Agnetha's Illness-October 11, 1979
R Small
Thursday evening, October 11, 1979, I had tickets to the ABBA concert at
Washington DC's DAR Constitution Hall. This promised to be one of the
highlights of my life, but... when we arrived at Constitution Hall, we
were told that Agnetha was sick, and the concert was cancelled! I later
heard she had the flu, but I thought, why cancel the entire concert
because of the illness of just one member of the group? I suppose that
Benny, Bjorn, and Frida might have been concerned about her condition, but
still, it struck me as strange to cancel when this was ABBA's one and only
scheduled appearance ever in Washington. Does anyone have additional
information about this incident, and did illness ever force the
cancellation of other ABBA concerts? Thanks.
Gary Kirchherr
Agnetha did about half the lead vocals, and is at least a backup vocalist
on virtually every ABBA song. The group's sound depended on the blending
of her and Frida's voices. How on Earth could you have had an ABBA concert
without her?
Look at it this way. When Ringo Starr had tonsillitis in the mid-'60s, the
Beatles still could tour without him. With all due respect to Ringo, any
decent drummer could have done his job. (And did.) But think about it -
could the Beatles have continued the tour if the hospitalized one had
been, say, Paul McCartney?
ABBA sans Agnetha wouldn't have been ABBA at all.
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Philip M Reynolds
Rodney Small
>Agnetha did about half the lead vocals, and is at least a backup
vocalist
>on virtually every ABBA song. The group's sound depended on the
blending
>of her and Frida's voices. How on Earth could you have had an ABBA
concert
>without her?
>
>Look at it this way. When Ringo Starr had tonsillitis in the mid-'60s,
the
>Beatles still could tour without him. With all due respect to Ringo,
any
>decent drummer could have done his job. (And did.) But think about it -
>could the Beatles have continued the tour if the hospitalized one had
>been, say, Paul McCartney?
>
>ABBA sans Agnetha wouldn't have been ABBA at all.
Hmmm, well maybe. Let me ask those who did have the privilege of
attending an ABBA concert a question: Were they entirely live
performances, or were at least some of the vocals pre-recorded? I know
it is quite common at "live" performances to mix pre-recorded and live
material. Obviously, if ABBA never did that, it would have been much
more difficult to go on without Agnetha. And don't get me wrong, I love
her voice, and would have been disappointed even if the concert had gone
on without her. But I would still be interested in hearing more details
about how the illness came about (it wasn't really flu season), and also
wondering whether any other concerts were cancelled at other times.
Susan Kline
|> Okay, ABBA fanatics, let's see how knowledgeable you really are. On
|> Thursday evening, October 11, 1979, I had tickets to the ABBA concert at
I recall directly what happened then as I had the choice between
attending their concert in NYC or DC. I ended up going to the concert
at Radio City Music Hall in NY, primarily because I was of the opinion
that RCMH has superior accoustic sound characteristics, etc.
(just dumb luck, huh?)
At any rate, Agnetha contracted food poisoning after the Boston show
which preceded the scheduled DC concert. It was bad fish, I think.
I remember reading about it in the local paper as there was a also a
picture of BBA (sans Agnetha) meeting with Amy Carter at the White House.
[...]
|> but I thought, why cancel the entire concert
|> because of the illness of just one member of the group?
At the concert they performed all of their music live without any benefit
of backing-track tapes, etc. It was truly amazing to hear how well they
were able to recreate their infamous "wall of sound" live with the
addition of only a few musicians/backing vocalists. Part of this
has to do with Agnetha's and Frida's fantastic voices and the manner
that they were able to interlay their singing with each other. Take
away one and the likely result would be a very hollow, incomplete sound.
My sympathies go out to you for not being able to see them in concert.
If you are able to get a copy of the ABBA In Concert video, this
essentially captures what the '79 concert was like. Hook the VCR up
to the stereo, turn up the volume and enjoy!
Regards,
- Sue
John Cook
R Small
to whether anyone had any information on this incident and whether this
was the only ABBA concert ever cancelled. So far, no one has addressed
these questions.
R Small
>I recall directly what happened then as I had the choice between
>attending their concert in NYC or DC. I ended up going to the concert
>at Radio City Music Hall in NY, primarily because I was of the opinion
>that RCMH has superior accoustic sound characteristics, etc.
>(just dumb luck, huh?)
>At any rate, Agnetha contracted food poisoning after the Boston show
>which preceded the scheduled DC concert. It was bad fish, I think.
>I remember reading about it in the local paper as there was a also a
>picture of BBA (sans Agnetha) meeting with Amy Carter at the White House.
>of backing-track tapes, etc. It was truly amazing to hear how well they
>were able to recreate their infamous "wall of sound" live with the
>addition of only a few musicians/backing vocalists. Part of this
>has to do with Agnetha's and Frida's fantastic voices and the manner
>that they were able to interlay their singing with each other. Take
>away one and the likely result would be a very hollow, incomplete sound.
question about Agnetha's illness, but also my follow-up about whether ABBA
used pre-recorded music in their concerts. Oddly enough, I never saw a
word in the Washington papers about the nature of her illness or the fact
that the other three members met Amy Carter. So now, the only unanswered
question is whether this was the only ABBA concert ever cancelled. Maybe
someone else knows the answer to that. In any event, Sue, you get my
award for ABBA-fanatic of the month, if not the year. Thank you -- if
you're ever in the DC area (Yeah, I'm still here, so I can be first in
line for the ABBA reunion concert. I mean, if they have one, it's got to
be here, right?), I'll buy you lunch (and I'll make sure it's
not bad fish!).
Regards,
Rodney
Chris
>From: John...@msn.com (John Cook)
>Subject: RE: Agnetha's Illness-October 11, 1979
>Date: 23 Feb 96 02:26:47 -0800
>She was sick about 17 years ago. Get over it. She did.
Let me just say that, since the creation of this newsgroup, there has been
very little, if any, of the above sort of stuff going on.
i for one appreciate the level-headedness with which we comport ourselves, and
would prefer it stay that way.
So please take this as a general request that we all just please get along.
Thanks for your attention.
Best,
Chris Van Gorder
Right Said Dax: "I'm too sexy for my host!"
johnn...@gmail.com
I just came across your posting regarding the last American ABBA concert that was cancelled In 1979 I was 11 years old and sang with the National Children’s Choir. We were asked to sing with ABBA for that concert. I remember practicing on stage with them “I had a Dream “ I recalled the blonde one (Agnatha) wasn’t feeling well and left the stage while we were rehearsing, it was their sound check. We then took a break and they told us kids that the concert was cancelled because Agnatha was too sick to perform. My friend and I walked into the lobby and waslooking out through main door at this gicantic crowd. Then they announced to the crowd outside the concert was cancelled. My friends and I got scared cause the crowd was upset and we thought the were going to break down the doors. So we ran back into the hall grabbed our coats and from the front row and headed to the stage entrance to meet his Mom to drive us home. They gave a signed post card and a 45 record. I still have the post card and my sister has the record. The whole experience was just another performance I was 11 year choir boy and into AC/DC and Ozzy. It wasn’t till I was in college and I came across the postcard I got excited that I had sung with ABBA.
Still singing and still a chorus boy
Johnny