publication date: Feb 24, 2010
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author/source: Sian Minett
Arriving early, we didn't have to queue. We
registered our tickets in order to access the
interactive parts of the exhibition and were handed
headsets that provided an
audio guide to the 25 different rooms. The first housed
photos and
information about the early lives of
Björn, Benny, Agnetha and
Anni-Frid.
As we progressed through the
exhibition we passed through rooms filled with their amazing
stage costumes; mock-ups of the
chalet by the Swedish lake where they used to go to write and their
recording studio. Their numerous
gold discs and other
music awards for their (almost)
400 million records sold, as well as loads of items of
memorabilia such as instruments; gig tickets;
record sleeves and cassette boxes were on
display, which really took me back! Most rooms had either
footage from concerts or videos;
promotional materials or both old and newly recorded
interviews charting the lifespan of
ABBA.
Tabitha (11) thought that
ABBAWORLD was
fantastic. Her favourite part was "
Perform with ABBA", where you get on stagewith
3D holographic illusions of the band. Claudia (16) also liked the
interactive parts of the exhibition best and had great fun with the
ABBA quizzes that test your knowledge of the band.
The
corridor to and from the
exhibition is lined with
dance mats and
booths where you can either belt out your favourite
ABBA hit -
Sing Star style - and receive a percentage mark for
accuracy, or where you can
record your memories to
view later on the
interactive website. We got
competitive seeing who could get the
highest score for singing
Mamma Mia:me, in case you're interested, but I guess I've had
more practice over the years! This was definitely my
favourite part of the exhibition!
You can take the
Tretow MIX Challenge – mixing songs and
re-creating the ABBA sound – and have lots of
opportunities to sing along and dance with
ABBA, or see yourself in an
ABBA video! What is really
good is that all the
interactive activities are recorded on the entrance ticket, and you can
view them online at www.abbaworld.com
Whilst I also had a
great time, I found that the music from
one room could be heard in another so there was often a jarring clash of
two or more songs playing simultaneously which quickly became i
rritating. Similarly, I thought that the i
ntroductory film by
Jonas Åkerlund to get you "into the ABBA mood" was a
grating montage of too short music clips and images. That said, we had a
really fun day out out and I would recommend
ABBAWORLD to anyone who loves the music of ABBA and who is prepared to
let their hair down and sing their heart out!
Short break specialist
Superbreak (www.superbreak.com) offer packages that combine
overnight accommodation with tickets to Abbaworld. Prices start from
£252 for a family of four include one night at the
four star Novotel Hammersmith in a family room with breakfast for everyone and a ticket to
AbbaWorld. Valid in March and April at weekends.