ABBA Voyage at a glance

Show
ABBA Voyage
Venue
ABBA Arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Address
1 Pudding Mill Lane, London E15 2RU
Nearest station
Pudding Mill Lane (DLR) — directly opposite
Genre
Concert / digital avatar performance with live band
Running time
Approximately 1 hour 40 minutes, no interval
Age guidance
6+ (under-3s not admitted; under-16s must be accompanied; Dance Floor not recommended for under-12s)
Dates
Currently booking until 31 July 2026 (opened 26 May 2022)
Schedule
Performance schedule varies; typically Tuesday–Sunday with multiple shows per week
Price range
From £48 (typically £48–£191.25)
Concept & songs
Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (ABBA)
Director
Baillie Walsh
Choreography
Wayne McGregor CBE

Expert Review: ABBA Voyage at the ABBA Arena

4.9
★★★★★

LTH Expert Rating

Reviewed by the London Theatre Hub editorial team. Last updated: 12 May 2026.

The Verdict

ABBA Voyage should not work. The four people on stage are not on stage. The venue did not exist three years before the show opened. The technology is so new that the vocabulary for describing it has not really settled — they're not holograms, not exactly projections, not exactly avatars either. And yet inside that hexagonal arena, with a live 10-piece band playing at the side and an audience of three thousand on its feet by the fourth song, you spend ninety minutes forgetting all of it.

The cleverest decision the show makes is to commit fully to the conceit. The ABBAtars introduce themselves, banter between songs, react to the audience, and — crucially — feel like they're in the room with you. Industrial Light & Magic spent five weeks motion-capturing the real ABBA in 2021, and what's on screen is not impressionistic. It's the band as they were, performing with the same idiosyncrasies, the same body language, the same warmth they had on stage in 1977. The result is not nostalgia and not a tribute. It's a fourth thing that did not previously exist.

What Makes It Special

  • Industrial Light & Magic's motion capture. Five weeks of sessions in 2021 with all four real ABBA members produced the photorealistic ABBAtars. Projected onto a 65-million-pixel screen, the avatars perform with the precise mannerisms of the real band — Agnetha's hair-flick, Benny's grin, Frida's stillness. It is the most technically accomplished digital performance currently running anywhere.
  • A purpose-built venue. The ABBA Arena was designed from scratch by Stufish Entertainment Architects for this show alone. It is the world's largest demountable venue — a 3,000-capacity hexagonal building with a 70-metre clear-span auditorium and a roof structure weighing 744 tonnes, all engineered to give every seat a clear sightline to the stage and the surrounding screens.
  • A real, live 10-piece band. The musicians on stage are real, present and excellent. The interplay between the live players and the digital avatars is what stops the show feeling like a video — you can see and hear human musicians responding to the room, and the avatars respond to them. It is the live element that makes the whole thing feel like a concert rather than a screening.
  • The catalogue. ABBA's hit rate over a ten-year career is one of the most extraordinary in pop history. The setlist runs through Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, Waterloo, Knowing Me Knowing You, SOS, The Winner Takes It All, Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!, Super Trouper, Take a Chance on Me, Money Money Money, plus two newer tracks from the 2021 Voyage album. Recent setlist refreshes have added even more deep cuts.
  • Wayne McGregor's choreography. The Royal Ballet's Resident Choreographer designed the digital dance sequences — and watching avatars move with the precision of a contemporary dance company while singing 1976 pop hits is a particular and unrepeatable pleasure.

You'll love ABBA Voyage if you...

  • Have ever sung an ABBA song at full volume, anywhere, ever
  • Want a genuinely unrepeatable London experience that doesn't exist anywhere else
  • Like dancing — the Dance Floor is one of the best night-out floors in London
  • Are interested in the cutting edge of stagecraft and live performance technology
  • Are planning a celebration with friends or family — birthdays, hen dos and big-group nights are perfectly placed

It might not be for you if you...

  • Strongly prefer concerts with real performers physically in the room
  • Find ABBA's music unappealing (it is, fundamentally, an ABBA show)
  • Are bringing a child under 6 — the noise, lights and crowds are demanding
  • Prefer seated, contemplative shows — this is celebratory and loud
  • Are uncomfortable with crowds or standing for 100 minutes (book a seated section)

Best for

  • ABBA fans
  • Group celebrations
  • Hen and stag nights
  • Date night
  • Tourists wanting something unique
  • Music-tech enthusiasts
  • Families with kids 8+

Not the strongest fit for very young children, audiences seeking a quiet seated evening, or anyone uninterested in ABBA's catalogue.

Critical Reception

ABBA Voyage opened in May 2022 to almost universally enthusiastic reviews, with critics praising the technology, the live band, the venue, and — most consistently — the sheer emotional generosity of the show. Several publications described it as jaw-dropping or out of this world; The Guardian called it a triumph destined to be copied. The show has continued to receive strong notices on subsequent revisits as the setlist has expanded. Verified ratings from major UK publications:

  • The Guardian ★★★★★
  • The Mirror ★★★★★
  • The Times ★★★★
  • The Telegraph ★★★★
  • Evening Standard ★★★★
  • The Independent ★★★★
  • Time Out ★★★★

Source: published reviews of ABBA Voyage at the ABBA Arena, 2022 onwards. Setlist additions in 2025 have been positively received in revisit notices.

Everything You Need to Know

What happens at ABBA Voyage

ABBA Voyage is not a musical and not, strictly, a traditional concert. It is a digital concert residency — a custom-built immersive show in which the audience experiences ABBA performing in real time, except that the ABBA on stage are digital avatars rather than the physical band. There is no plot in the theatrical sense; the show is structured as a concert, with a setlist of hits, between-song chat, lighting transitions and a build to a euphoric finale.

Arrival and ambience

The arena complex includes a concourse with bars, food, merchandise and a guest lounge, all under the timber canopy of the venue's exterior. Most audiences arrive at least an hour before the show to take in the bar, get a drink, and absorb the room. There is no opening act — the show begins promptly with a video introduction featuring the real ABBA members.

The setlist

The setlist runs through ABBA's greatest hits in roughly chronological order, beginning with songs from the band's early years and building into the imperial-phase catalogue of the late 1970s. Setlists vary slightly performance to performance and have been refreshed since the show's third anniversary in 2025. Highlights typically include Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, Waterloo, Knowing Me Knowing You, SOS, The Winner Takes It All, Voulez-Vous, Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!, Lay All Your Love On Me, Does Your Mother Know, Summer Night City, and the two newer Voyage album tracks I Still Have Faith In You and Don't Shut Me Down.

Between songs

The ABBAtars introduce themselves, banter, reflect on the band's career, and engage with the audience between songs. The dialogue was written and performed by the four real ABBA members during the motion-capture sessions in 2021. The effect is genuinely warm — much warmer than reading "between-song banter from holograms" might suggest — and is one of the show's quiet triumphs.

The dance sequences

Wayne McGregor's choreography is at its most striking during the disco-era hits. The avatars dance with the precision of Royal Ballet dancers; the lighting in the room shifts dramatically; the dance floor surges. Several sequences also feature live dancers on stage alongside the avatars, adding a layer of physical presence to the digital performance.

The finale

The show builds to a euphoric closing run that culminates with Dancing Queen, Waterloo, and a final emotional moment with the avatars. Almost no-one leaves seated. The whole audience — Dance Floor and seated alike — is on its feet by the end. The combined effect of the technology, the music, the band and the room is genuinely moving in a way you do not fully expect going in.