The Hives pay tribute to 50th anniversary of ABBA winning Eurovision while playing same venue
The Hives have paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of ABBA winning Eurovision while playing at the Brighton Dome.
Last night (April 3), the Swedish Rock band took the stage at the Brighton Dome in the UK as part of their ongoing ‘The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons’ tour. Before commencing the third track of the night, frontman Pelle Almqvist took the time to explain why it was an iconic night.
“About 50 years and a day ago, ABBA from Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest in this very room. It was the start of Sweden’s success as a musical export nation, and we are the conclusion. So this is sort of a full circle moment. 50 years and a day ago and now you are here to witness another historical event of a Swedish man winning at the Brighton Dome,” Almqvist told the crowd.
“How does it feel to be here on this occasion?” he asked before replying with: “I bet it feels good right?” The band then proceeded to jump into their track ‘Take Back The Toys’.
ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with their track ‘Waterloo’. In 2005 the track was chosen as the best song in the competition’s history as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the contest.
They released massive hits like ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!’, and ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’.
In 1999, the group’s music was adapted into Mamma Mia!, a stage musical that toured worldwide and, as of April 2022, is still in the top-ten longest running productions on both Broadway (closed in 2015) and the West End (still running).
A film of the same title, released in 2008, became the highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom that year. A sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, was released in 2018.
In 2022, ABBA created ‘ABBA Voyage’, a virtual production which sees a “digital” version of ABBA (or ‘ABBAtars’) performing alongside a 10-piece live band (put together with the help of Klaxons’ James Righton).
In an interview with NME last year to coincide with the show welcoming its millionth visitor, Bjorn Ulvaeus was asked about what the future of the show involves. “We hope to stay in this venue for as long as we can. We hope they’ll have us for many years, and we might build other replicas of this in other places: Asia, Australia, North America. There are lots and promoters and cities that we’re talking to at the moment about that.
In celebration of 50th anniversary of their Eurovision win, ABBA have recently announced details of a 50th-anniversary reissue of their iconic album ‘Waterloo’.
The Swedish icons are also reportedly set to take their acclaimed ‘Voyage’ hologram show to Las Vegas to the tune of millions of dollars.
The band have reportedly been in talks with Resorts World to bring the Abbatars to Vegas following its huge success in London over the last couple of years.
In other news, The Hives recently announced the first UK tour of their first-ever “franchised” cover bands.
The final show of their “franchised” cover bands gig is set to take place on April 6 at Manchester’s Disorder. It will be free of charge with The B Hives performing.
The post The Hives pay tribute to 50th anniversary of ABBA winning Eurovision while playing same venue appeared first on NME.
Anagricel Duran
NME
