Bjorn Again
The Bjorn Again phenomenon will be touring Europe again this summer, appearing at festivals and concerts across the continent. Like an Australian ode to a Swedish dream of the seventies, Bjorn Again revives Abba’s iconic tracks just as it reinterprets the band and its music, and adds unmistakable twists and turns of its own.
“Bjorn Again is much more than a tribute band,” says Rod Stephan who founded the band in the late eighties. “Back then, no-one had listened to Abba’s music for years, and when their Greatest Hits album was re-released, it flopped completely.” Abba might have got it badly wrong, but Rod’s timing was to prove spot on.
What many in Australia believed to be a flash in the pan fad became a real phenomenon that spread around the world and has now been around for almost 20 years – more than many a rock band. “I knew I was going out on a limb,” says Rod. “It was either going to work or flop miserably, but luckily for us we won over the doubters and found our own audience.”
Not always liked by avid Abba fans, who simply ‘don’t get’ the rather left of field slant that Bjorn Again puts on things, the group – with its strong emphasis on its female singers – has won over an audience that has ranged from Wembley crowds to private performances. “There’s good music, including impromptu deviations from the Abba songbook, banter and just a great atmosphere when they perform.”
The final seal of approval has come from the members of Abba itself, who acknowledge that since the late eighties the name Bjorn Again has been rather closely linked to that of Abba – and has indeed done much to add fire to the Abba revival that has led to the Mama Mia musical, and the film to be released later this year. Could Rod ever have thought his brainchild would continue to be a success 20 years later? “Not on your life.”
Details:
www.bjornagain.com
