ABBA have celebrated the “incredible milestone” of welcoming the four millionth visitor to their Voyage live show.
The groundbreaking concert residency sees digital CGI versions of the four members of ABBA performing in the purpose-built ABBA Arena in East London, and since launching in 2022, four million people have been in attendance.
Voyage passed the one million visitor mark in April 2023, and as of this weekend, it will have quadrupled that number.
The band have said: “Reaching four million visitors is an incredible milestone for ABBA Voyage, and a testament to the fans who have travelled from across the world to be part of this experience.”
“From those visiting for the first time to the many who return again and again, it’s their energy and passion that bring the concert to life every night. To see audiences continue to embrace the concert and the joy of our music is truly special, and it’s been incredible to watch the concert become a global phenomenon.”
In the four years since it launched, ABBA Voyage has staged 1,415 concerts with audiences collectively spending more than 141,500 hours at the show. ‘Dancing Queen’ alone has played for 4,800 minutes.
More than five million journeys have been made on the DLR train service to the venue at Pudding Mill Lane, with audiences travelling from as far as Dunedin, New Zealand, 11,873 miles away. There have been 7,075 costume changes in total, while the concert’s live drummer has burned 700 calories each night.
NME attended the show in 2022, and in a glowing five-star review, wrote: “Ageing rockers and poppers are bound to imitate the idea, but it’ll be a struggle to come close to the experience of ABBA Voyage. We for one welcome our new ABBAtar overlords, if only for giving these songs back to us in a totally new and joyful way. As the digital Anderson concluded: ‘Without a song or a dance, what are we? That is the question.’”
In 2023, Björn Ulvaeus sat down with NME to reflect on the show’s success.
“It’s amazing – it has surpassed any dream I could have ever had,” he said. “We’ve somehow reached new generations by some miracle. I don’t know how, but there you are. [2008 musical movie] Mamma Mia, I suppose played a role in that. There are new generations coming along.”
On the future of the show, he added: “We hope to stay in this venue for as long as we can. We hope they’ll have us for many years, and we might build other replicas of this in other places: Asia, Australia, North America. There are lots and promoters and cities that we’re talking to at the moment about that.
“Each one would take at least two years to build, but there will be announcements towards the end of this year or the beginning of next about where we actually are going. That’s if we’re going somewhere, which we will.”
