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ABBA Voyage

ABBA Voyage is the group's ninth album, released in 2021 and contains 10 songs written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. 

In 2021, almost four decades after ABBA’s breakup, the group released their ninth studio album Voyage. It contains 10 songs composed and produced by Benny Andersson and with lyrics by Björn Ulvaeus. In connection with the album release, the virtual concert experience ABBA Voyage had its premiere. The show is held at a purpose-built arena in London and has to this day attracted millions of visitors worldwide.   

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Pophouse, the Swedish company behind ABBA Voyage buys KISS’ music catalog for $300 million

The rock band KISS is selling its song catalog, as well as its name, image and likeness, to Pophouse Entertainment Group AB, the Swedish company behind the popular ABBA Voyage live avatar performance.

Pophouse is paying more than $300 million, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing the terms of a private deal. The agreement includes master recordings and publishing rights.

Pophouse wants to turn KISS into an act that remains popular in culture long after its members stop making new music and performing. The company has announced plans to make a biopic about the group, as well as a live music show featuring avatars of its members.

Pophouse has already made a live show featuring the members of ABBA, the legendary Swedish pop group. That show, called ABBA Voyage, is making more than $1 million a week in London. Tens of thousands of fans flock to an arena purpose-built for the show to watch avatars of the group perform hits like  Dancing Queen  and  Chiquitita . ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus founded Pophouse with Swedish investor Conni Jonsson.

Bassist and KISS co-lead singer Gene Simmons and his band mates started talking to the team at Pophouse a couple of years ago in the midst of their final tour, the  End of the Road  World Tour. The rock band, formed by Simmons and Paul Stanley in the early 1970s, has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, and their final tour stretched over five years. 

KISS and Pophouse and have spent many months working through future projects, and the members of KISS have already flown to Walt Disney Co.’s Industrial Light & Magic to put on bodysuits and have cameras capture their performances for the avatar show.

“Kiss the touring band is over — we’ve stopped touring after 50 years,” Simmons said in an interview. “What Pophouse will do with our images, our music and our personas is unlike anything anyone has ever seen.”

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Sources: ABBA avatar show prepping to play Las Vegas Strip

“ABBA Voyage” would play in a custom venue on the Resorts World property.

Can you hear the drums, Fernando? Or, can you hear the speculation of the “ABBA Voyage” virtual concert production playing the Strip?

We can. Sources familiar with the production indicate the computer-generated show is to play a custom-built facility. Resorts World is said to be the leading contender, on its former “Enchant” space, though the site is not yet finalized.

The plan is to run the show as a limited engagement, extending if it builds momentum.

We expect the momentum to catch up. The band has sold 150 million records worldwide. Its music was the centerpiece of one of the few Broadway-styled productions to play Vegas, “Mamma Mia” at Mandalay Bay.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by ABBA Voyage (@abbavoyage)

The show stars the original ABBA lineup of Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad in their CG-generated, 1979 clones.

The real-life ABBA members are all in their 70s and have no plans to return to the stage in live performance. Nearly 25 years ago, they reportedly turned down $1 billion to headline a 100-show tour.

But for “ABBA Voyage,” they spent five weeks working in motion-capture suits to generate the act’s distinctive choreography.

The London show is designed by Industrial Light and Magic, which has also worked on the U2 production and “Postard From Earth” at the Sphere. “ABBA Voyage” reportedly cost $175 million to develop and is one of the priciest live shows in history.

ABBA Arena, which seats 3,000, features LED screens that add visual depth and nearly 300 speakers. As of this past September, the show has since sold 99 percent of its capacity, and made more than $2 million a week with an average ticket price of about $105.

A 10-piece orchestra backs the avatar performers, delivering hits such as “Dancing Queen,” “Waterloo,” the above-mentioned “Fernando,” and the universal ABBA theme, “Thank You for the Music.” One source who has seen the show more than a dozen times in London said, “It’s mind-blowing.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts . Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.

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ABBA fans celebrate 'Waterloo' Eurovision victory, 50 years on

Chloe Veltman

Members of the Mark de Lisser Singers perform the iconic ABBA song 'Waterloo' at Waterloo Station in London on Saturday, April 6, 2024. Alastair Grant/AP hide caption

Members of the Mark de Lisser Singers perform the iconic ABBA song 'Waterloo' at Waterloo Station in London on Saturday, April 6, 2024.

Fans of the Swedish supergroup ABBA gathered Saturday in England, Sweden and elsewhere to celebrate the hit song "Waterloo" on the 50th anniversary of its victory at the annual Eurovision Song Contest.

Swedish Television hosted En Fest För ABBA (A Party For ABBA), a tribute concert in honor of the band, in Stockholm on Saturday evening. The king and queen of Sweden were in attendance, though none of the band members were there.

Earlier in the day, singers and a pianist regaled commuters with a tribute to the song at Waterloo train station in London.

Piano Moments Waterloo Station London #waterloo50th #ABBA #Eurovision #Abbawaterloo @ABBA @pjd1978 pic.twitter.com/mW3UYJv7RD — Jeff Day (@jeffd1963) April 6, 2024

Fans also gathered for a flash mob dance in Brighton to mark the occasion. The English coastal city hosted the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest.

ABBA performed "Waterloo" that day with glitter and gusto. One member (conductor Sven-Olof Walldoff) was even dressed as Napoleon.

The group's win was the first for Sweden in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition was first staged in 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland.

Telling the story of someone who "surrenders" to a lover, the song references Napoleon's surrender at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

"My, my / At Waterloo, Napoleon did surrender / Oh, yeah / And I have met my destiny in quite a similar way / The history book on the shelf/ Is always repeating itself / Waterloo / I was defeated, you won the war / Waterloo / Promise to love you forevermore..."

"Waterloo" went on to sell millions of copies, and topped the charts in several countries, including the U.S. Top 10.

It also propelled the band to global success. ABBA has by far outstripped every other Eurovision winner in this regard, with platinum-selling albums, tribute shows like the immersive ABBA Voyage experience in London, and movies like Mamma Mia! starring Meryl Streep.

Mamma Mia! ABBA Is Back After Nearly 40 Years

This year's Eurovision contest will take place in May — fittingly — in Malmö, Sweden. But the choice of host country has nothing to do with ABBA's victory five decades ago. With rare exceptions, Eurovision is always hosted by the country that won the previous year's contest. Swedish singer Loreen won the 2023 competition with "Tattoo."

ABBA fans mark 50 years since 'Waterloo' took the world by storm

Fans are celebrating 50 years since ABBA won a major battle with “Waterloo.”

LONDON -- It’s 50 years since ABBA won a major battle with “Waterloo.”

A half-century ago on Saturday, the Swedish quartet triumphed at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the peppy love song, which opens: “My my, at Waterloo, Napoleon did surrender, and I have met my destiny in quite a similar way.”

The song rang out again Saturday at London’s Waterloo railway station — also named after the 1815 battle that dealt defeat to the French leader — where a choir belted out a rendition for commuters.

In the English coastal town of Brighton, where the 1974 competition was held, fans were staging a flashmob dance and silent ABBA disco to mark the anniversary.

Eurovision victory turned ABBA into a pop juggernaut, by far the most successful band to win the pan-continental music contest, which will hold its 68th edition in May in ABBA’s home country, Sweden. The Eurovision final will take place May 11 in Malmö, after Swedish singer Loreen won last year’s competition with “Tattoo.”

ABBA’s melodic disco pop sold hundreds of millions of records worldwide. The stage musical “Mamma Mia!” based on its songs is 25 years old and spawned two movies.

The band members have not performed together live for four decades, but released a comeback album, “Voyage,” in 2021. Every day, fans attend a concert by digital “ABBA-tars” at the hit show “Abba Voyage,” which opened in London in 2022.

In a thank-you message to fans on Saturday, the four band members said it was “slightly dizzying and deeply humbling” to know that their songs had been passed down the generations and “still resonate around the world.”

“Music you discover and learn to love when you grow up or even later in life has a way of staying with you forever,” said Agnetha Faltskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. “We share that experience with you and to know that our music has become a constant in your lives is a wonderful thing.”

A tribute concert titled “A party for ABBA” was set to take place in Stockholm on Saturday evening featuring prominent Swedish artists, a 21-person band and a large choir. Organizers said it was a salute to a band that changed the Nordic country’s music scene “forever.”

Swedish public broadcaster SVT, which planned to broadcast the concert live on television and on its streaming service, said “April 6, 1974 is considered by some to be Sweden’s national music day.”

Associated Press writer Jari Tanner in Helsinki contributed to this report.

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Voyage (Store Exclusive Green Vinyl)

Voyage is ABBA’s first new studio album in 40 years. Limited edition store exclusive Green vinyl. Also includes exclusive poster & postcard. Tracklisting: 1. I Still Have Faith In You 2. When You Danced With Me 3. Little Things 4. Don't Shut Me Down 5. Just A Notion 6. I Can Be That Woman 7. Keep An Eye On Dan 8. Bumble Bee 9. No Doubt About It 10. Ode To Freedom

Please note, if you purchase ABBA Voyage and any other item(s) in the same cart and do not select split shipping at checkout, your entire order will ship when the last product becomes available. We suggest selecting the split shipping option at checkout so that you receive your items in a timely manner.

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ABBA fans celebrate 'Waterloo' Eurovision victory, 50 years on

Fans of the Swedish supergroup ABBA gathered Saturday in England, Sweden and elsewhere to celebrate the hit song "Waterloo" on the 50th anniversary of its victory at the annual Eurovision Song Contest.

Swedish Television hosted En Fest För ABBA (A Party For ABBA), a tribute concert in honor of the band, in Stockholm on Saturday evening. The king and queen of Sweden were in attendance, though none of the band members were there.

Earlier in the day, singers and a pianist regaled commuters with a tribute to the song at Waterloo train station in London.

Piano Moments Waterloo Station London #waterloo50th #ABBA #Eurovision #Abbawaterloo @ABBA @pjd1978 pic.twitter.com/mW3UYJv7RD — Jeff Day (@jeffd1963) April 6, 2024

Fans also gathered for a flash mob dance in Brighton to mark the occasion. The English coastal city hosted the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest.

ABBA performed "Waterloo" that day with glitter and gusto. One member (conductor Sven-Olof Walldoff) was even dressed as Napoleon.

The group's win was the first for Sweden in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition was first staged in 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland.

Telling the story of someone who "surrenders" to a lover, the song references Napoleon's surrender at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

"My, my / At Waterloo, Napoleon did surrender / Oh, yeah / And I have met my destiny in quite a similar way / The history book on the shelf/ Is always repeating itself / Waterloo / I was defeated, you won the war / Waterloo / Promise to love you forevermore..."

"Waterloo" went on to sell millions of copies, and topped the charts in several countries, including the U.S. Top 10.

It also propelled the band to global success. ABBA has by far outstripped every other Eurovision winner in this regard, with platinum-selling albums, tribute shows like the immersive ABBA Voyage experience in London, and movies like Mamma Mia! starring Meryl Streep.

This year's Eurovision contest will take place in May — fittingly — in Malmö, Sweden. But the choice of host country has nothing to do with ABBA's victory five decades ago. With rare exceptions, Eurovision is always hosted by the country that won the previous year's contest. Swedish singer Loreen won the 2023 competition with "Tattoo."

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Kiss Sell Music Catalog, Publishing, and Imagery to Company Behind ABBA Voyage

• By Daniel Kreps

Daniel Kreps

Kiss are the latest artists to sell off their music catalog — and, in this case, their well-known onstage personas and makeup — for big money.

The band — which closed out its (alleged) farewell tour in December 2023 — announced they have sold the rights to their music and imagery to Pophouse, the Swedish company that created the ABBA Voyage hologram show and is working on a similar project involving Kiss. 

While the price wasn’t revealed in a joint press release, Fortune reports that Kiss raked in upwards of $300 million in the sale. A rep for the band did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone ‘s request for comment.

The deal involves all of Kiss’ master recordings and publishing rights, and in a unique addition to other catalog acquisitions, also includes the band’s characters — Gene Simmons ’ God of Thunder, Paul Stanley ’s Star Child — and their distinct makeup.

“Life happens while you’re busy making important plans,” he added. “We were planning our respectful, proud walking off into the sunset, because we’ve been touring, we had been touring for half a century.”

During the band’s final End of the Road Tour show at Madison Square Garden , Kiss revealed that the band would live on as digital avatars in the Pophouse-produced hologram shows beginning in 2027; Pophouse’s ABBA Voyage show, currently presented in London, makes $1 million a week, Fortune reported.

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“We have always been breaking new ground in popular culture, and this partnership will ensure that we continue to do so for years to come,” Simmons said of the catalog dead in a statement. “Because what Pophouse is doing, is breaking rules. We already have several plans in development, where the avatar show is one, a biopic another and a KISS themed experience a third. The future could not be more exciting!”

Stanley added, “Our journey with Pophouse is fueled by the desire to eternally resonate across diverse facets of global culture. As we embark on this venture, we aim to weave our legacy into the tapestry of different worlds, ensuring that the KISS experience continues to captivate both our devoted fans and those yet to discover the thrill. This partnership is not just a chapter; it’s an eternal symphony of rock ‘n’ roll immortality.”

Pophouse CEO Per Sundin  said in December that the company is still in the process of figuring out how best to use the Industrial Light and Magic-created avatars, which are enormous, fire-breathing versions of the Kiss members in full regalia. “Is it a Kiss concert in the future? Is it a rock opera? Is it a musical? A story, an adventure? These four individuals already have superpowers. We want to be as open as possible.”

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“We’ve all seen boxers and artists who will stay in the ring too long and get knocked out by some amateur,” Simmons said. “You don’t want to do that, you want to go out on top. And we did it the right way, out of respect and love for the fans.”

This story was updated at 8:35 p.m. ET to include comment from Gene Simmons to People.

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‘Total Disgrace’: Anger, Frustration as Mass Heating Failures Across Russia Leave Thousands in the Cold

P ODOLSK, Moscow region – Residents throughout Russia affected by unprecedented winter heating outages in recent days have expressed their frustration and urged local authorities to restore heating in their homes.

In Podolsk, a town some 30 kilometers south of the capital Moscow, at least 149,000 residents — nearly half of its population — were left without heating when a heating main burst at a nearby private ammunition plant.

“It’s a total disgrace. There is no heating and no hot water. We have to sleep in sleeping bags,” Yuri, a local resident, told The Moscow Times.

“I have no words to describe how bad the situation is," said Yuri, who declined to provide his surname. "We have had no heating for almost six days."

Heating issues have affected residents in the Moscow region, where temperatures have plunged to as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius in the past week, as well as people in the Far East Primorye region , the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg , Penza , the southern Voronezh and Volgograd regions and more.

In the Tver region, a group of residents filmed an appeal to President Vladimir Putin, saying that they “are freezing from the cold” in the village of Novozavidovsky.

“We're literally being killed by the cold,” a woman in the video said, adding that they have been sending requests to local authorities since September after their houses were connected to a boiler room whose power was reportedly insufficient.

“This is some kind of torture and extermination of the population 100 kilometers from Moscow,” she added.

Residents of the Moscow region town of Elektrostal lit a fire in the street to draw the authorities’ attention to the heating problem.

“It’s impossible to stay in our houses. We're freezing!” a group of women in the video said.

Suffering from subzero temperatures, residents are placing the blame on local authorities and utility services for failing to take necessary precautions and not taking action to resolve the situation.

“We are sending complaints everywhere but no one listens to us. We have portable heaters working in every room, but the temperature inside is still 10 degrees Celsius,” Yelena from Podolsk said.

“There is a clinic and a hospital, as well as kindergartens, where there is no heating. And we have no answers, no assistance, no explanation,” Yelena added.

Podolsk authorities opened temporary heating centers and declared a state of emergency.

Local authorities linked the heating problems to the fact that the town is heated by a boiler plant owned by the Klimovsk Specialized Ammunition Plant, a private ammunition factory and one of the largest weapon cartridge production enterprises in the country.

“The facility is under tight security conditions, which limits our ability to oversee winter preparations,” the Moscow region’s Vice Governor Yevgeny Khromushin said last week. “We were unaware of the problem for nearly a day.”

An unidentified Moscow region official and two senior executives at the plant were arrested on suspicion of providing unsafe services, Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement Tuesday.

Investigators said that Podolsk’s deputy mayor was accused of misusing authority by issuing a readiness certificate for the boiler house at the plant.

In the neighboring Tver region, the authorities opened a criminal case over the laundering of over 84 million rubles ($938,993) in heating bills paid by residents, the Astra Telegram channel reported this week, citing unidentified sources. According to investigators, the heads of the local water intake and boiler house misappropriated the heating payments for personal use.

Reacting to the heating failures, Putin on Tuesday asked Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov to provide heat and electricity to the affected residents.

The outages appear to be the latest effect of several decades of crumbling infrastructure in Russia which have been linked to endemic corruption and mismanagement.

The overall decay of Russia's municipal infrastructure surpassed 70% in 2022, the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia reported .

According to Sergei Pakhomov, head of the State Duma’s Construction, Housing and Utilities Committee, water pipes that were 90 years old or even older were still in use as recently as two years ago in some cases.

Housing, utilities and communal services are a common source of problems for Russians during the winter.

In St. Petersburg, residents regularly complain about extensive ice coverage on city streets and sidewalks, with many people ending up in the hospital over the years due to slipping and falling accidents.

In the Siberian republic of Khakassia, two villages were left without electricity last month due to apparent issues with outdated communication systems.

In the winter of 2020, five people in the Perm region were killed after a pipe burst.

When asked about the latest heating outages, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged the problems and linked them to poor municipal infrastructure, saying that people “had to endure a lot of inconvenience in the cold and without electricity.”

"Despite all the titanic efforts to update all housing and communal services systems, there's still a certain part that remains considerably deteriorated. These programs will continue, but it is impossible to update all pipes and all housing and communal services systems in 10-15 years,” Peskov said.

As for now, residents affected by heating issues appear to lack optimism that the problems will be solved efficiently.

"It's been a week since we've had heating, and the temperature in my apartment is around 11 degrees Celsius,” Podolsk resident Lidiya told The Moscow Times.

“Unfortunately, no one knows when it will be repaired,” she added.

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ABBA Fans Mark 50 Years Since ‘Waterloo’ Took the World by Storm

Fans around the world celebrated: A choir belted out the song at London's Waterloo railway station, and a group staged a flashmob and silent disco in Brighton.

By Associated Press

Associated Press

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It’s been 50 years since  ABBA  won a major battle with “Waterloo.”

A half-century ago on Saturday (April 6), the Swedish quartet triumphed at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the peppy love song, which opens: “My my, at Waterloo, Napoleon did surrender, and I have met my destiny in quite a similar way.”

Taylor Swift Builds Anticipation for 'Tortured Poets' Album Using Her Favorite Number

See latest videos, charts and news

In the English coastal town of Brighton, where the 1974 competition was held, fans were staging a flashmob dance and silent ABBA disco to mark the anniversary.

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ABBA’s melodic disco pop sold hundreds of millions of records worldwide. The stage musical Mamma Mia! based on its songs is 25 years old and spawned two movies.

The band members have not performed together live for four decades, but released a comeback album , “Voyage,” in 2021. Every day, fans attend a concert by digital “ABBA-tars” at the hit show  Abba Voyage , which opened in London in 2022.

Eurovision 2024: Showrunner Per Blankens Previews What to Expect, From ABBA to the Runtime

In a thank-you message to fans on Saturday, the four band members said it was “slightly dizzying and deeply humbling” to know that their songs had been passed down the generations and “still resonate around the world.”

“Music you discover and learn to love when you grow up or even later in life has a way of staying with you forever,” said Agnetha Faltskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. “We share that experience with you and to know that our music has become a constant in your lives is a wonderful thing.”

A tribute concert titled “A Party for ABBA” was set to take place in Stockholm on Saturday evening featuring prominent Swedish artists, a 21-person band and a large choir. Organizers said it was a salute to a band that changed the Nordic country’s music scene “forever.”

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NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

Could Abba Voyage be leaving London for good?

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Abba Voyage’s time in London was reported to potentially be coming to an end after a bidding war where a US brand emerged the winner.

The legendary show, based in East London, has seen thousands of revellers dance and sing along to Swedish pop group Abba across the decades, thanks to mind-blowing special effects and digital avatars.

It’s enjoyed massive critical acclaim since opening in 2022, and fans had hoped it would remain in London for years to come.

However a new report claimed the show could be moving to Las Vegas after secret talks.

Local outlet the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported this week that that the mesmerising show is set to head to Sin City in a new custom-built venue.

Sources told the journal that US-based Resorts World is said to be the leading contender to snap up the show, but the site is not yet finalised, and it will begin as a ‘limited engagement, extending if it builds momentum’.

But we’ve got some good news — even if Abba is heading Stateside, the plan is to keep it going in the capital.

Approached for comment, a spokesperson for Abba Voyage told Metro.co.uk they are ‘in conversations about the concert being in different locations at some point in the future as well as in London, but currently the only place in the world where you can see Abba Voyage is at the Abba Arena, London.’

So no panic for now.

Previous reports had claimed the Abba-tars of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 77, Bjorn Ulvaeus, 78, Benny Andersson, 76, and Agnetha Fältskog, 73, could remain in their Pudding Mill Lane residency until at least 2026 as ‘the reaction was amazing’ and it’s proved popular as ever.

However talks for a move to the Las Vegas strip were still rumoured at the time.

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In 2021, it was reported that US brand Resorts World were in a bidding war which could earn the show up to a £1 billion, with ‘MGM Resorts, Caesaars Palace and Resorts World desperate to secure it’.

‘Talks are in the early stages between promoters and the big three casinos here for ­entertainment,’ a source told The Sun’s Bizarre column at the time.

‘The dream would be for the show to move to the States after its London run and in Vegas, it’s believed it could make almost £1billion.

‘Plans at the moment are ­centred around a suggested 2024 opening which would coincide with the 50th anniversary of their ‘Eurovision’ win and the release of chart-topper Waterloo.’

Considering the 50th anniversary of that life-changing Eurovision is just days away– April 6 to be exact — it’s incredibly unlikely that milestone will be celebrated on the Vegas Strip.

However it’s just as unlikely to stay in London forever, as Bjorn previously said the show could go on forever.

He said: ‘Abbatars never tire. They can do 10 shows a day. No private jets. No riders. No worries about voices.’

Abba Voyage was created using 1 billion computing hours, 160 cameras, 500 moving lights and a 65 million-pixel screen.

It is currently appearing at the 3,000-capacity Abba Arena in London.

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Reps for Abba have been contacted for comment.

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