Abba hold mini-reunion to celebrate avatar residency birthday: ‘The second year has begun!’

OHMYGOSSIP — Abba had a mini-reunion to celebrate the one-year anniversary of their avatar residency.
Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, both 78, were joined by Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 77, to watch their Abba Voyage show at the custom-built Abba Arena in Stratford, east London, on Saturday (28.05.23) evening and were seen waving to fans at the end of the show.
Agnetha Fältskog, 73, who was at the launch last year, missed the event but other famous faces in the crowd included Ronnie Wood, 75, and his wife Sally, 45, along with supermodel Naomi Campbell, 53, and 84-year-old Sir Ian McKellen.
Bjorn told The Sun about the residency continuing: “So, the second year has begun.
“We had almost, but not quite, dared to count on it, and going into the second year with over 300 sold-out concerts behind us is more than we could ever have dreamed of.”
More than 1.3 million tickets have been sold to date for the show, which has been extended to run in London until May 2024.
There have also been reports it will tour the world, and Björn has suggested replicas of the purpose-built arena could be constructed in Asia, Australia and North America.
It took seven years and $175 million to develop the technology and build the arena near the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, and the four members of Abba spent a month in motion-capture suits and helmets to help create the avatars – dubbed ‘Abbatars’ – in conjunction with Industrial Light and Magic.
Up to 200 staff work on each 90-minute show, which includes a 10-piece live band, and one of its producers Svana Gisla told The Guardian: “It was meticulously prepared, enormously expensive and incredibly difficult to create believable digital people. But the result is magical.”
The film producer added the aim was for the show to “blend with the physical world”, saying: “The join needed to be invisible. It needed to become one unit. Technology is the vehicle, but the audience shouldn’t feel the technology.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online