ABBA have marked the 50th anniversary of their Eurovision win with ‘Waterloo’ in a new statement today (April 6).
50 years ago today, the Swedish icons, made up of Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad, won Eurovision after performing in the final of the competition at the Brighton Dome. In 2005, the track was chosen as the best song in Eurovision’s history as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the contest.
In a new statement marking the historic occasion, the band said: “It’s slightly dizzying and deeply humbling to think that millions of you who saw us for the first time in the Eurovision final 1974 have passed our music on not only to one generation, but to several.
“We see evidence of that every time one of us visits ABBA Voyage in London and it’s because of this we can celebrate the 50th Anniversary of that event in the knowledge that our songs still resonate around the world.”
To further mark the occasion, Andersson has recorded a short piano piece called the ‘Piano Moment’ that will be experienced as if he were at the competition and playing live. In London, Berlin, Warsaw, and Stockholm, several different renditions of the piano piece will be linked together simultaneously to play the piece every hour on the anniversary. In England, the piano will be placed at Waterloo Station in London.
The band have also released of a 50th-anniversary reissue of their iconic album ‘Waterloo’ in celebration of the milestone.
Today is the day! Happy 50th Anniversary to Waterloo ???? pic.twitter.com/BQAgjl7XDx
— ABBA Voyage (@ABBAVoyage) April 6, 2024
Following their win at Eurovision, the band went on to 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, 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.”
The Swedish icons are also reportedly set to take their acclaimed ‘Voyage’ hologram show to Las Vegas to the tune of millions of dollars.
In other news, earlier this week, The Hives paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of ABBA winning Eurovision during their gig at the Brighton Dome.
On 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’.