Joepie, 1979: Despite the nerve-racking pace of the tour… ABBA rehearses for every show!

Rehearsal pictures of the 1979 tour, as published in Belgian magazine Joepie.

You may think that a group like ABBA only works in the evenings during a world tour, and that they are sitting around, doing nothing, at the hotel during the day. But then you are reckoning without your host. Being the perfectionists that they are, the four of them persist in having a soundcheck in the afternoon at the venue where they have to perform in the evening. Our photographer sneaked in the Vorst venue a couple of hours before showtime and made several exclusive pictures of the rehearsing ABBA-members.
“A soundcheck like this is really necessary,” Frida told us in between the proceedings. “Every venue is different, you have to adapt to that. Rushing into some unknown adventure, no, that’s not for us. No matter how tired we are, the soundcheck takes precedence. The things that we do? We sing several songs from our set list, then we discuss the results with the technicians and if needed, we change certain things. Making up a set list for the show, that’s part of the job as well. Because in one country, this record has been a huge hit, in another country, it’s that record. We always try to keep the soundcheck as short as possible, so that we can have some rest at the hotel, but most of the time, things get out of hand and we hastily eat a couple of sandwiches in the hall. A sacrifice? Actually, no, as weird as that may sound, we have a lot of fun during the soundcheck. Just like it’s the case with many other things, the preparation is almost equally pleasant as the job itself...”
Frida doesn’t have more time to talk, because duty calls. And while she is dancing and singing together with her friends in front of the empty chairs, we think to ourselves that it’s not a coincidence that ABBA has become such a major group...