1970/71
The tours
Festfolk – BAB – Set lists – The concerts
Unfortunately there is only rudimentary information about the concerts during these years.
1970 – Premiere at Famagusta
The live premiere of “ABBA” was abroad: in 1970, from April 5 to 16, all four were on vacation in Cyprus. They had an advertisement deal for these holidays with the travel agency Fritidsresor and part of it was a concert for Swedish UN
soldiers. Rehearsals were done on the balconies of ABBA’s appartments at Twiga Tower. Since 1974 it is part of the “forbidden area” and therefore abandoned.
None of the ABBA members seems to remember any part of the set list for this concert of about 15-30 minutes. It presumably included a mix of various Swedish songs. Probably two songs were done together as ‘pre-ABBA’.
1970/71 – Festfolk
In late 1970 and in the spring of 1971 Agnetha, Frida, Benny and Björn toured with a cabaret show, Festfolk, accompanied by the dance band The Lolas. This show was about 45 minutes. ‘Festfolk’ means ‘party people’. There also was a joke about this name because when written as ‘Fästfolk’ it means ’engaged couples’. Rehearsals for this show began in September 1970 at the hotel (?) Sankt Jörgen.
Before the start of the tour they appeared on the radio show Våra favoriter (taped September 29, broadcast October 3) where they performed Frida’s Barnen sover, Agnetha’s Som ett eko and Björn & Benny’s Hej gamle man! from their upcoming solo album. On October 21 or 22 the TV programme Five Minutes Saloon was taped (broadcast December 13) with them performing on the songs Red Roses For A Blue Lady (chorus only) and California Here I Come. And on October 29-30 this was followed by the TV show I stället för Tarzan (broadcast October 31) possibly performing Hej gamle man!.
They usually performed on or around the weekends. According to Frida the audience varied from 14 to about 400. Especially the Festfolk shows were pretty disappointing and are remembered by the ABBA members as a big desaster, with people ordering their meals and raising their glasses to each other during the show.
This is the low end of the collaboration between the four of us. [...] Because we were not doing what we were supposed to do. We were singing other people’s songs in a kind of cabaret act. Benny and I were doing a number where we supposed to be two little boys. [...] It was embarrassing, but it was after that tour that we realized, our own songs that's we should do.
Björn in Sunday Night Show Special: Agnetha speaks, Channel 7, Australia, May 2013
It was not a success, generally comprising of a thin spread of vapid jokes and other people’s songs.
Agnetha, As I Am, p. 37
Luckily, the show was never recorded. This was when we learned exactly what we should not be doing.
Björn, Bright Lights, Dark Shadows 2014, p.150
[Hej gamle man!] got absolutely the best audience reaction of all the numbers in the show. That’s when we really knew that we should concentrate on doing our own material in the future – it was a kind of turning point.
Björn, The Complete Recording Sessions 2017, p. 32
A following summer tour with all four together may have been dropped because of their experiences with spending so much time together so closely.
It’s not a good idea to both work and live together. It’s easier to get in a bad mood. We sat in the car together, dined together, performed together, checked in the hotel together. It was just too much.
Frida, Bright Lights, Dark Shadows 2014
I guess, it’s just too much, to both work and live together. You get on each other’s nerves in the end. Even if you don’t want to have a fight, you still do sometimes, and it’s hard to go onstage and look happy afterwards.
Agnetha, Bright Lights, Dark Shadows 2014
1971 – The BAB tour
While Frida toured with Lasse Berghagen from May 1971 on, Agnetha, Björn and Benny did an own folkpark tour with 60 shows, starting on April 30. They performed cover versions and several of Agnetha’s songs during a show lasting for about 30-45 minutes, accompanied by Göran Lagerberg (bass) and Kjell Jeppson (drums).
It’s a charming show from the trio Agnetha, Björn and Benny. They are good on stage and Björn and Agnetha seem very loving as a couple. In total there are ten songs which are very chart-oriented, although some of the songs are quite weak. Most memorable is a superb version of Graham Nash’s Teach Your Children and two amusing sketches. Björn Ulvaeus still sings with a little nasal sound which is characteristic of him, whilst Miss Fältskog is still limited vocally. I’m sure that will change over the years...
Hans Fridlund in Expressen (according to ABBA The Book p. 53-54)
The show is sincere, simple and very “hit parade”. Agnetha Fältskog has more stage presence and sings more in tune now. Björn Ulvaeus got lots of applause for Hej gamle man and for his duets. As for Benny Andersson, he’s a real stage animal these days. But it looks like they’ve gone for the easy option. It’s a shame they don’t put more into different songs. Benny is one of our rare real composeres.
Bengt Malin in Aftonbladet (according to ABBA The Book p. 53-54)
Inbetween the tour (on July 6) Agnetha and Björn got married, Björn & Benny worked on other projects and Agnetha recorded her album När en vacker tanke blir en sang.
- Set list Festfolk
Set list Festfolk
The first Festfolk shows (around 45 minutes) included the following songs:
- opening: Skriva låter (“Writing Songs”, a medley of pre-group songs written by Björn, Benny and Agnetha)
- Arga unga män, förenen eder!
(sung by Björn & Benny, a medley of “The Internationale” and other anthems and protest songs with altered lyrics by Bosse Carlgren)
- Barnen sover (sung by Frida)
- Tre kvart från nu (sung by Frida)
- Vi är väninnor (sung by Agnetha & Frida)
- Som ett eko (?, sung by Agnetha)
- plus other songs (Vem kan segla förutan vind ?)
- final: Tyck om varann (new lyrics to Hej, gamle man! by Bosse Carlgren, sung by all)
by the end of November this was replaced with the orignal version of Hej, gamle man!
(mainly based on information in ABBA The Book and Bright Lights, Dark Shadows)
A couple of months after my début as a lyricist for stage shows I was contacted by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus and asked to write material together with Peter Himmelstrand for a show with four young musicians who already had made names for themselves. Benny from rock band the Hep Stars, Björn from the folk group Hootenanny Singers, and the singers Anni Frid and Agnetha who had great solo careers well under way. [...] I can still remember the way Björn and Benny looked when they performed “Arga unga män... / Angry Young Men, Unite!” dressed as small children from a daycare centre. A couple of years laters acts like this one would be impossible to furnish ABBA with, but it worked for Festfolk.
Bosse Carlgren
- Set list Agnetha, Björn & Benny
Set list ABB
Apparently there was no fix setlist for the 1971 concerts by Agnetha, Björn and Benny.
Included were these songs:
- Hej, gamle man!
- cover version of Teach Your Children (original by Graham Nash)
- Arga unga män (Angry Young Men) – comic sketch by Bosse Carlgren
- Koshenkorva (name of a Finnish vodka brand) – comic sketch by Lars Berghagen
- Finska barnvisa (‘Finnish Children’s Song’)
- En liten sång om daghem (‘A Small Song about Day Nursery’)
- Agnetha’s Jag var så kär (shortened) and En sång och en saga
- songs from Agnetha’s upcoming album När en vacker tanke blir en sang which she recorded during the tour:
- Mitt sommarland
- Jag vill att du ska bli lycklig
- Kungens vaktparad
- Han lämnar mig för att komma till dig
- Om tarar vore guld
- Tagen kan ka igen
- Manga gänger an
- Kanske var min kind lite het
- Benny & Björn’s song Svea
Total length of set was about 10-12 songs with about 30-45 minutes
Musicians: Kjell Jeppson (drums), Göran Lagerberg (bass)
- Links & sources
Links & sources
- Bosse Carlgren’s site
- Piteå Tidningen (Sweden), March 28, 1970 – Anni-Frid Lyngstad - Forum Älvsbyn 1970
- Piteå Tidningen (Sweden), July 8, 1971 – ABBA-Frida & Lasse Berghagen - parkkväll i Piteå 1971, article about Frida's tour
- Mix (The Netherlands), 1977 – How the first performance by Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid turned into an enormous failure
- Sunday Night/Sunday Night Special, Channel 7, Australia, 2013/2017 – TV interviews
- Youtube channel Bobby’s Brother – ABBA’s Concert Tours - Part 1: 1970-1973 (A Mini-Documentary)
The Concerts
Several venues could be traced by old newspaper snippets or by media reports found online. Nevertheless these hints often are very few. Therefore information in many cases is incomplete or requires further confirmation.
Click on an entry to open/close a window with details.
- 1970, April 10 – Famagusta (Cyprus)
Famagusta, Peroquet night club
Of course this concert wasn’t part of any tour, but it was the first concert ever featuring the four members together.
Facts & trivia
- All four were on vacation in Cyprus from April 5 to 16, 1970. They had an advertisement deal for these holidays with the travel agency Fritidsresor and part of it was a concert for Swedish UN soldiers. Rehearsals were done on the balconies of ABBA’s appartments at Twiga Towe in Varosha. Since 1974 it is part of the “forbidden area” and therefore abandoned.
- None of the ABBA members seems to remember any part of the set list for this concert of about 15-30 minutes. It presumably included a mix of their Swedish songs. Probably two songs were done as ‘pre-ABBA’. Further details are unknown.
As I worked with Fritidsresor in Cyprus at that time I remember it very well.
The four of the later ABBA group came to entertain the Swedish UN batallion. [...]
I was asked to be the conférencier and it worked out well. The four did their performance very well and when all seemed to end I turned to the four and asked them, if they could do anything together. They talked to each other and finally they came up to perform all four together. It was fantastic to listen to all four of them together. All of us loved this performance.
The last part when they were all 4 together was the best part. The Swedish UN battalion were cheering loudly
Goran Wrambeck, personal information
At the end it was like a free holiday for a week. You sing a couple of songs every night, you don’t have to pay for the trip. So we said, ok, yeah, let’s do that.
It [hearing our voices singing together for the first time] wasn’t that great. I mean the girls were always good singers, they were.
Benny on Sunday Night, Channel 7, Australia, 2017
Links
- Cyprus Mail, April 5, 2020 – Fifty years since Abba came to play …. in Varosha by Jean Christou
- LiFO (Greek) – Famagusta: The famous Perroquet Night Club, today, in the ghost town
- Bobby’s Brother – ABBA’s 1st Ever Concert: Cyprus, 1970 – Someone WAS THERE!
- 1970, early (?) – Åre (Sweden)
Åre, Hotell Granen
Venue according to abbaofficial on Instagram:
Looks like ABBA made one performance in the basement, beginning of 1970. Does any of you have information about this?
Has the ABBA story to be re-written regarding their first performance or would early 1971 just be more likely?
- 1970, October 31 onwards – Gothenburg (Sweden)
Gothenburg, Trägår’n
Facts & trivia
- Show time: 16.00-16.45 (begin may have differed)
- Audience: low at the first shows
The premiere, at Tradgar’n restaurant in Gothenburg, saw a few scattered couples at tables in an otherwise empty auditorium. It could have meant a premature end for the budding ABBA quartet.
As I Am, p. 37
What is the worst job you’ve done?
A cabaret act with Agnetha, Frida and Benny. It was in a nightclub in Gothenburg and one night we had seven in the audience. It was before we found out that we were a pop group.
Björn in an interview with The Guardian, June 20, 2020
...although the opening performance of Festfolk attracted benevolent reviews, audiences decided to give this one a miss. There was something inherently wrong in the set-up: the four members were certainly popular and knew how to perform a song onstage, but none of them seemed comfortable delivering a joke or performing comedy skits. The natur of the restaurant audience didn’t make their task easier. “It’s a pretty undemanding crowd, but they eat and drink during the show,” said Björn. “Just when you feel that you’ve reached the audience, someone [raises a glass to his dinner companions and] says: ‘Cheers!’”
Bright Lights, Dark Shadows 2014, p.149/150
Set list
- opening: Skriva låter (“Writing Songs”, a medley of pre-group songs written by Björn, Benny and Agnetha)
- Arga unga män, förenen eder!
(sung by Björn & Benny, a medley of “The Internationale” and other anthems and protest songs with altered lyrics by Bosse Carlgren)
- Barnen sover (sung by Frida)
- Tre kvart från nu (sung by Frida)
- Vi är väninnor (sung by Agnetha & Frida)
- final: Tyck om varann (Hej, gamle man! with new lyrics by Bosse Carlgren, sung by all)
by the end of November this was replaced with the orignal version of Hej, gamle man!
- Som ett eko (?, sung by Agnetha)
- plus other songs (Vem kan segla förutan vind ?)
Links
- 1970, November 29 – Gothenburg (Sweden)
Gothenburg, Pettersson & Katz
Facts & trivia
- “Välkommen till Kungstorget” – a balcony cabaret show at the Pettersson & Katz fashion store together with
Lill-Babs, Siljabloo Nilsson and Lasse Dahlqvist, the audience was standing on the street below.
- Begin: 13.00
- Audience: 15,000
Abba uppträder på Pettersson & Katz balkong en kall novemberdag 1970 tillsammans med Lill-Babs, Siljabloo Nilsson och Lasse Dahlqvist med sina luciaflickor.
Description of a picture showing Agnetha and Benny, listed at the Swedish photo agency Kamerareportage.
- 1970, December 1-20 – Stockholm (Sweden)
Stockholm, Strands Cabaret
Facts & trivia
For the concerts at Strands Cabaret in Stockholm the original version of Hej gamle man was added to the set list which was a big success.
We included that song in our wretched show when we took it to the Strand in Stockholm and it got absolutely the best audience reaction of all the numbers in the show. That’s when we really knew that we should concentrate on doing our own material in the future – it was a kind of turning point.
Björn in ABBA. The Complete Recording Sessions, p. 12
Then we decided to take our show to Strand in Stockholm, and started using Björn and Benny’s Hej gamle man (Hello Old Man), from their album Lycka (Happiness) [...]. A song from Frida’s album, Tre kvart fran nu (Three Quarters Of An Hour From Now) lifted things, too. Frida and I really pushed Hej gamle man and it became a hit as soon as it came out.
Agnetha in As I Am, p. 37
Set list
- opening: Hej, gamle man!
- Skriva låter (medley of pre-group songs written by Björn, Benny and Agnetha)
- Arga unga män, förenen eder!
(sung by Björn & Benny, to the tune of the Internationale and other anthems and protest songs)
- Barnen sover (sung by Frida)
- Tre kvart från nu (sung by Frida)
- Vi är väninnor (sung by Agnetha & Frida)
- plus other songs (Vem kan segla förutan vind ?)
Reviews
Santa Claus on the nice hook
“Party people” is called December’s cabaré at restaurant Strand in Stockholm. Fortunately, fortunate people are happy – or should be – fortunately, the two couples who show this show are: Annifrid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus. So inside watery happy. There is a heavy air of Santa Claus over the fine gold hook.
Had this show continued a quarter of an hour, I would have needed a bittern to not shout loudly. It is a shame, for all four of the people involved should have much more to give than to stand as a shovel gets in this idyll as gall-brittle. Though Björn and Benny have some of their own songs, and it helps up some, but not everything.
For this reason, you become so happy – a meal, it is obviously infecting: grateful is a better word – for Annifrid Lyngstad’s “Three quarters from now”, a tournament on the endless theme “the second woman to the man
gone”. It could have become sticky and clumsy, but instead it was unsentimental and delicate in the right way.
An excellent interpretation – Annifrid Lyngstad grows here several inches on the stage – of an excellent text, by Peter Himmelstrand. And a brave grip on building the number of an old piano piece by Anton Rubinstein,
1829-94.
The same brave joke takes for the background orchestra The Lolas. No, this is not a background orchestra: it has been a long time since I heard such a versatile and broadly impressive orchestra of this kind. The popular musical sector: jazz, Glenn Miller, evergreens, ultramodern bluespop etc., this band and Annifrid Lyngstad were the evening’s hold.
Dagens Nyheter (?) – December 3, 1970
More courage and sting
“Festivals” they call themselves – four young people who joined forces for a show at Strand’s cabaret. The couples are Agneta Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus, Annifrid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson. They perform themselves sweet, young and unmade. Something really bite in part will not be done yet, but it is not directly boring either. It is the old common story that it takes a certain time before the really young people in the game learn that show business is among the hardest that exists and that basket show business is even more difficult.
They are on the right path, I think, when they mix up the sweet of young or bittersweet love filled with the hands of more handsome songs such as “Angry Young Men Unite You” which is really about the very small children’s problems with kindergartens and anything else. Sometimes they understand from their arrangement that they feel more in music than they dare to show. A little more courage and thus much more training in the scenic performance! I think so. But the audience was completely satisfied with the whole thing as it was and that is the main thing. Until further notice.
Ulla-Britt Edberg – December 3, 1970
- 1971, January 6 – Gothenburg (Sweden)
Gothenburg, Konserthuset
Facts & trivia
- performance at the Salvation Army meeting
- ABBA didn't charge anything, they only got some money for their travel costs
- as Hej gamle man was inspired by the story of a salvation army member in Västervik some salvation army members joined ABBA for the chorus.
It was an incredibly warm and saturated atmosphere when the song was performed in the context and many were touched by the performance and the background to the song.
Sven Nilsson,former national youth secretary
Set list
- Hej gamle man
- Vem kan segla förutan vind (Who can sail without wind)
- Vi Är Väninnor ?
- Som Ett Eko ?
- and others? – usual set list as in the Festfolk shows?
Links
- 1971, January / February – Sweden
January/February 1971
Facts & trivia
- some concerts in Sweden by Agnetha, Björn and Benny only
- Gävle, Centralhotellet (February)
Söderhamn, Stadt
Sundsvall, Strand
Umeå, Dragonen
Örnsköldsvik, Stadt
Luleå, Savoy
- 1971, March 14 – Hammarby (Sweden)
Hammarby, OK Biva-Huset service station
Facts & trivia
- Agnetha, Frida, Björn and Benny
- Begin: 16.30
Set list
- probably similiar to their other concerts
- 1971, April 29 (?) – Borlänge / Avesta (Sweden)
Borlänge
according to Dagens Nyheter, April 24, 1971
Facts & trivia
Avesta
according to Dagens Nyheter, April 24, 1971
Facts & trivia
- 1971, April 30 – Lidköping / Alingsås (Sweden)
Lidköping
Facts & trivia
- first concert of the Agnetha, Björn & Benny tour
Alingsås, Alingsåsparken
Facts & trivia
- Begin: before midnight
- audience: 900
Review
Four became three
Agneta Fältskog, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, Alingsås and Lidköping
The cute quartet who, in autumn and winter, pleased the crowd around Sweden has now burst a bit: Annifrid Lyngstad travels this summer with the Lasse Berghagen Show instead. But the other three hold together. Most of the material has been heard before, only a new song has been added for this tour, a kind of Swedish song called “Svea”.
The show is quite simple: in half an hour, the trio is able to tear off eight songs in a fairly quick succession, with Björn Ulvaeus as a small-talking central and midnight figure.
Benny and Björn have, with faith in their habits, picked up several own songs. Otherwise, it is easily mixed, by, among others, Lasse Berghagen and Graham Nash. And a potpourri with some of Agnetha Fältskog’s
successes. Her voice, however, is a bit difficult to achieve sometimes.
Competences consist of Kjell Jeppson, drums, and on bass Göran Lagerberg, born Tages and Blond. In Alingsås about 900 people listened. Everyone participated in the notes, especially when it was time for “Hej, gamle man”.
The trio travels this summer only during the weekends. Some 60 places are visited.
Dagens Nyheter, May 2, 1971
- 1971, May 8 – Örebro (Sweden)
Örebro, Sommaren Parken
Facts & trivia
- 1971, May 9 – Degerfors (Sweden)
Degerfors
Facts & trivia
- 1971, May 14 – Gothenburg (Sweden)
- 1971, May 15 (?) – Åhus (Sweden)
Åhus, Folkets Park
This venue still needs to be confirmed.
Facts & trivia
- Information refers to a picture of Agnetha leaving a tour bus. The description says ‘May 1970’, so either this is wrong and it actually must be 1971 or it was a solo concert. Articles by Kristianstadsbladet mention a concert of ABBA at Åhus though.
Links
- 1971, May 22 – Gävle / Östervåla (Sweden)
Gävle
Facts & trivia
Östervåla
- 1971, May 29 – Torsby (Sweden)
- 1971, unknown dates – Kristianstad / Karlshamn / Linköping (Sweden)
Kristianstad
Facts & trivia
Karlshamn
Facts & trivia
Linköping
Facts & trivia
Tierp
Facts & trivia
- a Thursday during July-August
- 1971, June 4 – Simontorp / Norrköping (Sweden)
Simontorp, Parken
Norrköping, Parken,
- 1971, June 5 – Huskvarna / Hultsfred (Sweden)
- 1971, June 15 – Stockholm (Sweden)
Stockholm, Skansen (Solliden)
Facts & trivia
- Agnetha, Björn and Benny performed for the televison programme Midsommardans fran Solliden shown on
June 25 by SVT2.
- Mitt sommarland
- Jag vill att du ska bli lycklig
- Kungens vaktparad
- Begin of complete event: 20.30
Recordings
- 1971, June 26 – Säter (Sweden)
Säter, Säterdalens Folkpark
Facts & trivia
- concert by Agnetha, Björn and Benny
- Begin: 24.00
- 1971, June 27 – Boras / Västergötland (Sweden)
Västergötland
Facts & trivia
Boras (?)
Facts & trivia
- Agnetha, Björn and Benny
- Begin: 24.00
- 1971, July 10 – Mora / Rättvik (Sweden)
Mora, Folkpark
Rättvik, Folkpark
- 1971, July 4 – Kolbäck (Sweden)
- 1971, July 10/11 – Stockholm area (Sweden)
Stockholm area, unknown venues
Facts & trivia
- Agnetha, Björn and Benny
- three concerts
- Agnetha’s Manga gänger an added to set list
- 1971, July 12 – Västervik (Sweden)
- 1971, July 16-18 – Uppsala area: Skutskär / Gävle (?) (Sweden)
Uppsala area, unknown venues
Skutskär one of these venues?
Skutskär, Holmarna Folkets Park
Facts & trivia
- Agnetha, Björn and Benny
- according to Arbetarbladet (April 11, 2012) ABBA performed here as Festfolk
- 1971, July 31 – Nyköping (Sweden)
Nyköping
Facts & trivia
- Agnetha, Björn and Benny
- Begin: evening
- 1971, July/August – Tierp (Sweden)
- 1971, August 1 – Stockholm (Sweden)
Stockholm, Kungsträdgarden
Facts & trivia
- Agnetha, Björn and Benny
- Begin: 19.30
- 1971, August 6 - Ängelholm (Sweden)
- 1971, August – West Sweden
West Sweden
Facts & trivia
- Agnetha, Björn and Benny
- concerts in the areas of Göteborg and Uddevalla
- details unknown
- 1971, August – Odensjö / Gränna (Sweden)
Odensjö
Facts & trivia
Gränna
Facts & trivia
- 1971, August 19 – Stockholm (Sweden)
Stockholm, Malmen club
Facts & trivia
- Agnetha, Björn and Benny
- Showtime for the complete event was from 21.00 until 2.30
- 1971, August 27 – Västerås (Sweden)
- 1971, August 28 – Köping / Eskilstuna (Sweden)
Köping
Facts & trivia
Eskilstuna, Folkets Park
Facts & trivia
