ABBA
Live at Wembley Arena

THE REVIEW

If you have the most advanced recording studios in the world, you can afford anything, tracks upon tracks of recordings and corrections, but live, if you're bad, the truth comes out and you get exposed. The Polar Studios in Stockholm were exceptional studios, and there since '78, the four Scandinavian pop wizards crafted their songs as skillfully as pastry chefs dedicated to producing deadly choruses and airy melodies. But how did the four Swedes fare in a live setting?

In 1979, they embarked on their Intercontinental Tour supporting Voulez-Vous, which would become their swan song live and would produce a thrilling and meticulously detailed spectacle. Those who doubted that ABBA could perform satisfactorily live were burned, with an extended band including additional keyboards, percussion, lead guitar, backing singers, and the rhythmic backbone formed by the formidable Ola Brunkert on drums and Rutger Gunnarson on bass. Scenographies recalling Scandinavian mountains, blue and azure colors that harmonized with Agnetha and Frida's costumes—the famous tight jumpsuits initially covered by white ponchos that echoed the blue to violet shades of Swedish glaciers. A powerful audio setup with a state-of-the-art mixing console; everything was obsessively curated because the show had to be perfect in every aspect. Last year saw the release of the complete live recording, on a triple LP, of the concert at Wembley Arena on November 10, 1979. What can I say, I was surprised by the quality and performance. The more disco tracks of the latest release had a refreshing rock twist, exceptional were "Summer Night City," "A Good as New", and the ride of "Does Your Mother Know." Twenty-five tracks in the setlist covering the entire production of the group, from "S.O.S" to the instrumental "Intermezzo No. 1" for a concert that was pure musical joy—a free and breezy entertainment because their offering was that of exceptionally high-quality POP music in a changing musical landscape at the end of the '70s. ABBA captures here the last happy period before the deepening of their production in the early '80s, although, as many have noted, there is always a bitter and melancholic aftertaste in their songs well represented by the melody of "Dancing Queen" with its chorus that seems to start far off before the girls' singing comes in.

On that tour, many unsuspecting figures were in the audience, Jimmy Page and John Bonham to name just two, a sign that the show offered was truly remarkable. Today, in the musical desert of POP music, the absence of a band of this level is heavily felt; no one has been able to take up their legacy because creating quality POP music is difficult, you can't hide behind fake underground pretensions, you need to reach the public's limbic system and overwhelm it, otherwise, you end up with nothing but bitter trash.