Australian ABBA tribute band, BABBA, played an incredible tribute performance of the band in front of an unlikely guest, Benny Andersson himself.
It surely must be every tribute bands dream to play a tribute song in front of the very people they dedicate their craft to, right? If you’re going to be performing someone else’s songs for a living, you’d like them to at least acknowledge how much of a good job you’re doing.
ABBA tribute bands and covers are aplenty, and it really isn’t a surprise given the gravity of such an incredible band with limitless amounts of hits under their belt.
But Melbourne-based ABBA tribute band, BABBA, was one of the lucky groups to have been able to play for an ABBA member themselves. Yep, Benny Andersson was present in the audience and even complimented the group on their striking resemblances.
While playing at Hong Kong’s Happy Valley Races last week, the group (celebrating their 25th anniversary) noticed a loud roar from the crowd during the first chorus of ‘The Winner Takes It All’, and that is when they saw Andersson, who was a guest of the Swedish Consulate at the event, approaching the stage.
‘We beamed big smiles as we looked across in awe. He beamed back and we sang and played our hearts out for him,” BABBA’s Michael Ingvarson (aka Benny) said.
“Then he came up on stage, shook hands with us all and kissed the girls. ‘That was pretty good!’ he said and then with a bit of a wink he said to me ‘I like the way you look!’
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“We posed for the cameras together, waved to the Swedish part of the crowd and chatted some more about BABBA’s story.
“What an honour it was to play for him, to chat with him and to be part of this magic night!”
‘The Winner Takes It All’ by ABBA
