FAN MEMORIES OF THE CONCERT IN
LONDON, NOVEMBER 7, 1979

Here are my memories of London Wembley Arena, Wednesday 7th November 1979.

Me, then: 16 years old. Painfully shy. Wanted to be a teacher. Besotted with ABBA since Eurovision. Ridiculed routinely for my musical (lack of) taste as my peers grew into prog rock (Floyd), metal and punk, but I didn't care. Loved the band. Adored the music. Had the Scandecor 'Panama Hats' poster (a thing of beauty) on my bedroom wall along with all those Look-In magazine double-page centre pin-ups. Unsuccessfully applied for 1977 Albert Hall tickets (well, one or two other people also applied!). Then came 1979.....

My best mate at the time, Jon, was equally a fan. Tickets were going on sale at (I think) 10 a.m. at Chappells in New Bond Street in London (a famous sheet music/instrument shop, which is still there). We persuaded Jon's father to drive us up there at 6 a.m., and at 7 a.m. there was already a very healthy queue. Not much later, it was disappearing around the block. We got tickets....4 rows from the front, just right of centre - we ended up sitting in front of Benny on stage. Unbelievable.

We took the train up to Wembley on the night. There was a hold-up on the underground. We just sat on a track for what seemed like forever, as the crucial minutes ticked by. ABBA were due on at 8.00pm. On reaching Wembley underground station, we ran like Olympic sprinters (trust me, that takes a real incentive for me to do that), and took our seats at 8.15...and thankfully the show hadn't started. (It would have been unbearable to have missed the start!). ABBA began the show 10/15 minutes later. I know time plays tricks, but here are some memories:

The opening: Benny's synth into was unexpected and stunning. The girls with their arms outstretched, the lighting change as VV started....all too much to take in at my very first 'real' concert. However, the sound mix was a complete mess for the first three numbers - harsh and indistinct - but then almost magically became a clean, bright, steely-hard sound for the rest of the show. The muddy mono audience recordings that still do the rounds today are a great momento, but they do not reflect the simple fact that on this tour ABBA was a rock band - and they did rock.

Other memories: it didn't really seem to take off until Money Money Money. The Tomas Ledin song (Who he?, thought the entire audience) seemed completely out-of-place and unwanted. Agnetha sang like an angel in a spotlight on Chiquitita (even though I didn't like the song then, and still don't). I can't remember the audience clapping along to I Have A Dream (or is that just an overdubbed live album/TV show history rewrite?). SOS and Fernando sounded strangely old and tired in this set and band-style. Frida's antics in a brilliant performance of Why Did It Have To Be Me. The haunting extended opening to Summer Night City completely moved me - it seemed to me that it took ages for most of the audience to recognise it. Agnetha melting the entire audience as she took her place at the piano and started playing/singing I'm Still Alive. Everyone standing in silence for (gasp - a new song!) The Way Old Friends Do as the first encore. The inevitable (but still thrilling) parting of the Polar mountains and the appearance of the ABBA-ropelights for Dancing Queen. And then....in an ABBA Magazine interview, either Benny or Bjorn had said it was unlikely they would do the really old songs (what, no Waterloo?, I had thought disappointedly), so when Bjorn said, "Do you wanna hear an oldie?", it only took a nanosecond for this particular fan to realise what was coming and was promptly jumping up and down on my chair (to be told to get down by a spoilsport usher).

ABBA never toured again. Memory can play tricks - I'm still convinced that they performed Mamma Mia that night, but I have never seen/heard any evidence to confirm it. Although it might be (nearly) 22 years ago, I can still feel that night, when my musical heores spent nearly two hours performing for me just four rows in front of me. A happy memory that still remains.

Posted on ABBAMAIL on 14 September 2001 by Graham Piper, Hove, England.

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I also saw ABBA in Wembley on November 9th 1979, and it was an experience I shall never forget. I was just 16, and it was my first concert ever. My dad drove me, my firend Karen and her friend Kim down from Leicester (about 98 miles), and we were all so excited. We had SUCH a good view, sitting on the fourth row. As Tony recollects, the music started, sounding quite anthemic, and then the curtains parted and there they were! ABBA! I was so stunned I could barely draw breath! It was such a moment, and I`m feeling so excited even now! The anthem like introduction lead into a verse sung by Bjorn, Agnetha and Frida and I instantly recognised it, but I was so stunned, as no-one else seemed to cotton on - it was the opening verse of the full length Summer Night City! I remember song after song enveloping me, and lifting me to heights hitherto unknown. It was just amazing! I am lucky to have "I`m Still Alive" on a bootleg CD, so can re-visit that when I like. I wasn`t too struck with Tomas Ledin`s "Not Bad At All" - I thought it was, actually! I loved Frida`s dancing, and her comedy, and her and Agnetha`s zesty deliveries of each and every song, and the verve with which they performed. This wasn`t just a concert, it was an experience not to be missed. I`m so glad I was able to go.

Tracy, Leicester, UK (one of the lucky ones!).

Posted in the www.abbasite.com forum on September 13, 2002