Fan report - September 15, Vancouver, Canada 1979
Perhaps the time has come for me to tell you all about my live ABBA experience...
The date was Sep. 15, 1979 and at 8:20 pm the lights went down at the Pacific Coliseum to reveal the first (and last) appearance of ABBA in Vancouver, Canada. It was electrifying. Highlights for me were Bjorn referring to his wife as being As Good As New (I was perhaps too young at 13 to fully realise how tacky this might have seemed). I remember Frida kneeling at the front of the stage to sing I Have A Dream, and I remember being envious of the children (incidentally, they were from the Vancouver Children`s Choir) who came on to sing with them. I remember the atmosphere and the flickering lights from the audience when Agnetha sang I`m Still Alive, and I recall with great glee the roar that came up when Frida emerged wearing her Vancouver Whitecaps tee-shirt for Why Did It Have To Be Me. I was already head over heels in love with her and after her great performance with Bjorn I was completely devoted to her! One of my favourite parts of the concert was when Frida was singing Fernando at the front of the stage -- I broke free from my mother in the upper seats (I was not on the floor where I should have been) and convinced a security guard that I needed to take photographs with my Instamatic (they didn`t turn out). I ran to the front of the crowd and took photos and even managed to convince myself that when Frida smiled down at me she was actually looking straight at me. Anyway, I received many photos (some enlarged and some regular) from the Vancouver gig months later when I was introduced to a professional photographer who was present at the show. They are wonderful photographic memories, and they are in a special photo album together with private shots of the four when they stayed at the Westin Bayshore hotel near Stanley Park. I was unfortunately not there at the hotel, as my parents didn`t seem keen on letting me roam around the city looking for hotels that the famous four might have been staying at, but some friends later gave me copies of their private collection. I still remember the electricity in the air when Dancing Queen was finally sung. Even my mother was boogying. I think this was the first time I had ever been in the presence of marijuana too, as I remember asking my mum what the strange smell was. I do recall being disappointed that Waterloo was not sung during the encore; I assume there was not enough energy coming from the crowd to bring them back for one more encore that night, but all in all I was ecstatic to be there and be a part of it. Hole in Your Soul was fully charged and we were all on our feet. The flashing A-B-B-A letters behind the fabb four were giant sized and it seemed to me that the 17,000 people attending this show (the largest of the North American tour I might add) were all devoted ABBA fans. I was glowing with pride seeing how many people were affected by ABBA`s music that night. The colourful costumes the girls wore made them look like Nordic angels up there and so damned sexy too. I remember being a little bored during the backing band`s rendition of Not Bad At All, because I just wanted to see Agnetha & Frida singing, nobody else. I was thrilled when they sang Eagle, and I remember people clapping along to Chiquitita. For some reason, If It Wasn`t For The Nights seemed not as brilliant as it could have been, but for me any sound defects were overpowered by the visual feast that was ABBA. Agnetha looked so radiant as her blonde hair shimmered in the lights. The dramatic and gorgeous Frida made the stage her "own personal territory" as the Province newspaper exclaimed the next day. I felt like a child in a sweetie shop as all my favourite songs were performed one after another. I tried so hard to make the night last forever (I wish tonight could last forever), and for days after the show I clung desperately to vivid memories from each song. It was a glorious performance, and my fate as a fan was sealed from that moment on. This was the first rock concert I had attended, and this was after three years of loving ABBA, so you can imagine how giddy I was. I very nearly was prevented from going, because I had been cheeky that morning, and my mother said I was not allowed to attend the concert with her. Luckily for me, she changed her mind and I experienced, as one fan in ABBA in Concert proclaimed, "the most orgasmic night of my entire life." Any other concert I saw after that paled in comparison to the hallowed eve I saw the four Swedes performing. I bought a couple of tee-shirts, a programme, an official `79 tour photo and a baseball cap, and left the Coliseum walking on a cloud of ABBA love. I still float along on the buzz that I experienced during that night, and I have never been the same since. ABBA changed my life. So thank you, Frida, Agnetha, Bjorn & Benny, for the most magical night of my life.
Graeme
Posted on www.abbasite.com
on December 29, 2004
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