ABBA blog

On the weekend of 5–6 July, we had an amazing experience guiding a group of ABBA fans through Stockholm, in the footsteps of Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Frida. It was my privilege to not only show our participants the places where some of the most important events in ABBA history took place, but also tell the stories associated with those locations, including a few unexpected anecdotes. With the lovely Elisabeth along to keep track of us all and make sure everyone got on and off the bus, and photographer Urban capturing everything that was going on, I couldn’t have wished for a better team.

Among the undisputed highlights on our venture were Julius Kronberg’s studio, where the atmospheric album sleeve photo for The Visitors was captured, and the Soundtrade and Atlantis studios, where ABBA recorded about half of their 1972–1982 output. At Atlantis we were also entertained by guitarist Finn Sjöberg, who showed us how his guitar part on Mamma Mia was put together, and enthralled us by playing the live concert favourite Intermezzo No. 1. A truly magical experience.

We also saw the houses where the ABBA members lived on the island of Lidingö during the group’s heyday; the office buildings where ABBA and their manager Stig Anderson drew up the plans for conquering the world; and other iconic places in the group’s history, such as the Royal Swedish Opera, where they famously performed Dancing Queen on the eve of the wedding between Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. In all we covered well over 30 places on our two-day journey!

I cannot stress enough how much fun we’re having on these outings, and how visibly moved our delightful participants were by seeing all these places. It’s through experiencing this together with a group of people, who are all fascinated by exactly the same places and stories, that our tour of ABBA’s Stockholm truly comes alive.

We'll be doing it again on the weekend of 20–21 September. Learn more and book your ticket at toursforfans.com.