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ABBA The Museum visit

Andy on Wed, 05/11/2016 - 16:02

Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid were and still are, for most of us, ABBA (or BAAB as we know from 1st semifinal). The Swedish platform-booted and sparkly supertroupers stormed the pop world between 1972 and 1983 and gave us the hits ‘Dancing Queen’, Summernight City’ and ‘Knowing me, Knowing you’ among many others. It’s worth remembering that even though ABBA split up 30 years ago, Mamma Mia! the movie featuring their music, is the most successful movie musical ever and almost 50 million people have seen the same-named musical production.

Now with ABBA the Museum in Stockholm the legend will live on and on and on… As it should.

ABBA The Museum is a permanent exhibition in the brand new ‘Swedish Music Hall of Fame’ on the island of Djurgården, a brisk walk, or a short bus or tram ride from the city centre. The museum sits between Gröna Lund amusement park and the Liljevalchs art venue and is a 5-minute walk from Skansen Open-air Museum and the famous Vasa Museum.

What is it?
The origins of ABBA The Museum were in the ABBAWORLD touring exhibition that toured Budapest London, Prague, Melbourne and Sydney between 2009 and 2011. It shares the premises with the Swedish Music Hall of Fame and History of Swedish Popular Music.

ABBA The Museum showcases the band’s stage clothes, artifacts, concert footage, interviews etc. in a contemporary, interactive setting. When you buy a ticket you get an ID that generates a page on the museum website. Once inside the museum you can sing and dance with holograms of ABBA, don a digital costume (go for the famous Anni-Frid ‘tiger’ or Agnetha ‘cat’ tunic) projected on to you in a special booth and you can record it by scanning your ticket at the attraction. Then you get to share photos and videos of your experience on Facebook and other social media. After 30 days the recordings are deleted from the site.

ABBA museum

Why you should visit
This place is unique, ABBA fan or not. With the other attraction; The Swedish Music Hall of Fame of Swedish popular music, the content and activities in the museum put the group’s musical achievements and influences in a historical context and it will help you understand ‘ABBA The Phenomenon’ better. The museum also has the full backing of the group and much of the material is from the group members’ own private collections.

So, if you are old enough to remember glam rock, platform-soled boots or maybe even watched live as ABBA sang ‘Waterloo’ and won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton in 1974, you should visit for a journey down musical memory lane. For everyone else, come and see ABBA and its entourage at the height of their creative and musical powers, get insights into the group members’ lives and see them as the global supertroupers they will always be.

The museum shop has the extensive choice of memorabilia, books, CDs and other material about the legendary group. One need to remember that museum is cash free.

You can buy tickets to the museum online, at SJ outlets near the Central Station in Stockholm or at the museum.

ESCKAZ has visited the museum together with OGAE Rest of the World president Roy van der Merwe, who presented exclusive South African prints of vinyl singles of ABBA to the museum. We thanks the management of museum for their cooperation.

The interactive "GOOD EVENING EUROPE!" exhibition will celebrate the history of the world’s longest running annual television competition that was first held in 1956. The project has been initiated by ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus together with the EBU’s Eurovision Song Contest Executive Supervisor, Jon Ola Sand. For the first time, visitors will be able to delve into hundreds of hours of Eurovision Song Contest shows. Footage from existing Contests has been digitalised and displayed in a fun, TV-like setting for visitors to access. From the first winner, Switzerland's Lys Assia in 1956 to Sweden's Måns Zelmerlöw in 2015, visitors can immerse themselves in 60 years of great performances, nail-biting moments and classic television moments.

A special wall will also honour the Sweden’s six Eurovision winners; ABBA, Herreys, Carola, Charlotte Perrelli, Loreen and Måns Zelmerlöw with stories written by Christer Björkman, the King of Sweden's Melodifestival. Visitors can test their Eurovision Song Contest knowledge with an interactive quiz too. The exhibition has been curated by ABBA The Museum Director Ingmarie Halling and set designer Bengt Fröderberg together with Anna Söderberg.

There will be a chance for fans attending the exhibition to sing their favourite songs on the Eurovision stage itself as well as see original costumes from selected artists who have taken part in Europe's favourite TV show over the past six decades. The exhibition will feature an empty space to be filled by the winner of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest which will be held in Stockholm on 10th, 12th & 14th May. After the Grand Final, the winning artist will be invited to visit the museum the next day and place one item from their performance in the exhibition.

Pop House is home to the world-renowned ABBA The Museum exhibition, which presents the history of Sweden's all-time greatest pop group. The building also houses the History of Swedish Popular Music exhibition, featuring Roxette, Robyn, Ace of Base, Europe and some 400 other Swedish artists.