Music
By Numbers
ABBA Voyage By Numbers: Every song in ABBA’s virtual concert residency
Here’s your breakdown of every song played by the ‘ABBAtars’ at the purpose-built ABBA Arena
There’s no experience quite like ABBA Voyage. It’s a concert, a trip back in time and a futuristic display of the best in tech all rolled into one. Now in its fourth year at the ABBA Arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the virtual residency starring the Swedish pop group continues to serve up jaw-dropping visuals with their startlingly real ABBAtars, recreations of the band as they were in their heyday, accompanied by a stellar live band.
The group have expressed that they wanted the setlist to give audiences a chance not just to hear the hits (although of course there’s plenty of those in here) but also to get familiar with a few hidden gems, as well some new music from the band’s 2021 album Voyage. Here’s your breakdown of everything you can expect to hear when you visit the ABBA Arena, although fair warning – most of these won’t leave your head for a week.
The Visitors
Hole In Your Soul
SOS
Knowing Me, Knowing You
Chiquitita
Fernando
Super Trouper/Take A Chance on Me
Mamma Mia
Does Your Mother Know?
Eagle
Lay All Your Love On Me
Summer Night City
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
Voulez-Vous
The Name Of The Game
Don’t Shut Me Down
I Still Have Faith In You
Waterloo
Money Money Money
Thank You For The Music
Dancing Queen
The Winner Takes It All
‘The Visitors’
The concert residency opens with the title track from the band’s eighth studio album. Written with a deliberate sense of mystery, the original track seems to point towards issues of human rights and a fear of been the familiar being invaded by hostile forces. In the concert, the track takes on a more otherworldly meaning – the ABBAtars are visitors from both the past and the future, arriving onstage for a unique night of music.
‘Hole In Your Soul’
A rock ‘n’ roll number from the band’s 1977 fifth record ABBA: The Album, ‘Hole In Your Soul’ isn’t one of the band’s best-known tracks, but its infectious energy and retro feel makes it a great opening pick. The message – that music can make life brighter – is also apt.
The track is a re-working of the track ‘Get On The Carousel’, which featured in ABBA’s mini-musical The Girl With Golden Hair, part of the group’s 1977 concert tours.
‘SOS’
The fifth single from the band’s 1975 self-titled third album, ‘SOS’ marked ABBA’s first major worldwide hit since Eurovision winner ‘Waterloo’. The band have since said that the track was a turning point for the group, and the first time that they felt they’d really nailed down their musical identity.
‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’
‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ was the third single from Arrival, and one of the band’s earliest break-up songs. Although the song predates the divorces between the group’s two married couples, the concert residency uses the track to highlight this part of ABBA’s story. One of the biggest singles of 1977, it was the first of a run of three no.1 hits for the band in that year and is often considered one of their best songs.
‘Chiquitita’
Originally released as the first single from Voulez-Vous, the group’s sixth album, ‘Chiquitita’ has become forever associated with Julie Walters and Christine Baranski singing it through a toilet door. Bjorn Ulvaeus originally had quite different plans for the song – he liked the title ‘In The Arms of Rozellita’, but couldn’t find a story that worked, so changed course. In the years since, ‘Chiquitita’ has become a female friendship anthem, whilst its uplifting instrumental outro has gone viral a few times in its own right.
‘Fernando’
‘Fernando’ was first recorded by Anni-Frid Lyngstad in Swedish for her solo album Frida Ensam. ABBA recorded a standalone English version in 1976, which wouldn’t appear on an album until the band released their greatest hits collections. Although the Swedish version was about lost love, the English version took on a very different narrative, depicting two old freedom fighters reflecting back on their days fighting in the Mexican Revolution.
‘Super Trouper’
At this point in the show, fans will hear one of two songs. The first option is ‘Super Trouper’, the title track from the band’s seventh studio album. The song depicts a performer on the road dreaming of her lover back home and looking forward to when she might see his face in the crowd, lit up by the ‘super trouper’ spotlights. It was partly inspired by the bands preference for the studio over the stage – decades later, ABBA Voyage would give them the ultimate opportunity to entertain their fans from a distance.
‘Take A Chance On Me’
The other song that fans might hear at this point in the show is ‘Take A Chance On Me’, the second single from ABBA: The Album. The song was originally inspired by the rhythm that Björn Ulvaeus, a keen runner, used to pace himself. The repeated ‘tk-a-ch’ evolved into ‘take a chance’, and the rest followed from there. This song was also one of four covered by Erasure for their Abba-esque EP, which is credited with kicking off the ABBA revival in the west.
‘Mamma Mia’
Born from a title suggested to the band by manager Stig Anderson, ‘Mamma Mia’ has become one of ABBA’s most iconic tracks, not least due to the stage musical and film of the same name. Its distinctive marimba is instantly recognisable to fans all over the world and it remains one of the band’s most popular and critically celebrated tracks of all time. Telling the story of a woman in an off-again, on-again relationship, the titular phrase expresses her surprise and frustration as the tables are turned on her time and time again.
‘Does Your Mother Know?’
One of very few songs to feature Björn Ulvaeus on lead vocals (although ABBA Voyage sees him handing this one over to the band), ‘Does Your Mother Know?’ sees Ulvaeus addressing a young fan who flirts with him despite the significant difference in their ages. The subject matter is a little more taboo, but the song has survived thanks to its earworm hook.
‘Eagle’
The opening track from ABBA: The Album, ‘Eagle’ was actually intended in part to be a tribute to band The Eagles, a group that Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus both admired. Whilst not one of their most commercial singles, critics have noted in the decades since that ‘Eagle’ is one of the band’s best lyrical offerings, and represents an interesting shift in sound for the group. It’s definitely one worth getting familiar with.
‘Lay All Your Love On Me’
A sad song with an infectious Europop beat is a winning ABBA formula, one that ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’ employs to excellence. Not intended as a single, the song was rolled out as Super Trouper’s final single after a remixed version caught on in clubs. Although ostensibly a love song, ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’ describes a jealous and insecure sort of attachment, as the song’s protagonist feels set adrift by the strength of her feelings and begs her lover to stay with her.
‘Summer Night City’
A tribute to the group’s hometown of Stockholm, ‘Summer Night City’ was released in 1978 as a standalone single, ultimately winding up on Greatest Hits Vol. 2. Although the group have expressed mixed feelings towards the track in the years since, its connection to their roots might explain why it beat out other songs to end up on the ABBA Voyage setlist.
‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’
One of the band’s biggest international hits, ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!’ is set apart by its darker brand of electropop and distinctive synth riff. The song quickly became a club anthem, with vocalist Agnetha Fältskog singing about a search for company late at night – likely a relatable concept to many on the dance floor. Following ‘Dancing Queen’, it became the second ABBA song to pass a billion streams on Spotify.
‘Voulez-Vous’
The title track of the band’s sixth studio album, ‘Voulez-Vous’ asks the listener, ‘Do you want?’ in French. The mysterious request and the song’s unusual sound – which it gets in part from use of the Phrygian dominant scale – make it a hypnotic piece of dance pop. It was another track selected by Erasure for Abba-esque.
‘The Name Of The Game’
Partly inspired by the work of Stevie Wonder, ‘The Name Of The Game’ is laid-back in sound, but its lyrics are earnest – the band’s female vocalists urge a partner to speak straight from the heart and give them some idea of where the relationship is going. Released as the first single from ABBA: The Album, it topped the UK charts.
‘Don’t Shut Me Down’
The release of ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’ as a dual single with ‘I Still Have Faith In You’ in 2021 marked ABBA’s first release in 40 years. It was the first ABBA song to top the charts in Sweden since 1978’s ‘Summer Night City’ and was very positively received by critics, with many praising its unusual structure. On the surface, the song’s narrative follows a lover begging to be let into her ex’s apartment, but many drew parallels between this and ABBA’s re-entry into music.
‘I Still Have Faith In You’
Released alongside ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’, ‘I Still Have Faith In You’ is a string-driven ode to the band’s history and the unique bond they share. The song builds to a climax as the group determine that they have in them to continue the legacy and open a new chapter – a chapter witnessed by everyone gathered at the ABBA Arena.
‘Waterloo’
There could never have been ABBA Voyage without ‘Waterloo’. The 1974 Eurovision winner topped the charts in several countries and put the band on the map back when it was first released – now, it represents a legacy of fifty years of music, continuing on in a way those four Eurovision winners could never have conceived.
‘Money Money Money’
Sung from the perspective of a woman who struggles to pay her bills and dreams of a wealthy husband to provide for her, ‘Money Money Money’ would later be a key element in the ABBA jukebox musical Mamma Mia!, providing main character Donna with her ‘I want’ song. It was originally released as the second single from the band’s fourth studio album, Arrival.
‘Thank You For The Music’
There’s always been something magical about this track from ABBA: The Album. When Agnetha Fältskog’s ‘ABBAtar’ sings the song’s bridge in the purpose built arena at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, it takes on another level of meaning. This one just has to be seen.
‘Dancing Queen’
Arrival’s lead single was and still is the definition of a worldwide hit. A Europop take on American disco, the track. Famously, when Anni-Frid Lyngstad first heard the song’s backing track, she burst into tears – she knew even then it was the best song the band had ever made. It remains ABBA’s biggest song in the UK to this day.
‘The Winner Takes It All’
In true ABBA fashion, their most devastating break up song is a hit. Bjorn Ulvaeus wrote the song, inspired by his divorce from wife Agnetha Fältskog, but ultimately it was Agnetha who sang it – a strange situation for anyone to be in, but her recording has gone down in history as one of the greatest break up tracks of all time. Fältskog herself has called it her favourite track from ABBA’s catalogue. Fans around the world agree with her.
