ABBA in Concert

In 1999, ABBA turned down an offer of $1 billion to do a reunion tour, with Benny quipping "We're the band that does not come back." With all their worldwide success, 8 albums, and songs that are being covered & re-covered by new artists 30 years later, it's hard to believe the cultural colossus known as ABBA only toured twice. There was the Australia tour captured in "ABBA the Movie" and the North American/European tour in this, "ABBA in Concert".

Only intended to be a 55-min TV special produced by a reluctant Swedish channel, "ABBA in Concert" may leave you wanting more songs, but what it delivers is powerful and authentic. Speaking as an amateur sound engineer and even amateurer film editor, I can say that that the production is remarkably tight & energetic, without any cheap filler like lengthy crowd scenes over the music, or re-using footage from different songs to fill in the gaps (which almost every other concert video of the 70s-80s did, due to the expense of having multiple cameras).

"ABBA in Concert" (the concert footage portion) was filmed over the course of 2 nights at Wembley, using 5 cameras each time. One stage camera was supposedly operated by a guy ON ROLLERSKATES. Too cool. The result is plenty of clear shots of each band member with both closeup intimate angles as well as powerful wide angles.

Although this was their first and only tour of the USA, unfortunately no USA shows were used. I can only guess, from the description in their liner notes, that ABBA was not as wildly received in some of the American venues which were smaller. Instead of concert footage we get 15-20 minutes of road footage which is interesting because we get to "travel" with the band. However it lacks the intensity of the road/hotel footage on the Australian "ABBA the Movie" which was at times frightening with the number of crazed fans. Suddenly & inexplicably we switch from USA road footage to the Wembley concert (without any establishing shots of London or the British fans).

But once the concert begins, it's like an unrelenting freight train picking up momentum until its spectacular end (the last 3 songs in particular had me rockin on the sofa, much to my dog's confusion). As you're watching you realize, despite their lack of touring experience, Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny & Frida were superstars in every sense. Professional, practiced, polished and totally pumped with energy, they put on a show every bit as dazzling as you'd hope. I've been going to concerts since the late 80s, and aside from a Van Halen show where David Lee Roth was climbing the rafters of the stadium while the bassist was log rolling down the stage, this has got to be one of the most energetic shows I can think of, and I'm kicking myself for missing it. But at least we have this DVD.

The setlist is, in this order,

1 Waterloo

2 Eagle

3 Take A Chance On Me

4 Voulez-Vous

5 Chiquitita

6 I Have A Dream

7 Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)

8 Knowing Me, Knowing You

9 Summer Night City

10 Dancing Queen

11 Does Your Mother Know

12 Hole In Your Soul

Bonus Tracks

13 The Way Old Friends Do (Previously Unreleased On DVD)

14 I Have A Dream (Unedited Live Version)

15 Thank You For The Music (Previously Unreleased Performance From The Tour, Never Broadcast)

16 Interview With Director Urban Lasson

17 Interview With Promoter And Tour Producer Thomas Johansson

18 Tour Souvenir Programme Picture Gallery

19 Mamma Mia! Trailer

This 2004 DVD release of the 1980 (ABBA in Concert) has good video quality, slightly grainy as with all concert vids of the times, and the audio is pretty good too. Apparently in 1980 it was one of the first stereo TV broadcasts because the Japanese TV stations demanded it, and 30 years later it still holds up. ABBA fans should definitely check this one out. If you're new to ABBA, I would start with the documentary "Super Troupers" or the Australian tour in "ABBA the Movie" because they present more of a story format. But for pure concert footage of ABBA, this can't be beat.

As an ABBA fan, I was enthralled to see this-their tour of the U.S. for the only time in their lives. While this film does show the various places in this country they visited, the concert footage is mainly from the Wembley Arena in London. And since it was only limited to a one-hour TV time slot, not all songs are played in its entirety. For instance, I noticed the number "Knowing Me, Knowing You" skips a verse. Still, I highly enjoyed what I saw like that number that involved various pre-teen children of which one of them was the daughter of one of the group's married couples. And, of course, their most popular song, "Dancing Queen", is among the tunes played in its entirety. So that's a recommendation for ABBA in Concert.

Being a huge and devoted ABBA Fan for about 30 years, I was thrilled that the '79 ABBA concert was finally released on DVD! But due to time constrictions when the concert was filmed for television, there is a bunch of concert footage that wasn't included. For example, Agnetha's vocal and piano solo of "I'm Still Alive." It would have been absolutely THRILLING if they could've included that in the concert DVD. There are also other songs not included that I would've loved to have seen the Girls of ABBA sing live.

If you're an ABBA Fan like I am, the DVD is most definitely worth buying and watching over and over again. It is very heart pounding and almost impossible to control yourself from singing along with the Girls.

Just enjoy what little of the concert is on the DVD! I surely have! And with any luck, maybe another concert DVD will be released called "More ABBA in Concert"!!

Really great concert footage. I remember seeing this (or parts of it) on TV many years ago - in the early 1980s. It starts off as an ABBA on tour feature, covering the US leg of the tour, but the London part contains a lot of complete songs.

I know that back in 1979/1980 it was hard to film live concerts. The choice was either low res video (with the typical smears and other artifacts) or film (35mm or 16mm), the latter looking so much better but being much more expensive and cumbersome. This looks like being filmed in 16mm and the DVD being made of an excellent negative. I can be wrong though. Not much detail in the shadow areas - it won't print on film stock used available back than anyway, but color, sharpness and texture are excellent. Even as we speak digital video still isn't quite able to produce that beautiful, polished and silky image as a good film production can.

The music is - of course - terrific. Great arrangements, great performance and incredible sound, wonderfully mixed - as close to perfect as it gets. A must have for any ABBA fan. Nice bonus material with reconstructed full length tracks on the DVD too.

I would like to tell everybody that this concert special is perfect!! Although there are songs that were not included on the DVD, a lot of Abba's greatest hits were included.

The only thing I didn't like much is that the song Waterloo is not complete but just part of it, but the rest of the special is excellent. I love it very much, and I would recommend it to everybody.

From beginning to end you can't stop dancing, the songs are great, the energy, the music, everything is fantastic. And I'm a musician so I know what I'm talking about.

I would love to see another new release of abba's concerts on DVD as soon as possible.

And to finish this up, I would like to say that Agnetha was gorgeous, so beautiful, and was and still is a very good human being. She's one of the loves of my life, he he. God bless you Agnetha! Thanks to you and the others in the group for giving the people such fantastic and beautiful music, take care you all;

Alberto Marrero