ABBA Reunited In Rare Appearance At Opening Of ‘Mamma Mia’ Themed Restaurant In Stockholm

All members of the popular 1970s singing group ABBA were present and correct for the first time in public since 2008 at the opening of the new Mamma Mia! inspired restaurant in Stockholm on Wednesday evening.

As reported by People, the last time the pop group ABBA was seen all together in public was back in 2008 when they attended two premieres for the film Mamma Mia! in 2008, in London and Stockholm. That film starred Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried and Colin Firth, among others. All members of ABBA are pictured with the cast of that movie in the image below.

Now another Mamma Mia! related event has brought the whole group back together with Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad turning up in style with their partners at the Greek taverna-style restaurant of the same name in Stockholm for “Mamma Mia! The Party.”

Brainchild of Björn Ulvaeus, the Mamma Mia! themed restaurant opened with a dinner-theater extravanganza on Wednesday dubbed, appropriately, “Mamma Mia! The Party.”

Reportedly the restaurant was inspired by the hit movie, Mamma Mia!, which was inspired for its own part by the stage musical Mamma Mia!. Taking a full turn, that stage musical was, of course, inspired by the ABBA hit of the same name from back in 1975 (included as a music video at the end of this article).

As reported by USA Today, the group ABBA was originally composed of two married couples and the band broke up back in 1982 after nine years on tour, soon after each couple divorced. Fast forward to 2008, and all four of them appeared at the Mamma Mia! Premieres, then it took until now to get the whole group together again in public for the opening of the new restaurant.

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To all intents, the band members are still friendly and in contact with each other, but as for their musical side, that reportedly isn’t going to happen again.

When asked if they would ever consider performing together again, there was a negative response, with Andersson saying, “I don’t think so.”

Naturally all members of the band are looking a tad older, as they are now in their late-60s and early 70s and they did bring along their new partners in life to celebrate the opening of Ulvaeus’ dinner-theater restaurant.

Reportedly it costs around $160 a ticket (with extra for drinks) to enjoy a Mediterranean-style buffet in a Greek island setting, while enjoying and singing along to a four-hour musical show based on the famous ABBA hits.

As to the current activities of the ABBA members, reportedly these days Ulvaeus is a successful businessman and producer (and owner of his new Mamma Mia! theme restaurant of course), while Andersson is a songwriter/producer/composer.

Fältskog is continuing in the singing side of life as a solo singer and Lyngstand, now known as Frida rather than Anni-Frid, also had a solo singing career up until the time she married a Swedish-Swiss count. After her husband passed away, she reportedly moved in with a British viscount, pictured above.

Just for fun watch a music video of ABBA’s original “Mamma Mia!” to find out why the song inspired a musical stage performance, then a film and lastly a new restaurant in Stockholm.

[Photo ABBA in 1976 via Flickr by doblecachanilla/CC BY-SA 2.0]