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The ABBA Tribute Revisits the 1970s Mania
Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson met in June of 1966 and started writing Swedish pop songs. Three years later, they met Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad two songbirds who would soon become their wives and bandmates.
Using the first initials of their first names, the quartet came up with the name “ABBA” and began the slow rise to superstardom. The rise went into overdrive in 1973 when ABBA won the right to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest. They took third and saw their single, “Ring Ring” race up the Europeon pop charts.
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When they entered again in 1974 with the song, “Waterloo,” they made it to the Eurovision finals in England and won the competition. “Waterloo” was a hit all over the world. But ABBA wasn’t taken seriously until they landed another mega-hit with “SOS” 18 months later.
The band released hit songs nine times between 1974 and 1980. Their concert tour in Japan in 1980 turned out to be their last series of live concerts for stadium audiences. They announced a “temporary” break that lasted 30 years.
ABBA may have believed their music would disappear into the past, but that course was altered in 1999 when the musical Mamma Mia! landed on the London theater circuit, then on New York’s Broadway two years later. The film version of the musical took ABBA resurgence even further in 2008.
When a reunion tour failed to take root, MANIA: The ABBA Tribute formed to celebrate the classic music with contemporary audiences. The ABBA stand-ins call it, “a replica of one of their concerts.” The show has toured the United States ten times and entertained more than 3 million people worldwide.
All four singers adopt a Swedish accent during their ABBA performances and belt-out some of the band’s greatest hits, in replica costuming. And while they’ve entertained millions in more than twelve countries, they’ll be at the Bing Crosby Theater on March 18 to share the fun with Spokane.
For more information, visit the Bing website here: https://bingcrosbytheater.com/ coming-events/mania-the-abba-tribute.
