I created this blog to help share ABBA information with other fans and to show off my new collection items :)
Please note: Collection item photos are from my own personal collection. These are not stock photos. If you wish to use any of my photos elsewhere, please have the courtesy to ask first - Thank you :)
Well my
friends, and fellow fans, today we farewell ABBA from Australia.
At 7.30pm
ABBA boarded their plane at Perth airport and flew home to Sweden.
It was a
very sad feeling to know that they were leaving our country – we had no idea it
would be the last time we would see them here.
What an
amazing time it was between 27th February and 13th March
1977.
Over 4300
kilometres travelled, 4 capital cities, 11 concerts, 160,000 tickets sold.
Australia
had never experienced anything like this Tour before – it was the first of its
kind for us.
And ABBA had
never experienced anything like Australia before.
Neither ABBA,
nor Australia, would see anything like this again.
We gave them
everything Australia had to offer.
Torrential
rain, gale force winds, thousands of insects, illness, injury – glorious
sunshine, beautiful harbours and bays for sailing, unique wildlife (and no, I
don’t mean the fans !) – harassing media,pushy politicians, a bomb threat – and thousands upon thousands of
screaming, maniacal, adoring fans wherever they went.
In return,
ABBA gave us everything they had to offer – and they were truly magnificent.
They took
everything we threw at them – with style, grace, humour and a fabulous level of
energy.
When they
came to Australia, it was mania in the true sense of the word. To say it was a
crazy time is an understatement.
By the time
they left here, that mania was evolving into a deep and true respect and
admiration for this magnificent and phenomenal group of Swedes – and it
continues to this day.
They gave us
the time of our lives – nothing else would ever compare – and we thank you ABBA
from the bottom of our hearts.
They came - they
saw - they endured - they conquered !
Today, the
last day of the tour in Australia, ABBA would perform 2 shows at the Entertainment
Centre.
Both shows
were of course, sold out.
Talk about
saturation media. Well, actually, I can’t – as there does not seem to be any
media coverage of this day at all.
I have
scoured scrapbooks, online newspaper archives, online library archives – blogs
and websites – and I have come up with absolutely nothing !
I am stunned
to stay the least.
We know ABBA
were absolutely hounded by the Press in Australia – and there were masses of
media at the airport when they arrived in Perth.
But it would
appear that after the bomb scare on 9th March, all journalists
stayed away.
It makes no
sense that there is nothing to be found by way of reviews, articles or images
by the media. Perhaps there are newspapers that have yet to be digitised – and
hopefully at some stage they will emerge.
Interestingly,
in all my years of collecting, I have never found any recordings of these shows.
Thankfully
at least one fan took a few photos – and these can be seen in the comments
below.
I have no
information as to who actually took these photos unfortunately.
I have also
added a few extra photos that I know were taken in Perth, but as I have no
details on which concerts they are from, I decided to save them for today.
During the
Perth leg of the tour, a local radio station in Perth put on an ABBA day for
kids under 12.They set up a dance floor
with lights and played ABBA for the kids to dance. There was a competition and
the prizes were ABBA t-shirts and posters. The children were also given an ice
cream, a packet of chips and a drink. Sounds like great fun !
As far as I
can ascertain, the radio station was 6PM. Nice one guys ! J
Now, I have
come across a very interesting little tale in my searching – and I am in the
process of trying to have this story substantiated.
I believe it
is worth sharing in the meantime.
If it is
true, it is something that no one has covered before.
If it is
untrue, I find it very amusing that a particular person told the story, and
that a prominent organisation has the story on their website.
A man named
Kevin Owens was the Rear Commodore at the Mounts Bay Sailing Club in Perth at
the time ABBA were there.
Mounts Bay
is a subsidiary of, and right next to, the Royal Perth Yacht Club.
He has been
involved in sailing for many decades and in 2013, he was awarded a Yachting
Foundation Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution To Yachting.
‘Yachting
Western Australia’ has a detailed article on their site about Mr Owen’s award
and his history in the industry.
At the end
of the article there is an extra little story which obviously comes directly
from Mr Owens, as told by another person, and it goes like this:
“The popular
group ABBA visited Perth and one fine day whilst Kevin Owens was taking his
students from Hamilton High School for a sailing class at Point Walter, a large
power boat stopped by. It was none other than the ABBA group who were on a
river tour in a launch from Royal Perth Yacht Club. ABBA stopped to chat to the
group of school kids and then one of the ABBA girls gave her shoes to a school
girl in the group who was ecstatic. The school kids were absolutely thrilled as
was Kevin but that is not the end of the story.
En route back to Royal Perth Yacht Club ABBA spotted the expansive green lawn
at Mounts Bay Sailing Club and arranged to hire the place for a tour end party.
For security, the club grounds were cordoned off at a cost to ABBA and that
night Rear Commodores Kevin Owens and Laurie Chivers hosted ABBA and had the
party of their lives! Singing, dancing and partying with ABBA - what a memory…”.
Personally,
I fail to see how such an event could have taken place without everyone knowing
about it.
Even if it
was kept very quiet at the time, someone would have talked at some point
afterwards.
I also
cannot imagine that no photos would have been taken, and they certainly would
have surfaced along the way.
Plus, what
venue in their right mind would not use such an amazing event to promote
themselves later ?
And yet,
there is no information to be found anywhere about this fabulous party – or
about the school kids chatting with ABBA.
As for the
girl who was supposedly given shoes by one of the ABBA ladies, I am pretty sure
she would have been telling everyone – and media surely would have picked up on
this whole thing. We know media were taking photos of ABBA during their cruise
that day.
However, I
cannot bring myself to totally dismiss this story.
Mr Owens was
83 at the time he received the medal – and I just can’t see that he would be
the type to make up such a nonsense story – especially as others could dispute
it.
It makes no
sense at all though that this could have stayed under the radar all these
years.
I am very
keen to know the facts.
Is it really
possible ?
If I get any
further information about this, I will share it immediately.
If it is
true, my guess is that it was Frida who gave away her shoes ! lol
Today ABBA
would perform only one show at 9pm which left them free for the day to just
relax, hang out with other hotel guests, have a swim – and I think they needed
this time to get over the events of the night before – maybe even have a sleep
in.
At the same
time ABBA were touring Australia, a few other international artists were also
here.
As luck
would have it, many were staying at the same hotel as ABBA.
These
artists included The Dubliners, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Searchers,
Stephane Grappeli, the Diz Disley Trio – and Alice Cooper. Alice would be
performing at the Entertainment Centre on 14th and 15th.
There were,
as usual, fans hanging around outside the hotel hoping to catch a glimpse of
ABBA out on the balcony of their room.
They began
chanting “ABBA ABBA ABBA”.
Alice
recalls being in his room at the hotel and hearing this chanting.However, with the sound slightly muffled,
what he thought he heard was “Alice Alice Alice” !
He headed
out on to his balcony quite pleased that there were fans calling out for him.
The crowd was cheering and he began waving to them.
He finally
realised that they were not saying ‘Alice’ – even though they were all looking
up towards his balcony.
He leaned
out a bit and looked down – and saw that ABBA were on the balcony below him. A
little embarrassing I would think.
I felt a
little sorry for him about this – but what can you do ? lol
At least
they made it up to him by allowing him to join them for photos ! :D
It is
difficult to find out who instigated the meeting of the artists at the hotel at
the time, but there are group photos of not just ABBA and Alice Cooper, but
some of the other artists as well.
I find the
photos with Alice quite amusing – he was in a whole other category to ABBA
wasn’t he ?
I really
liked Alice Cooper by the way - although I am not sure how much I knew of him
in 1977.
After this
gathering of the famous for the media, ABBA then took to the grounds for a
workout.
The images
from this are very well known and were printed in a PIX/People magazine in
Australia.
I have added
these images below along with a few privately taken photos of this session.
I have also
included the exercise routine from the magazine – so come on people, Get Fit
With ABBA !
After the
workout ABBA enjoyed a nice relaxing time by the pool – during which more
photos were taken – and these are also below for your viewing pleasure.
During their
relaxed time by the pool ABBA were visited and serenaded by an Aboriginal group
from the New Era Fellowship.
The small
group apparently played Bang A Boomerang for ABBA on didgeridoos by the pool !
All in all,
a very interesting day at the Parmelia.
The 9pm show
was sold out as with every other concert.
There were
no bomb threats this time !
I am quite
disappointed at my lack of detail for these concerts – no clippings or articles
really.
Are there
any readers here who were at the Perth shows ? Anyone with clippings from
newspapers at the time ? It really would be great to see something or hear of
your experience.
