In Stockholm in 1972 a Swedish pop group formed that would see their music still being listened to and loved by audiences all over the world today and last night ABBA Mania came to the Rhyl Pavilion for one night, a night that saw a great collection of ABBA’s music performed by ABBA Mania, who formed in 1999, to a theatre of all ages.
With the success of ABBA’s music and many of their tracks in a part of everyone’s life, from movies such as Muriel’s Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and probably one of the most famous of the stage plays that was adapted in to a movie, Mamma Mia!
ABBA Mania the show has sold out theatres and concert halls internationally ever since. This show has toured the world in its quest to bring the music of the Swedish ‘Supergroup’ to their millions of fans, old and new!
The evening at the Rhyl was no exception, as I entered the theatre there was certainly a buzz of excitement in the air with so many people talking about their favourite ABBA songs and what the songs meant to them when they first heard then, fond memories of Dancing Queen, Fernando and other classic tracks that we have probably heard over years from ABBA.
I grabbed my drink and headed in to the auditorium with my guest for the evening’s entertainment there was that buzz of excitement and anticipation again, you could see the excitement on people’s faces as they looked at their watches, waiting for the evening’s performance to start.
The lights lowered, the ABBA medley started over the speakers, then the curtain rose, the stage lights pulsed and danced, ready for the group to take the stage, then ABBA Mania started to sing, the audience burst in to more excitement than earlier, the night had begun.
I do have to say, that I’m not a massive fan of ABBA, but I have heard them so many times over the years that I think the music and performance of the original band may be burned in to memory and the performers that were on the stage at the Rhyl Pavilion performed to a standard that even had moments of excitement running along my goosebumps.
OK, you’ll never get an exact duplication of a band but these are probably as damn close as you can get, the singers voices were great and certainly brought the feel that you may actually have stepped back in time and are living the days that ABBA trod the boards.
With so many of the ABBA songs beautifully performed, I found it hard to actually sit there and criticise the evening performance. With so many hits including ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Waterloo’, ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘The Winner Takes it All’, ‘Super Trouper’, ‘Fernando’ and ‘Take A Chance On Me’, what else could you ask for.
One thing I do like to watch during live performances is an audience, to see just how they are finding the eveing and this evenings audience were no exception to the rule of most of the shows that are put on at the Rhyl Pavilion Theatre, they got involved and any chance of singing or dancing they would be joining in and loving every moment of it.
Swaying arms, singing to the songs, dancing on the spot, it was all happening during the evening and as I mentioned earlier, all ages came to the theatre from young children to Grandma’s and Grandad’s, just fantastic, what better way for a family to enjoy themselves, all out together at the theatre and have a damn good sing-song.
So for me, it was a fantastic night, brilliant music, stage presence, audience participation and loads of fun. And although I did mention that I’m not an ABBA fan, this show was a fantastic night out, with a great all-round happy, family, atmosphere.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
