While many can cherish the time they saw The Beatles or even Elvis in concert, I can proudly say I was one of the lucky who saw ABBA live on stage.
Not Bjorn Again or BABBA, but the real ABBA!
It was forty years ago this month, in 1977, that the Swedish foursome stepped out in their satin flares at Melbourne’s Myer Music Bowl, bringing an exhilarated joy to thousands of screaming school children – and their parents (the above image shows me reliving the memory, complete with original program). Being the biggest ABBA fan in my class, and quite possibly the entire school, I even wrote an essay the following day, knowing full well it was to be a time piece.
Granted Melbourne has seen some huge post-ABBA concert tours including Madonna, Michael Jackson, Robbie Williams, Paul McCartney, Guns N’ Roses and the Stones, but anyone who lived through ‘Abbamania’ will tell you it was a phenomenon only to be rivalled by that of The Beatles. Even Justin Bieber doesn’t hold a candle to the fervour the country held for Bjorn, Benny, Agnetha and Frida.
In fact, the build-up to ABBA’s tour was a slow adrenaline injection that teenagers pounced on with every ounce of their pocket money. T-shirts, bubble gum cards, posters, jigsaw puzzles and even pillowcases filled the stores, and almost every magazine cover featured the foursome.
But the greatest hook for ABBA was their music. A string of infectious top-ten hits had already established their reign as chart-toppers. They set new records – 37 hits on the Australian charts, with 16 in the top ten and six reaching No.1 – and while every Aussie home had a jar of Vegemite, it also housed a copy of Fernando – vinyl, not CD!
While in Australia, ABBA met kangaroos, donned football jumpers, threw boomerangs and even hung out with Alice Cooper. They also had a film crew follow them across the nation as they filmed ABBA The Movie. They posed for the media outside the Sydney Opera House and in Melbourne waved from the Town Hall balcony to 15,000 fans below.
We all have those happy memories of our youth that not only got us through the turmoils of being adolescent, but still resonate with us today, especially when we need a shot of happiness.
That was the magic that ABBA weaved. It zapped into our lives forty years ago, and it never went away. It never will.
Thank you for the music ABBA. You helped shape a generation of kids, and all without the gimmick of white face/black eyed makeup!
Some of my sentimental memorabilia, including my concert ticket.
* Read my article Dark Lady, about ABBA’s Frida, and check out ABBA patting kangaroos and throwing boomerangs in this rare video below. I wonder whatever happened to lucky park ranger ‘Ross’?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAG61u7M7h8
