ABBA News – BIG ABBA Anniversary | Benny Back & More

We are about to celebrate 50 years of "Waterloo", ABBA’s golden anniversary. There  is a massive amount of ABBA on TV, with no less than five brand new documentaries.  Even Benny himself is celebrating with us, and is sharing brand new greetings in song.  Let’s bring it all together in this video. Hej hej. So! One more time, I say welcome and thank  you to so many new subscribers. Who will be number 25,000? It looks like we’re  even going to make it before 6 April. For ABBA’s 50th anniversary of

"Waterloo", Benny  has made a new studio recording of "Thank You For The Music" for Swedish TV. It features Benny  on piano, and many high-profile special guests from the Swedish music scene, including Tommy  Körberg, Björn Skifs, and Miriam Bryant. There is also a beautiful surprise appearance from ABBA  manager Görel. At first, Benny was reluctant when they asked if he wanted to join, but then he was  impressed with the singing and arrangement of the song. There is a 30-minute documentary abo

ut  the creation of the recording and music video. It seems to me, that Benny can’t get quite  enough to give us musical greetings. ABBA Intermezzo reports that Benny created a  so-called "Special Piano Moment" called "Waterloo". This will be first released on  6 April, 10 o’clock a.m., at four different locations across Europe. The place in Berlin  happens to be the same location where ABBA themselves performed for a television show in  1974 in former East Germany. Isn’t it amazing, that 50 yea

rs later to the date, we will cross  space and time to hear a new piano moment from Benny himself at the very same location where ABBA  once was. The unveiling of Benny’s "Piano Moment" is open to everyone for free. It is dedicated  to "Waterloo" and all fans around the world. And when Benny comes back, Björn is around the  corner. On 27 May, ABBA Voyage will celebrate the second anniversary of ABBA’s show in London.  For this occasion, they announced that "a special Q&A with Benny and Björn wil

l take place on the  evening at 6.30pm" for everyone who has tickets. And now, before we go into ABBA’s  massive outbreak on television, and the five new documentaries,  let’s talk about all the events that will happen on 6 April and onward  to celebrate the "Waterloo" milestone. Over on Instagram, a teaser video  from ABBA announced a pop up store in Stockholm. First pictures of this  store were shared on the Facebook page ABBA Newsflash. It will be located at  Stockholm’s famous department sto

re where Frida went shopping for ABBA’s  music video of "Head Over Heels". There will also be a pop up experience  in Malmö for the Eurovision Song Contest, called "ABBA World". This mini-exhibition  across two floors features ABBA The Museum, ABBA Voyage, Mamma Mia!, Mamma Mia! The  Party and Polar Music International, and opens at the end of April for two weeks.  Entry price is 50 SEK, approximately 5€. Swedish postal service Postnord will  release a new set of exclusive ABBA stamps to commemo

rate the 50th anniversary  of the "Waterloo" victory in Eurovision Song Contest as well as ABBA the group.  The motifs are yet to be revealed. On 6 April, there will be a  sing-a-long concert in Stockholm, together with the tribute band Waterloo.  It starts at 4pm, entrance is free. In the evening, Swedish TV will show the live  gala "A Party for ABBA – 50 Years of Waterloo", from the Cirkus in Stockholm. The artists  for the show have now been announced, and it seems to be a young generation  o

f artists to perform ABBA’s songs. Over in Brighton, at the Dome, the actual location  where ABBA won 50 years ago, there will be another live show called "Gold". Eurovision artists  will host and perform a celebration concert for ABBA. And if you are in Brighton, there  is now a brand new exhibition called "ABBA: One Week In Brighton" at The Brighton  Museum. On display is the drum kit played on stage at the Brighton Dome, a selection  of memorabilia, and memories from witnesses, including a 15

-year old audience member;  "She has great memories of seeing the band at The Grand Hotel before the performance".  Another one attended the afterparty and said: "It was completely electric. It was like watching  a slice of musical history in the making." Another exhibition will be in Germany. A  brand new photo exhibition from the famous ABBA photographer Wolfgang "Bubi" Heilemann has  opened in March and until the end of April. On the 6 and 7 April, there will be an exclusive  show presentatio

n with Bubi Heilemann on stage. And now, let’s dive into the  five brand new documentaries produced for ABBA’s 50th anniversary. The first one, "ABBA: Against The Odds", had  its world premiere in Copenhagen. It will be first released in two parts on 6 April on Swedish  website SVT Play, and broadcast on Swedish TV in the following two weeks. In the Netherlands,  it will be shown on 5 May, and in Germany on 9 May. Other dates, including for the UK, will  follow in May around the time of Eurovisi

on. The second documentary will be shown in the UK on  6 April. "When ABBA Came to Britain" is a one-hour documentary about ABBA’s relationship with the  UK in their own words, with previously unheard interviews with the band and new interviews  with those who met them. In fact, the UK BBC 2 has devoted the entire evening to ABBA with  five shows. The documentary will be shown with four vintage and archival specials. "More ABBA at  the BBC" will broadcast for the first time since 1974 ABBA’s per

formance of "So Long" at "Top Of  The Pops". This performance was rescued by fans a few years ago, when they collected money to buy  it from a private collector. This project was initiated by Sara Russell from abbaontv.com,  and it is actually this version that the BBC asked her to use on their program, since they  don’t seem to have it in their own archive. On the same day, BBC Radio 4 will  broadcast a brand new radio documentary, "ABBA: Inside the Music", "exploring  ABBA's songwriting and mu

sical craft across their studio albums - from Ring  Ring in 1973 to The Visitors in 1981". On next day, BBC 4 will re-broadcast the  entire original final of the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, preceded by a  10-minute special introduction. And finally, two more brand new documentaries  will be shown in Switzerland and in Germany. On 7 April, Swiss TV will broadcast "ABBA –  From Pop Wonders to Avatars". The details say that this documentary is from Great Britain 2024. On 27 April, the German TV c

hannel VOX will  broadcast the brand new documentary "50 Years of ABBA and the Secret of Swedish Pop". This  will explore ABBA and the massive world-wide success of Swedish artists, including Roxette,  Avicii, and Swedish songwriters and producers, who all go back to the breakthrough of ABBA  and "Waterloo". So this is basically a lengthy documentary about the house that ABBA built.  It will feature interviews with ABBA’s family, friends, colleagues and fans of all generations,  and for the firs

t time in a German TV documentary, it will also include interviews with Benny’s  sons Peter Grönvall and Ludvig Andersson. And that’s it, that’s all the news –  for now – in anticipation of ABBA’s 50th anniversary of "Waterloo". I must  say, I have never experienced anything like this with any other band in the  last few years. Lots of documentaries, TV specials, exhibitions, pop-up stores, and  new musical contributions from Benny himself. And on this channel, we will dive deep into  the music,

and explore ABBA’s "Waterloo", the song, the album, and more exciting  things about the overall creation. What are your plans, what will you do on 6  April? Let me know in the comments below. I wish everyone who is celebrating a  wonderful Easter weekend ahead of the big celebration next week. And even if you don’t  celebrate, enjoy your days, and be blessed. Alright, until then, hejdå!