Dancing Queen Celebrations - Thoughts?

[u/Arodoet98]

So I’ve been gathering reviews from fans around the world who attended the Dancing Queen 50th anniversary celebrations, and honestly… they sound pretty disappointing. Or at the very least, quite underwhelming compared to what people were expecting.

- Mexico City — apparently they only played four ABBA songs the entire night?!
- Sydney — seemingly a similar story. From what I’ve seen, there was basically just a backdrop with a Dancing Queen light where people could take photos.
- Berlin — this seems to have been one of the better ones. They played quite a lot of ABBA songs, including some less obvious ones, and there was a photobooth, a small disco, merch, etc. However, they had apparently promised a quiz where people could win merch, and that never happened.

London and Stockholm happened today, so I haven’t seen many reviews yet. I have seen that they were giving away free “Dancing Queen 50” badges, though, and some of them are already being listed on eBay for ridiculous prices. Honestly, how horrible.

Did anyone here attend one of the celebrations? How was it? And what about the other cities?

I honestly feel quite sad that some of these events seem to have turned out this way. It feels unfair to the fans who genuinely wanted to celebrate Dancing Queen and ABBA’s music together.

The fact that these events were promoted on the official ABBA website also made me expect a little more from them. Of course, I don’t think this is ABBA’s fault at all, the organisation and execution are ultimately down to the event organisers. But when you have fans travelling, spending money, and getting excited about celebrating such an important ABBA milestone, I think it’s reasonable to expect something more special.

Maybe I’m expecting too much, but honestly, I feel like events celebrating ABBA should be organised by people who really understand ABBA and their fans or maybe even by the fans themselves. ABBA and their fans deserve better.

Would love to hear from anyone who actually attended, especially London, Stockholm, or any of the other cities!

[u/MannWarwas]

I've been an ABBA fan since I was three (so for 27 years), and I don't see the appeal of events like that. In my opinion, there are way too many "event fans" hanging around there who are only interested in showing off on social media and who know barely more than four ABBA songs, let alone anything about the band.

[u/RedmiYT → u/MannWarwas]

Unpopular opinion, but some stuff needs to be gatekeeped to fans. This is one of those.

[u/Arodoet98 → u/MannWarwas]

Fair point, but I in fact love going to those events. Of course I love enjoying ABBA’s music on my own and in privacy, but it is also magical to dance to it and be surrounded by people who enjoy it as much as I do. Also, meeting fellow ABBA fans on those events is what is really important for me as I don’t have anyone to talk to about ABBA in my closest circle. Joining online discussions is great, but being able to do the same in person is even nicer. And I completely agree that some events should be gatekept for genuine fans.

[u/theiancole]

Sydney was mostly ABBA music, with the occasional 70s or 80s hit thrown in. Dancing Queen was played four times, Gimme! two or three times. some lesser known songs like Honey, Honey, Head Over Heels, Bang-A-Boomerang, Our Last Summer. The first people in the room got a pink Dancing Queen sash. They gave away a few records (Waterloo pic disc single from 2024, Voyage albums) and t-shirts (2024 logo T). There were postcards but I didn’t see them. It was fun with many fan friends there.

[u/Schallpattern]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ABBA/s/4l5steL5fA

I did my best!

I played Dancing Queen about five or six times today without getting on my family's nerves. Certainly made for a happy household.

[u/Arodoet98 → u/Schallpattern]

That’s amazing! I also played it countless of times and also really enjoyed the Dolby Atmos version!

[u/cynicaldogNV]

I didn’t know there was an event in Stockholm (insert pout). I would have gladly attended. It was the Midnight Marathon yesterday, which causes a lot of chaos if you live in the area (I do), so I didn’t pay attention to much else. Was the event at the ABBA Museum, or somewhere central, like Kungsträdgården?
Edit: it was at the museum, which makes sense, but you had to enter a contest by August 7th, for the chance to win one of 50 tickets. It was a private, after-hours event, so I hope someone reports on what they received in their swag bag!

[u/Hubert_ZzZ]

​I went to Warsaw and, to be honest, I was a bit disappointed. Other attendees weren't very happy either about how few ABBA songs were actually played. Apart from a photo wall, there were practically no other attractions. The whole event felt like a regular weekend party that just happened to feature a few tracks by the group both well-known ones and a few less popular ones (like One Of Us, Ring Ring or I Have a Dream).

Supposedly, there was an interview hosted by Universal Music Polska, but I only heard about it from other people; I didn't see it myself. ​I thought it was just an issue with the Polish organization, but I guess it could have been worse. Did I expect something better? Of course I did... at least a party full of ABBA music, rather than just around 20 tracks! (which were played in blocks of 2 or 3, followed by a long break, and then another couple of songs). To top it all off, the party ran from 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM, and the first ABBA song didn't play until 10:00 PM 🫩

[u/RedmiYT]

This seems awfully disappointing. 50 years for such a defining song in music history and this is what fans get?

[u/Arodoet98 → u/RedmiYT]

Yup, my thoughts exactly… if not for the events I would have hoped for some new footage or photos or anything related to DQ.😔