Mamma Mia! ABBA Reunite – For Dinner!
Swedish pop legends ABBA reunited on stage for the first time in 30 years last night. All four members of the group attended the launch of their new ABBA-themed restaurant, Mamma Mia! The Party, on 20 January, and found themselves receiving rapturous applause.
Recreating the Greek taverna from the smash-hit Mamma Mia! musical inside the Tyrol restaurant on Lilla Allmänna Gränd, Stockholm, Mamma Mia! The Party offers an immersive dining experience that gives fans the opportunity to step inside ABBA’s world for a one-of-a-kind night. Visitors are treated to a Mediterranean buffet (and, doubtless, lashings of wine and Ouzo), while all-singing, all-dancing entertainment goes on around them, leading the party late into the night. An official statement on the website, www.mammamiatheparty.com, promises “daredevil stunts, Greek Gods, flirty waiters”, while Björn Ulvaeus likens it to being “just like the movie, but for real”.
Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frid’s surprise appearance marks the first time that the group have appeared on stage together in public in 30 years. Their final public performance was aired on Swedish television in January 1986, when they performed an acoustic version of ‘Tivedshambo’ as part of a 55th-birthday celebration of their manager, Stig Anderson; later that year they also performed at a private 40th-birthday party for their old manager, Claes af Geijerstam. Watch footage of their surprise appearance at Mamma Mia! The Party, below:
Click to load video
ABBA launch the new venture the same year that one of their most iconic singles, ‘Dancing Queen’, turns 40. Taken from their Arrival album and released in August 1976, it topped the charts in nine countries. Whether the group – one of the most beloved in music history – have any more surprises in store for the anniversary of one of their signature songs remains to be seen; meanwhile, the opening of Mamma Mia! The Party is sure to send ABBA’s dedicated fanbase into a frenzy.
Tickets for Mamma Mia! The Party can be purchased here.
UK English
