ABBA back exhibition for British fans

Abba have backed an exhibition examining the group’s history and relationship with their British fans.
The band’s music became immensely popular in the U.K. after the group won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, held that year in Brighton, England.
The new ABBA: Super Troupers exhibition, which will open at London’s South Bank Centre in December (17), will look at how ABBA’s upbeat European pop delighted Britons during the 1970s, grim times of high unemployment and widespread strike action.
“Since our songs, which were written in the 70s, are still being played today it’s particularly interesting that the Southbank Centre exhibition is placing them in the temporal context in which they were created,” ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus says in a press release. “We recorded Mamma Mia in 1975. What happened that year in the UK and in the world? One thing is for certain – it seems unbelievably long ago!”
The immersive exhibition, which features objects from the ABBA museum in Stockholm, Sweden including notes and sketches, personal photographs, music and artwork, will take place just yards from Waterloo station, the London rail terminal that shares its name with their first U.K. number one.
Bjorn’s bandmate Anni-Frid ‘Frida’ Lyngstad adds, “We are thrilled to be supporting the new exhibition ABBA: Super Troupers in London, especially since the band have always been very appreciative of the love and support shown to us by our fans in the UK.”
ABBA: Super Troupers will also feature theatrical backdrops designed to capture key aspects of the group’s history, including their dressing room and studio and a 1970s style discotheque playing their hits.
Between 1974 and 1982, when they split, ABBA racked up an incredible 19 U.K. top ten chart hits, including nine number ones.
The exhibition will run from 14 December (17) to 29 April next year (18).