Mikory's ABBA-blog:

This article was published in VeckoRevyn in August 1979, not long before ABBA began their big European and American tour. The article is a bit long, but I think it gives some insight in how big this project was for a Swedish band at that time.

41 concerts in three months. Canada, USA, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Germany and England. Björn, Agnetha, Benny and Frida are getting closer to the start of their gigantic world tour.
   Especially in America the tour is more important than ever for ABBA. There it's really all about "make it - or break it". It's there they have the chance to get their big break and become as big as they already are in Australia, Europe and Japan.
   And if they make it in America they will probably become the biggest group of all times in the world - when it comes to records sold and money earned. Bigger than the Bee Gees and every other supergroup.
   That is why this tour is so very well prepared. The one responsible is Thomas Johansson of EMA Telstar. As the producer of the tour he is the one who is in contact with all the local arrangers.
   - A tour like ABBA's is not something you put together in a hurry, he says. So far we have had closer to nine months of intense preparations to make everything work.
   Thomas tells us about the USA, where everything is much more complicated. In 18 different cities he has been forced to draw up separate contracts with nine different arrangers. With difficult negotiations each time.
   - In America they have a completely different system for booking artists compared to Sweden. They actually have a separate law book which handles the legal matters for a pop tour! An agent is an agent, an arranger is an arranger and a manager can only be a manager. All this to stop people from monopolizing different jobs, says Thomas.
   The tourplan is made according to record sales, how popular the group is compared to other groups and how great the interest is for a concert.
How much of this is ABBA involved in?
- Everything! They decide exactly how they want it. Which cities to visit, the length of the tour etc. Then we all discuss what is possible to do and decide how we will do it, says the arranger Thomas Johansson.
   Light and sound equipment is rented at each location. That's not something you bring with you over the Atlantic. But there is enough luggage anyway. The set, the instruments, the clothes, some technical equipment, microphones for example - all of it is flown over.
Is it heavy? Thomas laughs.
   - It adds up. I would estimate we are sending between 40 and 50 tons via air planes!
   But between the cities in America the equipment is transported with lorries. About three or four of them. The "crew" consists of around 25 people who does all the rigging.
   Including the crew the whole group on the tour will be around 50 people. Apart from ABBA, there is the choir, the Polar and EMA people, assistants and relatives. A big project.
Why do they tour?
   - The main reason is that they enjoy it. Show themselves to their audiences, meet the people who buy the records.
   But it's not a profitable project. The estimated cost for the combined European and American tour is 2 million kronor. And you don't get that kind of money back by selling tickets.
   - That's the estimated cost! There is always additional costs every week. For example, if Mats Ronander needs new cover for his guitar that would cost 1500 kronor. All the small extra costs add up the total all the time, says Thomas.
And how is the interest from the audiences so far? Thomas is optimistic.
   - I received a fax today from Edmonton, the only town on the American continent, where the tickets have gone on sale yet. All the 15000 tickets were sold in one day.

BEATS DYLAN
In London there is a total of 16.000 tickets. The pre orders were unbelievably 137.000. England and Ireland sold out in one day. In Stafford ABBA plays at a venue that takes 15.000 and the pre orders were 46.000 tickets. In Stafford ABBA beats the veteran Bob Dylan.
   Thomas Johansson does not believe in a decreasing interest in ABBA.
   - It's only a myth that pop groups go on tour when their record sales are on the way down. If it was true Rod Stewart and the Rolling Stones would have been finished long ago. That's just absurd!
On the contrary - a tour helps promote a new album, the performers get to meet the audiences and they get inspired.
   The preparations are extremely expensive. The special set design is built in London for close to half a million kronor. The rehearsals - just renting a place big enough cost 45000 for a month. ABBA do not get paid during the tour, but they get royalties from the record sales of course.

A TEN PAGE CONTRACT - WITH EVERYTHING
Thomas Johansson draws up a ten page contract with each arranger. There EVERYTHING is specified. Really, really precisely. How much the arranger shall pay, what will happen if they don't pay, details about advertising. Booklets and posters are pre-printed in Sweden, with instructions surrounding the advertising.
   - For example, we don't want them to play "Ring Ring" in the radio commercials.
   In the contracts it also is stated how high the the stage must be, that the ceiling must hold the 11 tons of spotlights and speakers, details about flights, hotels, piano tuners, sound guys, parking spots for the trailers, electricians, local staff, fork lifts and everything else that is needed.
And how many bottles of champagne will ABBA have in their dressing rooms?
   - Well, that's kind of a myth, Thomas says seriously. Naturally ABBA expect the same standard of living as they have at home, to be able to sleep and eat well. But ABBA are working very seriously and hard. There are never any problems with them regarding their wishes.
   But of course the beverages in the dressing rooms are listed! There has to be coffee, tea, juice, honey and lemon for sore throats! And Björn, Agnetha, Benny and Frida get cars with drivers. No Rolls Royces, but limousines, that will take them to and back from the concert halls. For the longer stay in Los Angeles, they have rented a house.
   In the long contract it's also stipulated how the tickets shall look, how many that can be handed out for free, and how much the souvenir book shall cost.
   - ABBA wanted them to cost 10 kronor instead of the usual 15. So it will cost 10.

MONDAY: ROAST BEEF, TUESDAY: CHINESE FOOD
Further down the contract we find a menu. "Monday: Roast beef, Tuesday: Chinese food..."
   - It's for the sake of the crew. We have banned all junk food! Everyone is working really hard and need real food.
   You can't do hard work on a diet of Big Burgers and fried chicken. Breakfast, lunch and dinner - good food - is guaranteed for everyone in the ABBA entourage through the contract which also includes details about dressing rooms and wardrobe help. The clothes for the tour are made by Artistdressing in cooperation with the fashion interested Frida.
   In May this year, ABBA did a so called "sneak gig" in Landskrona in front of a totally unaware audience. That was the first time in two years and two months that they had been performing live on stage.
   - That little test meant a lot, says Thomas. It was a good way to check where ABBA are today, what kind of response they got from the audience was of great help for the tour.
   Bosse Norling, an old ABBA roadie, will be the tour leader. It will be Bosse who arranges body guards, makes sure that the hotel reservations are in order, takes care of the flight tickets, fixes rental cars if ABBA want to go sightseeing or shopping.
   Hasse Blomgren, will be the leader of the musicians, Clabbe af Geijerstam will be responsible for the sound. The Englishman Jimmy Burnett, who was on the last tour with ABBA, will be "tour manager". Stikkan Anderson and Thomas will travel with a financial manager from London. There will be four to five different groups in the ABBA entourage. Not everyone will go [to the American continent] at the same time. Frida and Benny will cross the Atlantic earlier to see a horse show in Seattle!
   - It will all be very exciting, says a quite pleased Thomas Johansson. It will be great to be on the other side of the table for once. We buy so much from America. It will be fun to have something to sell, something that people want!
   And ABBA is wanted in the USA, which still is a "blind spot" on the group's map. The USA and Canada have wanted ABBA for four years now.

ONE YEAR OF PREPARATIONS
At Polar Music and Stikkan Anderson's office they have been preparing the world tour for a couple of years now.
   - It's a big thing that has to work out. In every detail. Now we are busy with the finishing touches, Stikkan says. Things like flight times, if airports are closing down when we are going home etc. We are a really big group that travels at different times.
   The album "Voulez-vous" is selling very well in the USA. It's already in the top 20. Next week Polar is "rush releasing" three different versions of the title song "Voulez-vous". One shorter version for the radio stations, a remixed disco version and the one from the album.
   How many records that will be "rush released" is something Stikkan cannot say. But usually it's around half a million copies each time.
   - And it would surprise me if we couldn't sell half a million!
   - The reason for going on a tour like this is that we feel obligated to do it. The audiences want to see ABBA. I see the American tour as the same kind of effort we did in Japan last year.
   Then ABBA went there for two weeks on a big TV promotion tour. All the TV-shows increased the interest in ABBA enormously.
   - And we are counting on that the same thing will happen in America now, says Stikkan. Then there are other reasons for this tour, like ending a lot of rumours; that ABBA aren't ABBA, that they don't sing themselves etc.

STOPPED SMOKING TO BE ABLE TO COPE
Stikkan does not think that ABBA is on their way out.
   - No, and it's amazing how big they are in America without us being there. But we won't be able to see the result of this tour until sometime next year. But I'm sure everything will work out fine! It's exciting, but we also know that it's going to be a lot of hard work. Björn and Agnetha have stopped smoking to be able to cope.
   - Sure, we're nervous. But you're supposed to feel nervous before tour!
   During the concerts in London, Swedish television will film the performances. The film will then be sold and will add more value to the tour. Even some of the rehearsals will be filmed. It will be broadcast on a big show hosted by Jerry Williams in the USA. A show that airs "coast-to-coast" in the beginning of September.
What does Stikkan think about ABBA's future? How important is this tour for their popularity?
   - We know what we are doing this year. What we can do next. After "Chiquitita" was recorded in Spanish, the interest in ABBA has grown unbelievably in South America. In Japan, the Soviet Union a, the Eastern states, Singapore and Hongkong, the ABBA fever is growing.
Maybe it's more a question of how long Björn, Agnetha, Benny and Frida want to continue?
   - Yes, it's a matter of how long we think this is cool, says Stikkan Anderson and laughs.
   Neither he or Thomas Johansson has had any problems preparing this tour.
   - ABBA, Stikkan and we know so well what we want and we are also working very well together, says Thomas at EMA. There are other things that can go wrong. We have to package instruments and the technical equipment carefully.

ABBA AND ROD STEWART CAN'T TOUR AT THE SAME TIME
Even though there are many rock'n'roll acts today, the business is quite small. They often work with the same people and equipment. The sound system ABBA will be using in America comes from Electrosound and is the same as Rod Stewart uses. It's incredibly expensive, so when ABBA is touring, Rod can't!
   Some of ABBA's requests haven't been possible to fullfill. For example, they wanted a 10 x 10 metre screen beside the stage so the fans in the back would get to see properly. But the equipment was too complicated, it just wasn't possible to move it as often as needed on a tour.
   Björn, Agnetha, Benny and Frida are unavailable up until the start of the tour. They are working really hard, rehearsing and they are saying no to all media. In the evenings Björn and Benny are on the phone with America giving radio interviews to all the radiostations.
   Mats Ronander though, can tell us a little bit about the rehearsals. Mats plays the guitar in the band. Earlier this spring he got the offer to go on tour with ABBA.
   - Naturally I thought it would be great, since I've never played with them before, says Mats.
   Besides Mats the backing group consists of Lasse Wellander, guitar, Anders Eljas, keyboard, Rutger Gunnarsson, bass, Ola Brunkert, drums and Åke Sundqvist, percussion. Together with ABBA and the back-up singers Birgitta Wollgård, Tomas Ledin and Liza Öhman they will be 13 people on stage.
   The rehearsals started on 1 August at Europafilm in Bromma. The original plan was to rehearse at Johanneshovs Isstadion, since it's an arena of the same caliber as the ones they will be playing at on the tour. But that wasn't possible.
   Mats Ronander is pleased with the job so far.
   - We haven't worked that long yet. The lights and the sound hasn't arrived yet. But we in the band have rehearsed by ourselves for a week.
   - It's Björn and Benny who are leading the rehearsals. They interrupt us and decides what we need to do. I guess that's natural since they have written the songs, says Mats. It's a lot of work, a lot to get through.

THIRTY SONGS
They rehearse Monday-Friday from 10.00am until 6.00pm. They are working on approximately 30 songs!
   - But I guess it will be around 20. It hasn't been decided yet, which songs. Most likely it will be stuff from the three latest albums, maybe some new songs, but nothing of the old stuff. Everyone is tired of them, says Mats and laughs.
What's it like to work with ABBA?
   - So far, so good, no big problems yet. It wouldn't be possible to make a good show if ABBA were divas.
   Rehearsals are still ongoing without stage outfits and sets. The set will most likely resemble the cover of the "Voulez-vous" album.
What does a tour like this mean to you as a musician?
   - Experience, of course. It's nothing you do everyday. But in terms of development I don't think it will do very much. I'm trying to do a good job. But touring with ABBA must a feather in your cap?

THE BAND'S PAYMENT IS A SECRET
During the whole month of August and couple of days into September the rehearsals will go on. Around the 10th of September, Mats will leave for America. He has never been there and looks forward to coming to California and New York, of course.
- I will try to go to some rock clubs there. If I have any spare time! Lasse Wellander and I will try and write some music for our new album.
How much Mats and the others are getting paid is a secret. But for them touring is profitable.
Are you nervous?
- No, not today. I might be... we will see when we get there.
And that will be on 13 September. Then it's time to see if ABBA will "make it - or break it" in America.