up the ‘abbatars’. Actually this footage is the worst I’ve seen of the gig so far. I’d rather see it live in any case rather than judge from phone footage. From what I’ve read it isn’t the hologram technology which has been doing the rounds for years now but something new developed by Industrial Light & Magic.

I wouldn’t bother seeing most heritage acts rendered in this manner but I’d definitely be interested in an AC/DC show- but I doubt that would happen. It would be unlikely to feature any live musicians either, which would lessen the experience.

Maybe more of an ABBA "event" than an actual concert experience (even if the music is live).

Reminds me of these movie events with a live orchestra, which one could call a "concert", but it's more like a "multimedia live event", I suppose, which is what I'd call this as well.

Posted By: reillylivesFor me, this is no different than popping in a concert DVD. Only a lot more expensive.

I saw ABBA live in 1979. It was a great show. No interest in simulated ABBA.

A live dvd (with a lot more of live feeling than a dvd) / convention experience. The future for fans of retired bands and artists. Who’s next, the Beatles?

Posted By: CliffFINmark2One day AC/DC will tour in a similar kinda format

No way man. But i´ll bet KISS will.

Maybe some light SPOILERS:

I've been to the show on May, 30th. Was skeptical at first, but to be honest I was blown away by it. First things first: when you are upfront you can see that the "Abbatars" are flat on a screen a little bit, so that breaks the illusion a little. The cool thing was though, that the mood/lighting on screen is synced to the actual light in the arena, which makes for an awesome effect, probably better if you're a little bit in the back (I was in second row, a little bit to the right, not ideal).
In my opinion it is impossible to judge the show without being there. As I said, I was skeptical, because I thought the sole focus would be on the Abbatars. But it's more of a multimedia experience.

The first few songs you have the Abbatars "on stage" as you would expect, the live band on the left side of the stage (sometimes visible, sometimes not, as they are on a moving platform). Then you have songs where the screen just shows closeups of the Abbatars with some effects (personally the most unimpressive part of the show). Then you have some anime videos instead of any projections/Abbatars whatever. For one song one of the guys from Abba "comes on stage", mentions how awesome the band is, sings two lines and then the live band comes on the main stage and does a whole song on it's own without ABBA.

Which brings me to the music: god damn this band is tight. Which they have to be, as they have to play to a click for the whole thing to work. And the three background singers, wow. Their voice matched the timbre of the Abba girls pretty good, which makes me wonder how much vocals come from tape and how much is actually live. Probably a mix or there is more live vocals than I thought. Anyway they sounded impressive.

Then the purpose-built arena with the amazing light show. As said -> synced to the screen and there are tons of LED stripes, light effects in the auditorium as well, synced to the music, creating nice effects with a mood appropriate to the respective songs. Other than the stuff I mentioned earlier, the creators played with the fact that everything is digital and did have some fun on the mega screen, there are some camera pans where the Abbatars are in a TRON like world, don't know how to describe it, as I didn't see the whole scene (i focused on the actual live band and the light show oftentimes).

So all in all it's a great night out. I thought it would focus on soulless digital figures, but it doesn't. There is so much variety in the show, it doesn't get boring. For the price I paid (55 pound for GA standing on a Monday) it's well worth it and for what you get it's even worth the price they charge on weekends (I think about 80somethingish). I've seen really bad concerts for much much more money. This doesn't replace a real concert, it's another form of entertainment, a form of multimedia/concert/musical hybrid maybe. At least you get really good live musicians. If you are either interested in the technical aspect or like the music of ABBA even a little I think you should go.

So great that they honor the live band that does the work and in my opinion the magic. Which brings me to my last point: the reason I think it is so good is because of the heavy involvement of the band. There probably will be some copycats in the future and probably without the involvement of the original artist. It remains to be seen if these shows will be as well thought - out as this one.

It’s very very cool and extremely good news for those of us who still want to enjoy our favourite bands in stadiums long after they are gone.
I can imagine seeing the stones holograms in a stadium, or some sort of Bon Scott hologram one day, although there would have to be a massive massive appetite for that to happen in the next 5 years id say, the production of this abba event is quite expensive I hear

Posted By: CWT1965Holograms are a terrible idea, just an excuse to make money, if AC/DC did a gig with hologram Bon I would rather drink bleach or pull my teeth out with pliers than attend such a freakshow and Bon was my idol growing up

I am kinda with you on this, but in life I always try to see the alternate POV.

Which, in this case, maybe runs along the lines of...well you go to the cinema and pay $10 or so to see a famous actor perform. This isn't the same exactly, but how different is it? ABBA took it to an extreme, building a bespoke stadium...investing over $100m as I understand it...so for that its gonna be more expensive of course. But lets say they re-release the LTBR movie with unforeseen footage and it was in theatres, would we watch that? Then say it was in 3D, would we object to that? Where do the boundaries lie?

The hologram concerts mentioned of Dio/Tupac are different, much simpler (I think based on an old Victorian trick with mirrors). From my understanding the Abba gig aren’t holograms at all but new technology from Industrial Light and Magic.

@slammerjam, great review, cheers

Love me some new ABBA ...saw them in their heyday in Sydney during a gig in a downpour , but it was all very worth it !!! Seeing Agnetha live was so soothing to the eyes and ears !