With their first new album in 40 years heading to stores on November 5, ABBA give us a detailed look behind the scenes of their groundbreaking new live show ABBA Voyage, due to launch in May 2022.
ABBA are a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group’s name is an acronym of the first letters of their first names. ABBA has earned more than $2 billion during its career. The group is worth over $1 billion.
They have used 160 cameras and motion capture to record all of the performances of ABBA songs. They are building a stadium in London that will present virtual ABBA. This will look like a live performance of ABBA in their prime.
The 3D virtual avatars will look like live performers on a stage. The animation will be de-aged.
The movie Mamma mia made over $600 million. The movie had ABBA music with actors. The Broadway show Mamma Mia made over $600 million over 14 years. The movie sequel to Mamma Mia made $395 million.
Those clearly show that there is continuing demand to hear and see performances of ABBA music.
If this new effort is successful then it could see the equivalent of Vegas shows with virtual capture of performances by the remaining Rolling Stones and the other mega-acts of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. The actual performers have greatly aged and some have died. The biggest performing acts will be preserved in Virtual Reality.
SOURCES- ABBA, Wikipedia
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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If I were an ABBA fan, I'd want to see the real performers on stage, even if they were seated on that stage. Otherwise, all their fans will be getting are digital puppets. SussexWolf made some good points.
Now we can also replay the politbureau talking around brother Stalin dying on the floor to find the traitor and execute his grandchildren. Or prove that Commander Maduro always had a mustache.
Just speculating
Now that I think about it, that was an Australian thing. At least until 1972.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_car#Australia
The US muscle car era finished a bit earlier.
When I go to a concert, I want to see a live performance with artists responding to the audience. I don’t go to a concert to see a movie, no matter clever the technology used to make it. Now, if they had live ABBA performers in the stadium performing, but displaying real time holographic avatars, then I’d be fine with that.
The 70s were never known for muscle cars.
Disco is back baby!
So, new star wars movies? Check.
USA giving up on some prolonged nation building exercise? Check.
ABBA? Check?
A burst of huge muscle cars with blistering straight line performance? Check
Return of disco music and flared trousers? Oh No…..
Building blocks for VR/avatar technology. An AI would need this.
So, this is a repeat of the 1970s.
Virtual meeting Real. Soon, it will be hard to tell the difference.
Another great find, Brian. Enjoyed it.