Bjorn Again
An ABBA tribute act.
Bjorn Again celebrates 10 years of performing Abba's greatest hits this year. The band has notched more than 1,500 live shows in 40 countries worldwide and have become a household name across the world and just keep going on and on and on. For a while everyone mistook them for the Swedish Supergroup Abba since they looked, sounded and behaved so much like them, but of course they were not - they were Björn Again. They even received a telegram from Björn Ulvaeus of Abba in 1990 that read: "The best of luck. Anyone who looks like me ought to have a successful career"!
In 1988 Rod Woolley (now Leissle) had an idea which he hoped would capture the imagination of the people of Melbourne, enabling them to have a laugh and relive a magical era of musical history. Rod recruited musicians from previous bands he had been in and placed advertisements for the remaining members. The biggest problem was finding a shop that sold platform shoes!
1989 After rehearsing for 6 months the band did their first show at the "Tote" in Collingwood, Melbourne on May 6th 1989. Prior to this there had been no ABBA revival. Once word got around demand for shows escalated which made the band very busy especially in Melbourne and Sydney. Highlights were performing at a huge Dance Party at The Hordern Pavilion in Sydney and "The ABBA Event" at Melbourne's Capitol Theatre featuring "Abba The Movie" and the Abba fanclub exhibition.
1990 The year started off with a run of shows in Sydney in the sweltering heat, including an outdoor show at Circular Quay just next to the Sydney bridge. In fact one venue had to close down permanently due to the noise created by the 300 plus crowd outside the venue who couldn't get in ! The rest of 1990 consisted of non-stop multiple tours all around Australia. A highlight was a show Björn Again headlined called "Get Flared" at Selinas in Sydney. The promoter assembled the cream of the Australian 70's pop icon's including John Paul Young ("Love is in the Air"), Marty Rhone ("Denim and Lace"), and The Ted Mulry Gang ("Jump in my Car") - an unforgettable night witnessed by over 2500 people. The band also did their first tours of Perth and Adelaide and a tour of the NSW/Victorian snowfields.
Now for something not even Björn Again expected. Resulting from the curiosity of the Swedish press, especially the Swedish national paper "Expressen", the band were invited to Sweden to perform 4 songs live on the national Swedish variety TV show "Fredagsextra". It was during this show that they were presented with the now famous telegram from Bjorn Ulvaeus of Abba which read "It was always my belief that anyone who looks like me deserves to have a be successful career". This was followed by a 3 week national tour of Sweden, their first international tour outside Australia. The Swedish paper "Expressen" also invited the band down to Abba's Polar studios for a tour and some 'uncanny' photos, published the next day !
1991 After more gigging around Australia the band ventured to the U.K.. Their first ever UK show was at Wakefield's "Rooftop Gardens" on May 21st (the crowd went crazy!) and on May 22nd their first UK TV appearance - a live performance of "Dancing Queen" on "The Jonathon Ross Show". This TV appearance plus a string of sellout shows at London's Subterania launched the band into unprecedented demand. The number of requests for media interviews was staggering, even NME, one of the most cred street rock papers, published a 4 page spread on the band. The editor of Melody Maker, in one memorable editorial wrote: "Bjorn Again - what a bunch of c..ts ! The next person who comes up to me to do a Bjorn Again story gets it in the throat". After 2 months in the UK the band traveled to Sweden to do their second tour there. It was while the band were performing live on TV ("Natkaffe") that Stig Anderson (Abba's manager) was invited to comment on Björn Again. He said: "They (Björn Again) are very good ..... Abba will never reform - you had better see Björn Again !". He also announced that Abba were considering doing a "World wide Abba drive" which turned out to be "ABBA Gold", released the next year. After Sweden the band returned back to the UK and Ireland to play a string of large sellout shows. At London's Town and Country Club (now "The Forum") the show completely sold out weeks before and ticket touts were getting100 Pounds (US£150) ! On the way back from Europe to Australia the band did a run of club shows in Singapore.
1992 This was a Big Year! The band toured the Middle East in February, New Zealand in March and around Australia again in April before setting off to their new base in London. Tours included Germany, Belgium, France, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Estonia, Finland, Norway and Northern Ireland. With Björn Again leading the way, followed by the releases of Erasure's "Abba-esque" EP and "Abba Gold", Abbamania was in full swing. Not to be outdone, Björn Again clinched their own record deal and their first single "A Little Respect" (an Erasure hit done in the style of Abba) went straight in at 25 on the UK charts. The single was also released throughout Europe. Late August the band played at the UK Reading Festival courtesy of Nirvana who threatened the promoter they wouldn't perform unless Björn Again appeared. The 3 members of Nirvana had been big fans of the band, having been to shows in Australia whilst on tour. In fact Dave Grohl and Chris Novoselic turned up to the band's dressing room prior to the Reading performance and begged the band to perform "Smells Like Teen Spirit" ! In one of the last Nirvana interviews (on MTV US) just before Kurt Cobain's tragic death Dave Grohl can be seen wearing a Björn Again T-shirt. In November, during their 3rd Swedish tour, the band were invited by Benny and Bjorn of Abba to their Stockholm Studio for an amazing and bizarre meeting. In December Björn Again sold out a record seven consecutive shows at the Town and Country Club (now "The Forum"), played their biggest arena show - the Point Arena in Dublin to over 8000 people and celebrated the New Year, Scottish Hogmannay style, with 2 sellout shows at Glasgow's Barrowlands, one of the band's favorite venues. Were you there to see the band come back onto the stage for the encore in full Scottish kit, complete with kilts but still in platform shoes, to sing "Auld Ang Syne" and "The Flower of Scotland" accompanied by a lone piper ?
1993 The first part of 1993 was spent recording their debut album "Flashback" in studios around London. In the European summer Björn Again played at some of Europe's biggest Summer Rock Festivals including Denmark's "Roskilde", Switzerland's "Out on the Green", Ireland's "Feile", U.K.'s "Phoenix", Belgium's "Marktpop" and "Belga Beach" - alongside many of the biggest names in the world. Also played a show at the Montreaux Casino (on the Lake Geneva shoreline - Smoke on the Water etc etc), the Singapore "Sentosa Festival" (with Bon Jovi and Jimmy Barnes), an outdoor concert in Portugal, a national tour of Malaysia then back to UK and Scandinavia. Capped off the year by selling out their first Royal Albert Hall in London on December 9th followed by a string of shows at Dublin's Olympia Theatre - another favorite venue. Just after Christmas traveled to Estonia and Latvia on a bill with, of all bands, "Slade". After a show in Aberdeen the band performed their second Hogmannay show in a row at Barrowlands in Glasgow.
1994 In March the band recorded their live album at The London Astoria. In May Björn Again played at the Monaco Grand Prix drivers ball and at the Cannes Film Festival in support of the World Premiere of the Australian film "Muriel's Wedding". In July they played at London's Gay Pride '94 in front of an estimated 200,000 people, and represented Australia at a charity soccer match at Wembley Stadium. In October played the Antwerp Proms with a 200 piece philharmonic orchestra and choir, on the bill with Toto and Paul Young. In November did their first tour USA and Canada, playing at venues like The Fillmore in San Francisco, Metro in Chicago, Phoenix in Toronto and The Limelight in New York - to great crowd reactions. In November the band made history at the Prince's Trust Variety Concert by singing "Take a Chance on Me" live with each member at different locations in London, only possible using fibre optic technology. The feat was apparently recognized by the Guinness Book of Records! Performed their second sellout concert at the Royal Albert Hall and the day after their 1000th show at The Forum in London. Played at the tropical island resort of Phuket, Thailand on New Years Eve.
1995 In January traveled to the Middle East, their second tour there. The sheiks loved the band, especially the long white satin costumes ! After that the band was supposed to tour India but unfortunately this was cancelled due to local permit/regulation problems, which left some band members stranded in Bangkok for a few days waiting for available flights ! In February the band returned to Australia to perform their first tour in 3 years, appropriately called the "Home Swede Home" tour. After this the band performed a show in Bangkok on the way back to Europe to do a run of shows in the UK and a performance at the "Midtfyns" rock festival in Denmark on the bill with legendary James Brown. Shortly after Dorina Morelli ("Frida") who had been in the band since its inception decided it was time to pursue other musical interests and announced she was leaving. After auditions in both Melbourne and London Susie Webb, a London session/jingles singer, was asked to join. September saw the band do their second USA-Canadian tour followed by a return to the UK for their big Christmas run including a string of sellout shows in London, another big show at The Point in Dublin and a sellout show at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Björn Again saw in the New Year at a very festive show at The Luton Palace, just north of London.
1996 The band decided to take a rest for the first half of 1996 despite offers to tour USA, Canada and South Africa. May and June saw the departures of long time band members Gavin Charles, Janette Stuart and Peter Ryan. After a meticulous search in London new members were found and touring started early July with a performance headlining "Gay Pride '96" at Clapham Common in London to an estimated 300,000 people. After a run of private shows including playing at the UK Premiere of 'Independence Day' the band began their theatre tour of the UK from September to early December which saw most shows sell out in advance. Mid October saw Susie Webb return to the session singing world and Dorina Morelli (the band's original Frida) return - to the delight of many fans.
Other highlights of 1996 were meeting 'Fergie' in Dublin, Metallica in Birmingham; a trip to New York early in December for a private show in an exclusive Manhattan restaurant; performing at the Duke of Edinburgh Awards in London; and playing to the smallest audience in years (a private Christmas party in Bournemouth for 50 people). The band finished off the year with a string of sellout concerts in London and Scotland and near sellout shows in Dublin and Belfast. Bjorn Again saw in the New Year with a concert at the Blackheath Concert Hall in London to a packed house of rowdy revelers.
1997 The year began with some private shows around the UK and in Spain followed by a 2 week tour of the north east region of USA and Canada in January, taking in cities including New York, Boston, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Pittsburgh and Washington. In February the band performed some shows in Europe, the first for quite a while, in Holland, Germany and Switzerland.
1998 Soon to be updated!
