Abba Voyage: The virtualization of the entertainment industry

There is a moment when self-reflection suddenly sets in. A moment in which I ask myself: What am I actually doing here? The answer is: I am cheering for a projection with about 3000 other people. Screaming enthusiasm over 90 minutes for the light reflection of four people on a stage. I even bought a poster – a poster that has a projection showing people how they looked 35 years ago.

All this is “Abba Voyage”, the virtual show of the legendary Swedish pop band, which has been running every evening since May in the purpose-built Abba Arena in London. How can this work? From a theoretical point of view, hardly any, because the real fan wants to see the real stars. In practical terms, it works brilliantly. Abba Voyage is the beginning of a journey into the future of entertainment.

The project took six years to prepare and cost around 175 million dollars – a lot of effort for a reincarnation of Agnetha, Anni-Frid, Björn and Benny. The arena has been sold out almost every night since the show began. With an average ticket price of 80 euros and seven shows a week, the turnover amounts to almost two million a month.

It is already clear that the arena may only be used until April 2023. So the London show won’t break even. But the arena is constructed in such a way that it can travel afterwards. And it’s not just a one-off project. Here the Swedes have truly reinvented the stage show. Innovation requires investment.

Top jobs of the day

Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.

“To be or not to be, that’s no longer the question,” says the virtual Benny in an interim address to the audience. The modification of the famous quote from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” hits the nail on the head: where the physical closeness and touchability of the world stars used to be the biggest wish of the audience, now the “experience”, the unique experience, takes its place.

What the Swedes bring to the stage in London is a disruption of the concert experience. It took hundreds of hours to capture the real four band members in special suits and using “proxy characters” for poses, body anatomy, skin, eyes and eyelash simulations were produced and then merged using CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) technology. The result is groundbreaking: you think you’re seeing the four artists live on stage, and not just their “Abbatares”.

Abba: Pioneer of new technologies

The actual technology behind it is highly developed, but not magic: the musicians act in front of a huge LED wall on which the background is played, both together are recorded using the latest film technology and produced virtually. 160 3D motion capture cameras and a billion computer hours from “Industrial Light & Magic” made this possible.

The author

Miriam Meckel is a German journalist and entrepreneur. She is co-founder and CEO of ada Learning GmbH. She also teaches as a professor for communication management at the University of St. Gallen.

(Photo: Klawe Rzeczy)

Incidentally, Abba as a band was already a pioneer in the use of new technologies. Musically, the four have developed a special sound, which was created by the multiple overlaying of the two female voices and harmonies and gave the pop songs an orchestral sound. In 1975 they were one of the first bands to release a music video with “Mamma Mia” and with it delighted fans all over the world.

Technology is becoming the new foundation of future entertainment experiences. Music festivals are now taking place in the online game “Minecraft” and virtual concerts in the computer game “Fortnite”, where Ariana Grande grows wings and her fans ride on flying unicorns. The gaming platform Roblox is not only a preferred brand world for avatar clothing from luxury fashion labels, but also hosts concerts with a Wild West theme by rapper Lil Nas-X.

>> Read also: Bayern Munich wants to become the digital champion

In March last year, the legendary Korean pop band “BTS” held a concert for 2.4 million paying guests online and in cinemas. Virtual entertainment is becoming big business. According to the entertainment intelligence group Midia, such concerts will bring in four to five billion dollars in sales in a few years.

Virtual objects, characters and shows are becoming more and more commonplace

But the entertainment industry will not remain the only one to consistently implement this trend. What chance does it offer advertising media to be present almost everywhere at the same time in a virtual format? How could road shows be designed where the CEOs no longer have to be there live, but are represented by their perfectly produced avatars? And what would that look like in an election campaign in which politicians can speak to the population everywhere at the same time?

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an impressive taste of the last example during the 2014 election campaign. In order to personally mobilize 800 million Indians in just six weeks, Modi had himself projected into the halls as a hologram thousands of times.

To be or not to be, is that no longer the question? In any case, people’s expectations and viewing habits have changed. Virtual objects, characters and shows are becoming more and more a natural part of our world. Perhaps the question is not to be or not to be, but to be different, which opens up the virtual world as a showcase, form of existence and opportunity for interaction with true feelings for all of us.

>> Read also: German companies are discovering the Metaverse

Ludvig Andersson, son of Benny and one of the producers of Abba Voyage, sees the Abbatars, the reincarnations of his 33-year-old father Benny and the other band members, as just such hybrid beings of otherness, as “a combination of their existence as Abba and their existence than herself […]a ghost in the machine.”

The genie in the machine meets the spirit of the viewer – and the result is a music and show experience that makes me think about how real reality is: a window through which I can look at the world or a window in my mind , into which a world can be projected. We move somewhere in between. Mamma Mia!

In this column, Miriam Meckel writes fortnightly about ideas, innovations and interpretations that make progress and a better life possible. Because what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the rest of the world calls a butterfly. ada-magazin.com

More: Is artificial intelligence the better democrat?

source site-12