Live_at_Wembley_Arena Knowpia

Live at Wembley Arena
Live at Wembley Arena
Live album by ABBA
Released	26 September 2014
Recorded	10 November 1979
Venue	Wembley Arena ; (London, England)
Genre	Pop
Length	109:57
Label	Polar ; Universal
Producer	Ludvig Andersson
ABBA chronology

Live at Wembley Arena is an album of live recordings by Swedish pop group ABBA, released by Polar Music on 26 September 2014, on 2 CD, 3 LP and digital format.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]

The album, produced by Ludvig Andersson, includes the complete concert at London's Wembley Arena (now The OVO Arena, Wembley) on 10 November 1979, the last of a six-night residency at the famous venue.

It features most of ABBA's hit singles and album favourites from their first eight years as a unit, as well as the never-before-released "I'm Still Alive", written by Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus.

Overview edit

ABBA played to packed crowds at London's Wembley Arena from 5 to 10 November, as part of their North American and European Tour of 1979, also known as ABBA: The Tour. Band members Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog agreed that those concerts were the highlight of the tour. Music stars such as The Clash's Joe Strummer and Ian Dury were among the audience.

Several songs from the Wembley concerts were filmed for the TV special ABBA in Concert, broadcast the following year. The song "The Way Old Friends Do", performed during the encore, resurfaced as the closing track of their 1980 album Super Trouper. Songs from Wembley also appeared on 1986's ABBA Live, but were overdubbed in the studio by producer and sound engineer Michael B. Tretow. The BBC compiled its own one-hour version of the concerts and aired it on Christmas 1979. This circulates as a bootleg entitled "ABBA - Live In London".

In an interview with the webpage Ice the Site, in December 2013, songwriter and pianist Benny Andersson confirmed that a live album would be released "exactly as it was" sometime in 2014, as part of the band's 40th anniversary. Andersson detailed that his son Ludvig went through hours of tapes, choosing the right material. Ludvig selected the November 10th 1979 concert to be released. The decision was approved by all the members of ABBA, including Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who listened to it at a studio in Stockholm.

On June 9, 2014, ABBA's official Facebook and Instagram accounts confirmed the release. The next day, June 10, the full track list was revealed.

The album omits the song "Not Bad At All", performed on tour by backing vocalist and fellow Swedish pop singer Tomas Ledin.

Track listing edit

All tracks written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus except where noted.

Disc one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Gammal fäbodpsalm"	Traditional Andersson^[a]	1:43
2.	"Voulez-Vous"		4:11
3.	"If It Wasn't for the Nights"		5:18
4.	"As Good As New"		3:26
5.	"Knowing Me, Knowing You"	Andersson Stig Anderson Ulvaeus	4:30
6.	"Rock Me"		3:34
7.	"Chiquitita"		5:34
8.	"Money, Money, Money"		3:57
9.	"I Have a Dream"		6:51
10.	"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"		5:34
11.	"SOS"	Andersson Anderson Ulvaeus	3:30
12.	"Fernando"	Andersson Anderson Ulvaeus	4:13
Total length:			52:21

Disc two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Name of the Game"	Andersson Anderson Ulvaeus	3:09
2.	"Eagle"		6:10
3.	"Thank You for the Music"		3:52
4.	"Why Did It Have to Be Me?"		4:32
5.	"Intermezzo No. 1"		4:06
6.	"I'm Still Alive"	Agnetha Fältskog Ulvaeus	4:29
7.	"Summer Night City"		5:28
8.	"Take a Chance on Me"		4:25
9.	"Does Your Mother Know"		3:58
10.	"Hole in Your Soul"		4:39
11.	"The Way Old Friends Do"		3:05
12.	"Dancing Queen"	Andersson Anderson Ulvaeus	5:52
13.	"Waterloo"	Andersson Anderson Ulvaeus	3:51
Total length:			57:36

Notes

^{^a} signifies arranged by

Personnel edit

ABBA

Agnetha Fältskog – vocals, keyboards
Anni-Frid Lyngstad – vocals
Björn Ulvaeus – acoustic guitars, vocals
Benny Andersson – synthesizers, keyboards, accordion, vocals

Additional musicians

Ola Brunkert – drums
Anders Eljas – keyboards
Rutger Gunnarsson – bass
Mats Ronander – guitars
Åke Sundqvist – percussion
Lasse Wellander – guitars
Tomas Ledin – backing vocals
Birgitta Wollgård – backing vocals
Liza Öhman – backing vocals

Producer: Ludvig Andersson
Engineer: Bernard Löhr (mixing), Filip Lindholm (assistant)
Mastering: Björn Engelmann

Charts edit

Chart (2014)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[2]	9
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)^[3]	16
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)^[4]	28
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)^[5]	16
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[6]	12
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)^[7]	50
French Albums (SNEP)^[8]	87
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[9]	9
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[10]	15
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)^[11]	10
UK Albums (OCC)^[12]	30

Certifications edit


Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Sweden (GLF)^[13]	Platinum	40,000^‡
^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References edit

^ "ABBA – Live at Wembley Arena" at AllMusic
^ "Austriancharts.at – ABBA – Live At Wembley Arena" (in German). Hung Medien.
^ "Ultratop.be – ABBA – Live At Wembley Arena" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
^ "Ultratop.be – ABBA – Live At Wembley Arena" (in French). Hung Medien.
^ "Danishcharts.dk – ABBA – Live At Wembley Arena". Hung Medien.
^ "Dutchcharts.nl – ABBA – Live At Wembley Arena" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
^ "ABBA: Live At Wembley Arena" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
^ "Lescharts.com – ABBA – Live At Wembley Arena". Hung Medien.
^ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
^ "Swedishcharts.com – ABBA – Live At Wembley Arena". Hung Medien.
^ "Swisscharts.com – ABBA – Live At Wembley Arena". Hung Medien.
^ "ABBA | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart.
^ "Sverigetopplistan – ABBA" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 2 June 2022.