ABBA Voyage: Band announce ‘revolutionary’ concert and brand new album
Fans overjoyed at news of first new ABBA album in almost 40 years
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ABBA have announced that they are releasing their first new music in 40 years, as well as the launch of a “revolutionary” concert next year.
Following the announcement this evening in London, the group – made up of Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad, Agnetha Fälskog and Björn Ulvaeus also unveiled two new singles: “I Still Have Faith With You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down”.
Both songs will appear on their forthcoming, 10-track album, ‘Voyage’. The album, which will be the group’s first studio album since “The Visitors”, will be released this November.
ABBA also announced details of a state-of-the-art virtual tour in which all four members of the band will appear on stage digitally.
Find out how to get tickets to their concerts here.
Hello, and welcome to The Independent’s liveblog for tonight’s ABBA surprise!
Fans are on tenterhooks as they pray for new music, a tour... basically they’ll take anything they can get at this rate.
The announcement is taking place in London – earlier today we saw original band members Bjorn and Benny arriving.
The bio for the Abba Voyage account reads: “Thank you for waiting, the journey is about to begin.”
The names of all four of Abba’s original members are also listed (Agnetha Fältskog, Ulvaeus, Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad).
Fans react on Twitter ahead of ABBA announcement
Shall we take a look at what fans are saying on Twitter? They’re all VERY excited...
What’s your favourite ABBA song?
I’ve just asked the ultimate question on Twitter... what’s your favourite ABBA song?! Mine is “Gimme Gimme Gimme” but I can just as easily belt it out to “Mamma Mia”, “Dancing Queen” and “Waterloo”...
When ABBA won Eurovision
Remember when ABBA won Eurovision in 1974? Take a trip down memory lane with this fantastic feature by Mark Beaumont...
The winner takes it all: how Abba’s douze-points energy at Eurovision started a pop revolution
Songwriting genius and satin came together to wow Europe with ‘Waterloo’. Mark Beaumont traces the road from Sweden to superstardom for Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid
Last year, it was claimed that the band would release five new songs in 2021 after a planned reunion was delayed by the pandemic.
A hologram tour was first announced back in 2016, though it remains unclear whether Abba Voyage is a new project altogether.
What will happen at the ABBA announcement?
Well, that remains to be seen. Fans are speculating on everything from a new song to an entire new album, a one-off show to an entire tour.
The band have remained very secretive up until this point, but we only have four minutes left to find out!
ABBA livestreams announcement from Stratford in London
So if you’re tuning into the livestream now you should be seeing a notice that the stream is “starting momentarily”. Looks like they’ve got a good crowd at the venue, too.
How to watch the ABBA livestream
Here’s the stream if you need it!
So fans and the press are gathered on the dock in Stratford and taking us on a trip down memory lane, plus a tour of their wonderful fan community all around the world... The event is being streamed worldwide because “when ABBA throws a party, everyone’s invited”.
ABBA celebrated by fans around the world
It’s really wonderful to see clips of fans from around the world to get a grasp on just quite how influential and beloved this band are.
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