• Sweden edition

Abba stars hint at reunion gig

Published: 26 Mar 10 07:57 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/25740/20100326/

Swedish disco pop group Abba could perform together again after years of rejecting calls to re-form, two former members said in an interview published on Friday.

Asked by Britain's Times newspaper whether they would consider regrouping for an intimate show that could be filmed and beamed to audiences across the world, Benny Andersson responded: "Yeah, why not?"

"I don't know if the girls sing anymore," he said, referring to the female ex-members of the quartet, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog.

"I know Frida was in the studio."

"It's not a bad idea, actually," he added, in response to the newspaper's suggestion of a performance with only invited guests and families, perhaps accompanied by a small orchestra.

Björn Ulvaeus, who with Andersson wrote hits including "Dancing Queen" and "Waterloo", joked:

"We could sing 'The Way Old Folks Do'." He was referring to the song "The Way Old Friends Do," from the album "Super Trouper."

The reaction from the pair - speaking in London where they were working on a new musical theatre production - marks a change in tone to how they have responded to repeated requests to stage come-back shows in the past.

Last year, in the wake of the success of "Mamma Mia!" - the musical and film based on their hits - Ulvaeus vowed the group would never perform together again.

He told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper he wanted fans to remember the band as "young, exuberant, full of energy and ambition."

"We will never appear on stage again," he said. "There is simply no motivation to regroup. Money is not a factor and we would like people to remember us as we were."

AFP/The Local (news@thelocal.se)

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09:10 March 26, 2010 by peropaco
It would be good for nostalgic reasons but it would also be quite sad seeing them all incredibly old looking and wrinkled with limited movements.
10:18 March 26, 2010 by Bensonradar
Yes, No. Make your mind up Andersson! BUT, please NO! 1978, or whenever Abba popped up was amazing. But now, methinks not.
10:40 March 26, 2010 by Audrian
We liked young Abba very much because it was a good band; regrouping would make it a band of old people, which is starkly different from young Abba. I do not want to see old Abba behaving like the only live dinosaur of the Beatles, who travels around the world and pretends to sing while the captive audience politely listens. For heaven sake Abba should leave the stage for rising Swedish stars who do not want to see competition from old farts.
12:34 March 26, 2010 by peropaco
"No, you don't feel it now. Some day, when you are old and wrinkled and ugly, when thought has seared your forehead with its lines, and passion branded your lips with its hideous fires, you will feel it, you will feel it terribly. Now, wherever you go, you charm the world. Will it always be so? . . . You have a wonderfully beautiful face, Mr. Gray. Don't frown. You have. And beauty is a form of genius-- is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or spring-time, or the reflection in dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned. It has its divine right of sovereignty. It makes princes of those who have it. You smile? Ah! when you have lost it you won't smile. . . . People say sometimes that beauty is only superficial. That may be so, but at least it is not so superficial as thought is. To me, beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible. . . . Yes, Mr. Gray, the gods have been good to you. But what the gods give they quickly take away. You have only a few years in which to live really, perfectly, and fully. When your youth goes, your beauty will go with it, and then you will suddenly discover that there are no triumphs left for you, or have to content yourself with those mean triumphs that the memory of your past will make more bitter than defeats. Every month as it wanes brings you nearer to something dreadful. Time is jealous of you, and wars against your lilies and your roses. You will become sallow, and hollow-cheeked, and dull-eyed. You will suffer horribly.... Oscar Wilde
13:07 March 26, 2010 by hdbraswell
OUTSTANDING! Ofcourse they should perform, everyone should remember what they accomplished as a group. I know that nothing has changed especially since they are thinking about performing again - I would love to be a guest and attend. What an honor it would be to hear "The Magic in a Song" the way that only they can do, nobody can duplicate it! They will rehearse till they know it's right and will not disappoint us when they perform. I can wait to hear the girls voices again and the music, and ofcourse I'd love to meet them. Age is not a factor when if comes to ABBA and we should not be so quick to judge them. I say let them perform and DON'T worry about the ones who are hating on you, no one else matters but what You(ABBA) think. I'm behind you and support you.
13:32 March 26, 2010 by LailaC1
Don't do it ABBA! Let us remember you the way you were!
13:32 March 26, 2010 by glamelixir
Yeeeeeeessssssss, Pleeeeeeeeeease!!!
20:38 March 26, 2010 by Americanswede
JOIN THE REUNION CAMPAIGN ON FACEBOOK:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/ABBA-reunite-for-2011-Super-Bowl-halftime-show-please/10150139460935161?ref=mf
21:34 March 26, 2010 by Davey-jo
Noooooooooooooooooo, Thank you. They were awful first time round.
21:40 March 26, 2010 by dizzymoe33
Agnetha's voice is in fine shape because she hasn't been singing on a regular basis. It would be good to see them broadcast a show from Stockholm with some new ABBA material. That would be cool. :o
23:16 March 26, 2010 by wxman
"Knowing me, knowing you. AHHHHHH." That was their problem.
23:39 March 26, 2010 by GLO
This is the ONLY good thing I read today..Hale ABBA !!!!
12:06 March 28, 2010 by cbeynch
While recognizing Abba's successes, in my opinion, they were cheap thrills. Their major key songs were like unsophisticated, cradle level, nursery rhymes with little appeal to a connoseur. In the 60s this kind of stuff was known as "bubble gum" music. It was fun once, but the impression dissipated quickly. The second time you heard it it was already tired. Any attempt at resurrecting them is doomed, I'm afraid. We've all moved on.
23:53 March 29, 2010 by VOLVO ROCKER
BEing a huge ABBA fan since 74,and having the pleasure of seeing them live and even meeting Frida ,I have to vote NO...let it go.Hold on to youre credibility
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