Ulvaeus told dpa that there were reasons for the show to take place in London and not in Stockholm. A separate theatre had to be built for the complex technology. Stockholm was too small, Ulvaeus said.

So the question was more: London or the Ruhr, he added, referring to Germany’s most densely populated former industrial heartland. ABBA needed a place where the show could stay for a long time, he said.

It could have been somewhere in the middle of Germany, Ulvaeus said, but ILM, the Industrial Light & Magic company that created the digital representations of the singers, dubbed the ABBAtars, is based in Britain and the US.

He said the infrastructure in London was more suitable for this project. The ABBA Arena is now located near London’s Olympic Stadium.

The ABBA Voyage concert starts on Thursday. From May 27 there will be regular shows. However, the four ABBA stars will not be on stage themselves, only the ABBAtars. These fully animated, digitally rejuvenated versions of Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid are accompanied by a 10-piece live band.