17 April 2023 , 22:53
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ABBA star Bjorn Ulvaeus has stunned fans with a surprise visit to London as the group celebrates welcoming their one-millionth visitor to their Voyage show.
The lucky winner Josie Felix, 20, was treated to a surprise meet and greet with Ulvaeus today as the show – which sees digital versions of Abba’s members performing with a 10-piece live band – hit the million mark in just 11 months.
Bjorn said he “could never have dreamt” the group’s show would reach so many people in under a year as he met the one-millionth customer.
People with tickets for Monday were encouraged to nominate themselves or someone else to be the millionth customer, with Josie the eventual winner.
She said: “It feels amazing, didn’t think it would happen but it did.
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ABBA’s “hologram” concert is not actually a hologram concert at all, but it is the first of its kind as it blurs the lines between physical and digital (Handout)“I’m looking forward to Fernando, Dancing Queen, Voulez-Vouz, all of them really. They said there’d be a surprise but I didn’t think it’d be this big, this is quite extraordinary.”
Ms Felix described the surprise as “quite extraordinary” while Ulvaeus said that, while he was initially nervous about the show, he “knew it was working” once he saw it with an audience.
“I could never have dreamt it would be a million before the end of one year,” he said.
“That means it’s been almost choc-a-block full every night which is fabulous.
Josie Felix, the one millionth customer at ABBA Voyage, meets Bjorn Ulvaeu (PA)“It’s been a long project, I was nervous up until the first preview with an audience. But then when I saw it with an audience I knew it was working.”
Ulvaeus said he believes the technology that makes the show possible offers a glimpse into the future.
“Having lived with the technology and with the project for over five years it has kind of become like, well yes, that’s how the future looks, that’s what’s going to happen,” he said.
“Copies of ourselves, avatars, will go on living after we are dead, and that’s the way of the future.”
ABBA returned to the stage (sort of) last year for their ABBA Voyage concerts.
The members of ABBA don't appear on stage themselves, but instead as digital avatars.
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Bjorn surprised Josie with a meet and greet (PA)Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid appear digitally to perform for thousands of fans.
The ABBA Voyage concerts started on May 27 last year in a custom-built arena, named the ABBA Arena, which has been built especially for the shows at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
The 90-minute concert features a setlist of ABBA’s hit songs, including tracks from their recent ABBA Voyage album.
ABBA’s “hologram” concert is not actually a hologram concert at all, but it is the first of its kind as it blurs the lines between physical and digital.
A hologram is a virtual three-dimensional image, but the show’s producers said this isn’t what they’re using for the concert.
Instead, they’ve made avatars, nicknamed ABBAtars, to appear as digital versions of Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid.
The ABBAtars appear on a 65 million pixel screen and will bring the Swedish pop legends to life using the latest in motion capture technology.
The concert has been six years in the making. To create their digital selves, the band performed in motion capture suits for five weeks while 160 cameras scanned their body movement and facial expressions.
The ground-breaking technology used allows the ABBAtars to take concertgoers back in time as they depict the group just as they appeared in 1977.
The ABBAtars perform alongside 10 live musicians who help bring the concert to life.