ABBA‘s Anni-Frid Lyngstad made a surprise appearance at last night’s ABBA Voyage show in east London.
The “revolutionary” concert series began in May at the purpose-built ABBA Arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It sees digital versions of the Swedish pop icons perform a hits-filled set, backed by a 10-piece live band.
Following the finale of yesterday’s edition (September 15), an announcer made an unexpected revelation over the PA. “You have been in the presence this evening of Frida,” they said, “who sends her best wishes to you all.”
The crowd then began cheering as they spotted the singer waving from her seat. You can see a selection of photos and reactions below.
TGIF = Thank God it's Frida! pic.twitter.com/w362Eto2Cz
— ABBA Voyage (@ABBAVoyage) September 16, 2022
All the five-star reviews for @ABBAVoyage are entirely merited. It’s fantastic.
As an added bonus, at the end of last night’s show it was announced: “Tonight you have been in the presence of Frida.”
Many minutes of warm applause then followed. pic.twitter.com/UpQtzP1Xsx— Lee Mottershead (@leemottershead) September 16, 2022
#Abba#AbbaVoyage Saw concert last night, turned around and there was Frida!!!❤️😍🥰❤️Thank you for the music ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Yk8sWi8T4U
— Mary Morrison (@mor03985438) September 16, 2022
Wow!
ABBA's Frida stuns fans turning up to the Voyage concert in London last night 😍😍 Thanks to Robyn who works at the venue. She sent me the photo 🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/zdWnzSWpdC— Geoff Field (@GeoffField) September 16, 2022
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All four members of ABBA attended the opening night of ABBA Voyage earlier this year, marking their first group appearance in public in 36 years.
Speaking to NME on the red carpet, Lyngstad said it felt “fantastic” to be at the premiere with her bandmates.
“Really looking forward to seeing the show again,” she continued. “I’ve seen it once on Monday evening, and it’s just that feeling… you want to see it again and again because there are so many details you can’t comprehend by just seeing it once.”
She added: “I also want to see the audience’s reaction again, because they were standing, clapping, singing along, dancing, having an absolute fabulous time.”
Last November saw ABBA release their first new album in 40 years, which is also called ‘Voyage’.
The ABBA Voyage backing band was put together with the help of Klaxons’ James Righton, and features Little Boots (real name Victoria Hesketh) on keyboards, synths and backing vocals.
Hesketh previously explained that she was “a lifelong ABBA fan”, and said it was “an absolute honour” to be involved with the project. Check out NME‘s interview with the ABBA Voyage live band here.
In a five star review of ABBA Voyage, NME concluded: “Ageing rockers and poppers are bound to imitate the idea, but it’ll be a struggle to come close to the experience of ABBA Voyage. We for one welcome our new ABBAtar overlords, if only for giving these songs back to us in a totally new and joyful way.”