Thank You For The Music – An Abba Celebration

On ABBA’s first tour to Australia in 1977 they played all capital cities but Brisbane which of course elicited a huge outcry from local fans at the time. This concert by the QPAC Choir rectifies this 40-year old oversight by celebrating the music of the Swedish super group whose songs have become pop classics over time.

The concert started with a medley of ABBA songs which included “Waterloo”, the group’s first hit which won them the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. What followed were chorale arrangements of “Mamma Mia”, “Super Trouper”, “Chiquitita”, “Take a Chance on Me” and “The Name of the Game”, amongst others, but the highlight of the performance was a beautifully arranged a-cappella version of “One of Us”,

Guest artists, Griffith University 3^rd Year Musical Theatre Students, brought punch to “Voulez-Vous”. Georgia Bolton’s “The Winner Takes All” was overly-passive, but “Fernando” hit the mark and had the audience swaying and waving their arms. “I Know Him So Well” from the ABBA penned musical Chess added variety to a concert otherwise comprised of pop.

Stills of 45s and LP covers were featured on a screen during each song, plus a clip from Abba: the Movie and an hilarious TV commercial by the group for National electrical products, which pulled belly laughs.

The ebullient choirmaster Tim Sherlock, a self-confessed Abba freak, captivatingly conveyed his love for the group’s work which almost made us forget about the spotty sound mix and missed lighting cues.

With the audience waving glow-sticks, and lights hitting the mirror balls, “Dancing Queen” was an appropriate and much-loved finale.

Peter Pinne

Photogeapher: Darren Thomas