Malmö (Sweden) (EFE).- Neither Agnetha Fältskog, nor Björn Ulvaeus, nor Benny Andersson nor Anni-Frid Lyngstad, none of the members of ABBA have physically reappeared this Saturday in the Eurovision 2024 final to celebrate 50 years of the victory in this ‘Waterloo’ contest.
Very evasive with this type of meeting, the group had already assured that they would not attend the event, but some surprise was expected at the last minute due to the opportune coincidence that the round anniversary of their fetish theme would take place in Sweden.
Former champions and technology revive the magic of ABBA at Eurovision
Instead, it was a trio of former Eurovision champions who performed the song: the Swedes Carola and Charlotte Perrelli and the Austrian Conchita Wurst.
The last time that the four members of this Swedish benchmark appeared together was in May 2022, when they presented the band’s latest album, ‘Voyage’, and the London show starring their holographic “abbatares”.
Precisely this has been the mechanism that ABBA has used to return to public life also this Saturday at Eurovision 2024. With the real voices of the four members of the group, their avatars have revived their memories of what it was like and what that emblematic victory meant. , the first for his country of the seven he currently accumulates.
‘Waterloo’ won the victory in 1974 in Brighton (United Kingdom) with a proposal that set the tone for what from then on began to be considered “Eurovision”.
Supported by a conductor dressed as Napoleon, in honor of the protagonist of the battle that served as a sentimental metaphor for the song, they presented a modern and contagious production, with a simple but iconic choreography, a star-shaped guitar conceived for the occasion and a colorful costume.
“That locker room was so tight!” Fältskog’s avatar complained when remembering the moment of victory.
A mark that does not fade 50 years later
That was also the first year in which Eurovision allowed participating countries to sing in a language other than the official language of their territories. They chose to perform the song in English, reaching number 1 in countries such as the United Kingdom or federal Germany and having an impact in territories as far away from the festival as South Africa or the United States.
They had already released two albums, including the self-titled ‘Waterloo’ (1974) shortly before, and in the following seven years they released another six with hits such as ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Take A Chance On Me’, ‘Super Trouper’, ‘Chiquitita’ or ‘The Winner Taked It All’.
As of 1982 they announced their separation, but they had already sown the seed of exporting Swedish talent to the rest of the world, with Roxette, Europe, The Cardigans, Ace of Base, Robyn, Swedish House Mafia, Lykke Li, Avicii or the producer Max Martin, something that precisely celebrated the start of this Saturday’s gala.
In it there has been another reappearance of justice, that of the veteran Björn Skifs, from the group Blue Swede, to sing his version of the song ‘Hooked On a Feeling’, with which they achieved the first number one with a dry label in the US. precisely the same year as the ‘Waterloo’ victory, which partially silenced the dimension of this feat.
