Most people will not have clocked the party of three in their seventies as they quietly took to their seats in the new ABBA Arena in London’s Olympic Park.
After all, they were right at the back, the lights were down… and all the attention was on the stage.
“We were sitting away back in the darkness, so nobody saw us,” Bjorn Ulvaeus laughs.
“Benny was there and Frida, we just looked at ourselves and thought, ‘What the hell is this. How did this happen?’”
Monday night’s clandestine mission was the first time Bjorn, 77, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 76, and Benny Andersson, 75, had seen the reaction from fans to their digitally created younger avatars – or ABBA-tars.
It came ahead of the premiere this week, where it is hoped all four members of the band, including Agnetha Faltskog, 72, will appear.
“It was unbelievable,” Bjorn says. “For the time fans are in the arena, they believe we are real and are on stage. They’re at a concert with ABBA.
“We’re playing tricks with people’s minds and they’re willing to let us.”
He admits he got emotional seeing his younger self, created with the help of George Lucas’s visual effects company.
“It was a special moment for me and my entire family who are coming over to watch.
"Many are too young to have seen me on stage. It was very emotionally charged to say the least.”
Last year the band shocked the world by releasing their Voyage album, which topped the charts in 17 countries.
Bjorn remembers vividly the moment he knew a reunion was well and truly on.
He describes being in a Swedish recording studio with Agnetha and Anni-Frid, who, up until then, had not sung his songs for more than 40 years.
“Benny and I held our breath in the control room looking forward through this big window,” Bjorn says.
“They were stood opposite each other, with their lyrics on a music stand. Here we were, the moment of truth.”
Despite the world not having heard their harmonies live since 1982, their voices were pitch perfect. It was almost like stepping back in time.
“They took their first notes and musically it sounded as ABBA as ever,” he says. “Up until that moment, we had no idea as to whether to carry on or give up.” Given their history, it is no surprise the reunion meant so much.
As two married couples – Agnetha to Bjorn, and Anni-Frid to Benny –their upbeat harmonies and chord progressions hid turmoil behind the scenes as both marriages faltered.
Agnetha and Bjorn, who had two children, divorced in 1979, followed by Benny and Anni-Frid in 1981.
The band split in 1982, with their last public performance coming three years later on a Swedish version of This Is Your Life, which honoured their manager Stig Anderson.
But against this backdrop, the band have remained close friends.
“Agnetha and I have met almost every Christmas and other birthdays. Freda comes to Stockholm a lot and we meet. We’re always in touch via email or text message.”
The group performed together for the first time in decades in 2016 at a private event which marked the 50th anniversary of the first meeting between songwriters Bjorn and Benny.
Offers poured in for a reunion, including a £600million deal for a 100-date world tour in 2000.
“Most of the offers didn’t even reach us… such as some sheikh in the Gulf,” he laughs. “We had short brief conversations about some offers, but touring again would have been something that we would have looked on at in horror. So we said no very quickly.”
And they did not need the money...
After the split, the band became an even bigger commercial entity. Their 1992 greatest hits album ABBA Gold became the second biggest-selling album in the UK, and the Mamma Mia musicals spawned two films.
The fact they remain relevant delights Bjorn.
And he laughs when reminded of Boris and Carrie Johnson’s ABBA party at the centre of the No10 lockdown row.
“It’s great they’re ABBA fans, it’s great anyone is playing ABBA, but domestic politics is something I won’t meddle in,” he laughs. Asked if Boris had met his Waterloo, Bjorn lets out a chuckle and declares: “No comment.” Skipping past politics, he says he has a love affair with the UK, ever since their Eurovision win in Brighton in 1974.
Although he laughs as he remembers how “Britain gave us zero points”.
Away from work, Bjorn loves to fuss over his grandchildren.
“I’ve managed to be quite grounded and they see me as a grandfather first, although sometimes they say, ‘Why isn’t granddad on television today?’.
“I am sure they have seen some of the embarrassing outfits and sometimes they comment but I don’t mind.”
Bjorn looks in great shape, which he puts down to “surf-ski” sessions in which he paddles on an open kayak.
“They are very fast and wobbly,” he laughs. “I have a summer house in the outer Stockholm Archipelago. It’s the most wonderful thing a human being can do. I just love it.”
For tickets go to abbavoyage.com. Opens Friday.
