Ex-ABBA members make rare joint appearance at grand opening

Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus were in the Swedish capital of Stockholm for the launch of a dining-entertainment venue called Mamma Mia!

Fans of the Swedish pop group can sing along to the band’s hits at the restaurant, but according to Andersson, they shouldn’t expect the group itself to reunite on stage again.

The restaurant, where musicians and actors interact with waiters and guests, borrowed the Greek-island setting from the “Mamma Mia!” musical and movie, although Ulvaeus said “it’s a completely different story”.

During the restaurant opening on Wednesday, the former ABBA members arrived and left with their respective partners, and joined together, but would not be photographed by the media together. ABBA’s music has enjoyed a huge boost thanks to the lucrative Mamma Mia! stage show, which opened in 1999 in London and later became a Broadway hit.

For the total price of $224, they will also be offered a Mediterranean buffet, it says.

Asked by reporters if the business venture was the start of a reunion Andersson insisted that he didn’t think the foursome would be getting back together on stage to sing. “We are here to party”, added Björn Ulvaeus.

“No evening is like another and no-one knows how it ends”.

ABBA has sold more than 380 million albums worldwide since the band’s breakthrough at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest.

A photo posted by MAMMA MIA!

Since splitting up in 1982 after both sets of spouses divorced – giving rise to melancholic pop classics like The Winner Takes it All – Abba have had a lucrative afterlife.