| Live at Wembley Arena | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
Live at Wembley Arena is an album of live recordings by Swedish pop groupABBA, released byPolar Music on 26 September 2014, on 2 CD, 3 LP and digital format.
The album, produced by Ludvig Andersson, includes the complete concert at London'sWembley 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 byAgnetha Fältskog andBjörn Ulvaeus.
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 asABBA: The Tour. Band membersBjörn Ulvaeus andAgnetha Fältskog agreed that those concerts were the highlight of the world tour. Music stars such asThe Clash'sJoe Strummer andIan Dury were among the audience.
Several songs from the Wembley concerts were filmed for the TV specialABBA 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 albumSuper Trouper. Songs from Wembley also appeared on 1986'sABBA Live, but were overdubbed in the studio by producer and sound engineerMichael B. Tretow.
TheBBC compiled its own one-hour version of the concerts and aired it on Christmas 1979. This circulates as a rarebootleg entitled "ABBA - Live In London".
In an interview with the webpage Ice the Site, in December 2013, songwriter and pianistBenny 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 andAnni-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 singerTomas Ledin.
All tracks written byBenny Andersson andBjörn Ulvaeus except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Gammal fäbodpsalm" |
| 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" |
| 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" |
| 3:30 |
| 12. | "Fernando" |
| 4:13 |
| Total length: | 52:21 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Name of the Game" |
| 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" |
| 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" |
| 5:52 |
| 13. | "Waterloo" |
| 3:51 |
| Total length: | 57:36 | ||
Notes
ABBA
Additional musicians
| 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 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[10] | 29 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[11] | 63 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[12] | 15 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[13] | 10 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[14] | 30 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Sweden (GLF)[15] | Platinum | 40,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Compilation albums |
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| Live albums | |
| Box sets | |
| Concerts and tours | |
| Films and musicals |
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| TV specials | |
| Video games | |
| Related articles | |
| Related individuals | |
