Jive to Dancing Queen at an ABBA tribute concert at Delhi’s JLN Stadium

The Delhi government is collaborating with a non-governmental organisation (NGO) for a tribute concert to ABBA, the legendary Swedish pop music group, senior government officials said on Friday.

The main artistes in the concert — scheduled on August 17 in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium — will be a UK-based group that named itself after one of the groups songs — ‘Name of the Game’, an official said.

The official added, “The group was already on an India tour when we contacted them and they agreed. They are one of the few ABBA tribute bands that are popular in India.”

ABBA is named after the initials of the first names of its four members — Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

The concert is being organised by an NGO that supports people suffering from thalassemia, senior government officials said adding, “The tourism department will be collaborating with the NGO. The idea is to promote Delhi as a destination for music lovers.”

“The Delhi tourism department has partnered with other organisations in the past for a wide range of musical programmes, including events related to western music. But this is the first time the government has collaborated to work on a tribute to a popular western musical group,” the official said.

The official further said, in the same concert, the Delhi government will artwork by six Delhi-based artists, who will have dedicated kiosks in the venue for display of their paintings on the theme of Delhi and its music history. “After the concert, the paintings will be displayed in the secretariat,” the official added.

Other popular ABBA tribute bands that have performed in India in the past few years include Waterloo, ABBA Arrivals and Gimme Gimme Gimme — all named after popular chartbusters and album titles of the music group that was formed in 1972 and disbanded exactly a decade later, only to reunite again after 35 years in 2018.

The original group, however, has not toured India.