Inside Stockholm's New Music Exhibition With ABBA's Björn

Abba legend Björn Ulvaeus spoke to The Local about a new exhibition documenting a legendary Swedish concert venue. Photo: Pop House Stockholm

The Beatles meet Hendrix in his prime:

Inside Stockholm's new music exhibition with ABBA's Björn

The Local Sweden

Where can you watch an electric performance from Jimi Hendrix and one of Bob Marley's last gigs? At the new Gröna Lund Backstage exhibition in Stockhom. The Local met Abba icon Björn Ulvaeus – who also played there – to take a sneak peak at the ode to a legendary venue.

Seven roller coasters, 177,601 hamburgers consumed in 2016 alone, and 89 years of music history – the Gröna Lund amusement park in Stockholm is an institution, not least for having one of the oldest and most important music stages in Sweden.
The Beatles, Iggy Pop, Miles Davis, Bryan Adams, Cliff Richard, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, BB King, Louis Armstrong – the list of people to set foot on that stage is enviable. Every year since 1928 the park has attracted hundreds of thousands of music lovers to its famous summer concerts, and with line-ups like that it's no wonder.
The new Gröna Lund Backstage exhibition at Pop House Stockholm celebrates that history, paying tribute to all the fantastic stories that have unfolded there over nearly 90 years. The Local contributor Miriam Bade was one of the lucky few to get a sneak peak of the exhibition ahead of its launch,
"This is a very Swedish thing," Abba legend Björn Ulvaeus tells The Local at the launch.


 
Björn Ulvaeus flanked by images of some of the fellow music heavyweights to play Gröna Lund. Photo: Micke Bayart/Azul


"Gröna Lund is one of the most popular stages in Sweden, in the middle of the city. I think the exhibition is pretty much complete, and I like to go through it with people who haven't seen it before."
Asked to pick one favourite part, the Abba mastermind says it's too difficult:
"I wouldn't point out one specific place. It all belongs together. I dont have a favourite spot here any more than I have a favourite Abba song."



Not many venues can claim to have hosted Abba in their prime and Chuck Berry. Photo: Micke Bayart


Located downstairs from the main entrance to the popular Abba The Museum in Pop House Stockholm, the first thing visitors see when entering the exhibition is a huge wall of video.
Each screen shows historic concerts, framed and illuminated with multi-coloured light bulbs. Grab a set of headphones and get lost in the sounds, sights and atmosphere of concerts by no less than Jimi Hendrix (1967), Kiss (1976), Lady Gaga (2009) and – of course – Abba (1975).
All took place at Gröna Lund during the last half century. Bob Marley's landmark concert from 1980, represented though closing number Lively Up Yourself, stands out in particular. The realization that this was one of his last performances before dying less than a year later is sure to send shivers up the listner's spine.



 
Music history, and a slice of amusement park iconography for good measure. Photo: Pop House Stockholm
 

On top of the videos there's original photography, the park's typically unique looking concert posters, and even stage outfits spread across eight smaller gallery areas and ordered chronologically.



Not your average ceiling. Photo: Miriam Bade