Last night, ABBA attended the premiere of the anticipated and groundbreaking show, ABBA Voyage. As the quartet made a rare public appearance together, their status as style icons is not fading away anytime soon
The time has come – the show that we have so impatiently been waiting for has finally arrived. Last night in London, at the ABBA Arena, a venue that was built specifically for the show, Scandinavians across the globe piled in to see the first ever performance of ABBA's avatars.
Even the King and Queen of Sweden were in attendance, waiting to re-experience the iconic moment when ABBA performed Dancing Queen in front of the couple on the eve before their 1976 wedding.
But it was the attendance of the band themselves that was perhaps even more surprising. Particularly as Anni-Frid and Agnetha are known to be notoriously private, and this was one of their very first public appearances together since the premiere of Mamma Mia: The Movie back in 2008.
Just last week, in-fact, the band was awarded the highest honour at the Swedish Grammis, the Honorary Award and the Special Prize. But the band were noticeably absent, and so the thank you speech was delivered by their long-time friend and personal manager Görel Hanser, along with a beautiful pre-recorded thank you speech from Anni-Frid.
So, naturally, we've all been desperate to know if the whole band was going to be there and what they would be wearing. And ABBA, as always, did not disappoint. Agnetha and Anni-Frid showed up in matching white ensembles, both iterations of tailoring-to-the-nines. Agnetha opted for a long white tailored cape with a white dress fashioned with flared cuffs and a pair of white boots. While Anni-Frid looked immaculate in a full white suit, with a Fendi belt, Y2K resurgence glasses, sneakers, and matching cane— an accessory which completely stole the show. Meanwhile, their two other bandmates' looks didn't disappoint. Benny wore an eye-catching floral coat and Björn opted for a classic navy-blue suit.
The evening's look will surely go down in history along with their other iconic fashion choices throughout the decades. And it is safe to say that this is a classic ABBA look, where the girls wear white and Björn and Benny opt for something equally flamboyant, though a tad less attention-grabbing, like their look for a 1975 performance in Copenhagen.
Even though the year is 2022, they are still staying true to their roots. ABBA are once again creating an event so that we, as fans and admirers, can experience their music, decade after decade. And even though the quartet are now all in their 70s, they are putting on the same show, the same looks, but with even more catchy songs than in 1981.
Photo: Getty
"We danced, we jived, we had the time of our lives," they said the first time in 1976 on the album Arrival, a sentiment that was hammered home on their official ABBA Voyage Instagram account just this morning.
And we would all do well to adopt the same notion as we waltz into summertime (and book our tickets for ABBA Voyage). It's what ABBA wants for us, as we all continue to say: thank you for the music.