Abba is special, not least for us who were born in the 70's.

They have always existed, since the beginning, as breast milk and the bedrock.

Abba was something our parents danced to at home parties when the band was at the height of their careers.

And now our children have been captured by them through the movie Mamma Mia!

Before the concert, I listened to old albums and was struck by how many songs have fallen into total oblivion but still can evoke emotions.

Abba is about unbridled emotional turmoil, about being touched, they usually say.

The beginning is promising in the specially built Abba Arena in east London, among desolate plots and dilapidated small industries.

It's a party atmosphere.

The audience on their toes.

Here are hopes for emotional intoxication. 

And it degenerates into a maxed out light show, technology abounds and a rocking ten-man band that provides everything.

When they are seen, that is, because despite all the light effects, they play most of the concert in the dark.

The light is of course in the video projections.

There we see the so-called "abbats", the avatars of the four abba members as younger variants of themselves.

And these abbots offer here and there from an inexhaustible song treasure.

The audience jumps out of their seats, howls.

Soon, the orchestra will also be in the spotlight and do a cover.

A journalist next to nuts: "sigh, tribute band we have heard enough of in recent decades".

Before that, there will be a Frost-inspired anime, a cartoon music video packed with magic that ends in an Abba temple.

And so little gibberish with daddy humor from the abbots, even though gossip was never Abba's thing I understand.

It's a show that spreads and eventually falls apart.

I get the urge to google Abba gigs from the archive.

Something that feels authentic.

I have seen the Eurovision win in 1974.  

You have to give the show that it is a technical marvel.

The abbots look (almost) real.

At the same time, they become victims of the perfection of technology, everything is so sharp that it is visible when the lip sync is not one hundred percent or that the eyes lack glow.

Strangely enough, it actually works best in the songs from the latest album, especially Don´t shut me down where the abbots have got a hazy look.

In the end, it might just be about letting go, running to the bar when the anime movie starts and then dancing the iron to the next hit.