There was something on my head that night, the virtual stars were bright, Fernando!
Apologies to all ABBA fans, but that was the best we could do. Anyway, we have good news for you; ABBA will soon tour again for the first time in around 35 years. Well, they will in VR at least.
Yes that’s right; ABBA is working on a virtual reality experience that will digitize all four original members of the iconic pop group that will then go out on tour. It might not be the same as going to see the iconic Swedish quartet for yourself, but it’s about as close as you’ll get by the time it starts in 2019.
Details about what the experience itself will entail still haven’t been revealed, though the group’s Benny Andersson did confirm that they were having their faces recreated within VR, so expect to see them in the digital flesh.
Spice Girls’ former manager Simon Fuller and Universal teamed with ABBA for the project. Fuller said: “The creativity and ideas flowing from the members of ABBA over the past few months have filled me with great excitement. We are exploring a new technological world, with Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence at the forefront, that will allow us to create new forms of entertainment and content we couldn’t have previously imagined.”
This is the first musical VR experience of this type that we’d heard of. Traditionally we’ve seen plenty of concerts shot in 360 degrees and other experiments, but a VR app that can immortalise performances and iconic songs in a multi-sensory experience sounds very promising.
Look for the ABBA VR tour to debut in 2019.
