ABBA tribute to play Ulumbarra

AUSTRALIAN tribute act Björn Again are taking the stage in Bendigo.

Part of a nationwide tour, the show celebrates ABBA’s greatest hits, including chart-toppers like Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, and Waterloo, delivering an experience filled with infectious energy and nostalgia, promises founder and manager John Tyrrell.

“It’s essentially high-quality reproduction of the ABBA music, all the costumes, plus we add a very healthy dose of satire and parody, because I think if you’re going to copy a band you’ve got to work out how to take the piss out of it,” he said.

Tyrrell said the band has been doing shows in Bendigo since the 90s, and they “had to” come again. His mum went to boarding school here in the 1940s and he said he feels an “affinity” for the area.

Wind back to where it all began in the 1980s, Tyrrell was a research engineer with a large mining company when he, a drummer, and a muso friend decided to try parody ABBA and got themselves booked at the Tote Hotel in Melbourne.

“I said let’s do an indy-grungy gig, rather than a cabaret-type gig, because we were rocky sort of sort of guys,” he said.

“We did, it was a full house, people went nuts, and we thought hang on I think we’re onto something there.

“Three weeks later we did another gig and there was a line down the road, and then all of a sudden all the venues in Melbourne wanted us, and honestly we haven’t stopped until now.”

To date, he said Björn Again has performed in 120 countries in about 7000 shows across 34 years.

The band plays at the Ulumbarra Theatre on Saturday, 10 June.