ABBA On TikTok - ABBA Voyage 2021

 

 

 

SWEDISH PRESS RELEASE FROM TIKTOK

 

30 AUGUST 2021

 

Following rumors of new music - ABBA joins TikTok.

 

Today, millions of fans around the world say "Thank you for the music" when the legends Agnetha, Benny, Björn and Anni-Frid announce that they are joining TikTok. ABBA's music catalog, Sweden's largest music export of all time, will now be available on TikTok and the group will also start an account on the platform. Björn confirmed earlier this year that the band will meet in the studio to record new songs and on ABBA's TikTok account, fans will be able to follow the latest news.

 

ABBA's greatness internationally does not need to be explained, especially not here in Sweden. Their beloved hits that have dominated the charts around the world are now available for all TikTok users to use in videos on the popular platform.

 

Of the music groups that are not on TikTok, ABBA has been the most sought after on the platform and their songs have been the most in demand. Until now, fans on TikTok have instead been allowed to sing ABBA's music themselves, and earlier this year the hashtag #DancingQueenChallenge, where users challenged each other to sing the immensely popular song, became a success with over 160 million video views. Iconic songs such as "Slipping Through My Fingers" and "Chiquitita" have also inspired TikTok trends with millions of video views around the world.

 

As of today, ABBA's music is available on TikTok's audio page and an official ABBA hashtag is launched for all fans, both old and new, to gather around. TikTok users can now use classic songs like "Dancing Queen", "Take a Chance on Me" and "The Winner Taked it All" in their videos. The band's official TikTok account @ABBA is now also live, where the first video is a piano version of "Dancing Queen".

 

The fact that ABBA joins TikTok and that their music catalog will be available on the platform is a first step in a larger collaboration between TikTok and ABBA, which has previously indicated that they have something very big going on. Fans can now follow ABBA on TikTok to take part in exciting news in the future.

 

- TikTok, and myself as a Swede, are so proud to welcome Agnetha, Benny, Björn and Anni-Frid to the platform and to offer Sweden's largest music export of all time to fans all over the world. Our users have already shown us with all their videos that this is the music they have been waiting for and it will now be very exciting to see how ABBA can inspire a new generation of fans and initiate a new wave of creativity with the songs that have so long defined pop music, says Farhad Zand, Head of Music Partnerships at TikTok.

 

ABBA Voyage on TikTok

 

https://www.tiktok.com/@abbavoyage?fbclid=IwAR1RF7Gn1bL3pdkJ-j4ZDxQyX9oTUPE1y67Deir-P4sjfyafGSi9_JIMO3Y&lang=en

 

ABBA on TikTok

 

https://www.tiktok.com/@abba?lang=en

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABBA In Australia 1977 - 4th March Sydney - 41 Years Ago Today

ABBA Live In Sydney Australia 4th March 1977

Repeat post from 2016 with a couple of extra items added 😄

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 4^th 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 5^th.

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.

ABBA In Australia 1977 - 3rd March Sydney - First Concert 41 Years Ago Today !

Sydney 3rd March 1977

ABBA Live In Sydney !

R.A.S Showground Sydney – 8.30pm

Tickets: $9.00 each - no allocated seating 

 

"We play Rain or Shine" - I wonder if ABBA rued having that statement on the tickets ?

 

On Thursday 3^rd March 1977, ABBA performed the first of their 11 concerts in Australia. It was held at the Showground in Sydney as there was no Entertainment Centre in Sydney until 1983, and no other indoor venue that could cater for such a show. 

There were 30,000 people at this concert ! 

 

As many would know, I did quite extensive blog posts about this tour in previous years, so I won't repeat myself too much this year. For those who missed those posts, here is the link for 3rd March 2016:

http://abbafanatic.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/abba-live-in-australia-3rd-march-1977.html

And the link for 2017:

http://abbafanatic.blogspot.com.au/2017/03/abba-in-australia-3-march-1977-1st.html

Photo by Adrian Zorac

The Australian tickets were a very nice piece of memorabilia, with different colours for each venue, two different images used on the front, and all with ABBA's printed signatures on the back.

 

ABBA In Australia 4 March 1977 - 2nd Sydney Concert - 40 Years Ago Today !

ABBA Live In Australia !

R.A.S Showground Sydney – 8.30pm

Sound Rehearsal 2.00pm

Check out last years blog post for this day:

 http://abbafanatic.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/abba-live-in-sydney-4th-march-1977.html

How amazing it would be to be able to travel back in time and attend all of the concerts !

 

 These images below are from a variety of performances:

The Tour Medallion - do you have one of these beauties ?

ABBA Live 1977 - Flexi Disc

 

ABBA In Australia 3 March 1977 - 1st Sydney Concert !

ABBA Live In Sydney !

R.A.S Showground Sydney – 8.30pm

Tickets: $9.00 each - no allocated seating

On Thursday 3^rd March 1977, ABBA performed the first of their 11 concerts in Australia. It was held at the Showground in Sydney as there was no Entertainment Centre in Sydney until 1983, and no other indoor venue that could cater for such a show. 

There were 30,000 people at this concert !

As many would know, I did quite extensive blog posts about this tour last year, so I won't repeat myself too much this year. For those who missed the posts last year, here is the link for 3rd March:

http://abbafanatic.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/abba-live-in-australia-3rd-march-1977.html

Photo by Adrian Zorac

Promoter Michael Chugg, then a tour manager for Paul Dainty, remembers the chaos of the Sydney show. "The Sebel Townhouse got the shits with us because we took every white towel they had to keep drying the stage. But they played in the rain, the audience turned up in the rain, they just absolutely loved it. It affected everybody from toddlers to grandma and grandpa. It was incredible to look into the audience and see the spread of the demographic."

Check out the 'Bang A Boomerang' documentary for some great commentary about the tour - including Michael Chugg's entertaining memories :)

From Ingmarie Halling's book 'Backstage Stories'

Fabulous drawing by Doug Warren

Frida after slipping on the wet stage

Contrary to the reports that Frida was unhurt by her fall during an energetic performance of 'Waterloo', it actually resulted in a contusion of her hip and 2 sprained fingers ! You would never have known that she was injured however, she was so professional.

Frida said: "The rainstorm came out of nowhere. But the audience were clearly going to stay whatever the weather to see us. So, in those circumstances, we were definitely going ahead with our show. The tumble shook me up, but that's all. It was a small price to pay when the fans were showing such a great loyality". 

According to Lasse Hallström in the interview on ABBA The Movie Limited Edition, all Australian concerts were filmed with five cameras each, one steadycam on stage and four cameras on tripods. However, most of the material filmed on the first show in Sydney was damaged by water, hence some editing of the songs in ABBA - The Movie.

"We waited a long time for the rain to ease up. With so much electrical equipment around, guitars, microphines, sockets and so on, it made performing risky. However, we decided not to leave the soaking audience in the lurch, which was so much appreciated that we have probably never received such a rapturous reception anywhere – when we ran on the stage it seemed the ovation would never end." - Agnetha in As I Am .

The gorgeous costumes designed by Owe Sandstrom:

ABBA In Australia 28 February 1977 - The Press Conference

28 February 1977 - Sydney Australia

ABBA’s first major appearance on the Australian tour was at the press conference at the Sebel Town House in Elizabeth Bay on Monday, February 28, starting at 11.30 am. They answered many questions for the assembled media, posed for photographs and received a number of gold record awards from their local record company, RCA. Though two hundred media representatives were invited, over three hundred crowded into the hotel.

And of course, there were fans outside !

ABBA had a long schedule of interviews on this day starting with this Press Conference at 11.30am and concluding at 6.45pm.
One for New Zealand media, one for TV news and current affairs, one for radio and print, and several interviews for individual radio and TV programs, plus meeting with fans who had won a newspaper competition (seen in The Movie during I'm A Marionette). The TV press conference seen in The Movie was the third one. The Countdown interview was the last of day, at 6.15 pm.