Pop
Live review: ABBA Voyage a spectacular journey into pop history and music's future
ABBA Voyage has changed the way live music can be experience, with the setlist refresh is it still number one?
When ABBA Voyage opened in May 2022 hopes were high that this digital recreation of the Swedish pop legends would be a success. No one could have predicted just how big a succes it has been.
ABBA Voyage remains one of the most astonishing live music experiences anywhere in the world — and with a refreshed setlist introduced in May 2025, the show continues to evolve while reaffirming its place as a genuine cultural phenomenon.
When I take my seat in the state-of-the-art ABBA Arena I already feel as though I am stepping into the future. The purpose-built venue allows the production to unfold more like a theatrical event than a conventional concert, with carefully judged pacing, cinematic visuals and immersive lighting design.
As the opening notes of The Vistors play, its icy electronics and sense of foreboding instantly pulling the audience into ABBA’s world. On stage are the CGI versions of Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid, created using revolutionary motion-capture performance techniques that preserve the band at their late-’70s peak. The realism remains extraordinary, from facial expressions to precise choreography, making suspension of disbelief almost effortless.
The CGI foursome then proceed to take the audience on an electrifying journey through their staggerin back catalogue of bonafide pop classics, all spectacularly amplified by the technical wizardry of more than 30,000 lights and a 65 million pixel state of the art screen.
But the astonishing ABBAtars can't take all the glory, they are backed by the superb Hero Band, a 10-piece group which brings warmth, weight and spontaneity, while the arena’s state-of-the-art sound system ensures every harmony and synth flourish lands with pristine clarity.
The early setlist includes SOS, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Chiquitita, Fernando, Super Trouper and Mamma Mia, songs that most pop groups would be proud to close their sets with which has every audience member on their feet dancing, as though they had stepped back in time to the '70s.
The May 2025 setlist update has injected fresh momentum into the show. Newly added songs The Name of the Game, Super Trouper, Money, Money, Money and The Name of the Game sit comfortably alongside Voyage staples such as Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) and Voulez-vous.
These additions feel thoughtful rather than tokenistic, adding emotional range and reminding audiences just how deep ABBA’s catalogue truly is.
Visually, Voyage remains breathtaking. The innovative show was created by VFX company Industrial Light and Magic - with more than 10 million hours needed to create the ABBAtars, while the four band members spent five weeks in motion capture suits and were scanned from every angle by 160 cameras that captured their facial expressions, mannerisms and movements – all to make sure the final result was as close to the real thing as possible.
The ABBAtars end the set with Thank You for the Music and Dancing Queen, before returning to the stage for an encore of their 1980 hit single The Winner Takes It All closing the show to rapturopus applause for the technological spectacle and astonishing talent of the Hero Band.
Beyond artistry, the cultural and economic impact of ABBA Voyage in London has been extraordinary. According to an independent impact analysis by Sound Diplomacy, the London production has generated £2.06 billion in turnover for the UK economy since opening in 2022. Between May 2022 and May 2025 alone, it contributed £1.14 billion in gross value added, with 2025 proving particularly significant, adding £660 million in turnover in a single year. Local-area spending around Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park rose by £126.6 million in year three, underlining Voyage’s importance not just as entertainment, but as a major driver of tourism and economic growth.
With its refreshed setlist of classic songs and ever-growing legacy, ABBA Voyage doesn’t merely preserve pop history — it actively reshapes how it can be experienced. It remains a joyful, technically astonishing celebration of one of the greatest bands of all time, and a benchmark for what the future of live music can be when innovation and timeless songwriting meet.
For information and tickets go to the ABBA Voyage website.
ABBA Voyage setlist:
Intro: Skallgång
(Benny Andersson song)
The Visitors
Hole in Your Soul
SOS
Knowing Me, Knowing You
Chiquitita
Fernando
Super Trouper
Mamma Mia
Does Your Mother Know
Eagle
Lay All Your Love on Me
Summer Night City
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
Voulez-vous
The Name of the Game
Don't Shut Me Down
I Still Have Faith in You
Waterloo
Money, Money, Money
Thank You for the Music
Dancing Queen
Encore:
The Winner Takes It All
Outro: I Wonder (Departure)
(Song played from tape)
