ABBA Live In Sydney Australia 4th March 1977
ON THIS DAY
– 4th March 1977
ABBA Live In
Australia !
R.A.S
Showground Sydney – 8.30pm
Sound
Rehearsal 2.00pm – make sure they got all the water out !
On Friday 4th
March 1977 ABBA performed their second concert in Sydney.
This concert
was not part of the original schedule and was added in later due to the
overwhelming numbers - too many for one concert.
In reality,
they could have held at least 5 concerts in Sydney and still all shows would
have been sold out. Just as with the UK, demand far exceeded what was available.
My Mum was
always sorry that we didn’t go to the second show – I think even now she hasn’t
gotten over that. But in 1977, I think $90 for two concerts (tickets for the
Sydney shows were $9.00 each) was a bit of a stretch for a woman on her own
with 4 daughters under the age of 15.
It truly
would have been amazing to see ABBA twice. – but I know that just being able to
see ABBA once was a major blessing.
I was always
just a tad jealous though of those that were watching ABBA on Friday night while I was sitting at
home. It’s all the family could think about on the Friday night – what we were
missing – it was kind of sad knowing that this was the last time ABBA would be
this close to us. But it wasn’t even just that – it was also knowing that this
audience had great weather for their show ! Double whammy lol.
There were
no issues at all on the Friday night, as far as I am aware, and ABBA performed
the complete set list, including So Long, to another 30,000 people chanting ‘We
want ABBA’.
I am sure ABBA
would have breathed a sigh of relief after Thursday night’s experience – and no
doubt they were not the only ones.
There was
more emphasis on crowd control for this concert – with more security to ensure
no one was crushed or trampled in the initial rush for seats.
The previous
evening’s events had shocked everyone – who would expect ABBA fans to behave
hysterically ? lol
But the
organisers learned fast, and it all went more smoothly on Friday night.
Right up to
the fireworks display at the end of the show !
This night
stays in my heart, along with Thursday night, but for totally different
reasons.
I am
surprised that an audience recording for this night has never surfaced.
Especially as we have recordings from every other show in Australia – even Sydney
on Thursday night, with the awful wind and rain.
It would be
amazing to find a recording for Friday night – it surely has to be out there
somewhere !
When the
concert finished on Friday night, the crew had to immediately breakdown the
sound, lighting and stage equipment and get it on its way to Melbourne for
setup the following day. ABBA would be performing there on 5th.
Equipment
was sent by road in IPEC trucks and by airfreight – with film equipment being
sent with the crew on a following charter flight – which left Sydney at 4am. Film
equipment consisted of 40 pieces weighing in at about 900 kilos.
What huge
days for the crew on this tour – no wonder they didn’t want to travel all the
way to Brisbane as well – would have been too much with the schedule they had.
Here is a beautiful raw and Live performance of 'I Wonder' by Frida in Sydney 1977. This recording is from 3rd March concert.
