Stockholm·Brighton·London·Sydney
Channel 1. Four sets, four faces: arriving at Schiphol, November 1976.
Two couples, so the designer turned one B round to face its A. This page folds the same way: every place where something began faces the place where you can see it now.
Turn the B ↓On the sets: Agnetha Fältskog arriving at Schiphol, 19 November 1976 (Bert Verhoeff for Anefo, CC0); Björn Ulvaeus arriving at Schiphol, 19 November 1976 (detail of an Anefo group photograph) (Bert Verhoeff for Anefo, CC0); Benny Andersson arriving at Schiphol, 19 November 1976 (detail of an Anefo group photograph) (Bert Verhoeff for Anefo, CC0); Anni-Frid Lyngstad arriving at Schiphol, November 1976 (Bert Verhoeff for Anefo, CC0); ABBA by their plane at Zestienhoven airport, Rotterdam, 24 October 1979 (Fernando Pereira / Anefo, CC0).
Six pairs · 0 turned
Rune Söderqvist was the tour’s visual architect. In 1976 he had drawn the ABBA logo with one B turned round, so that each B faced an A: two couples. Here each place where something began faces its twin. Turn the second B to face the right-hand page.
Recorded
December 1973 · Karlbergsvägen 57, Vasastan, Stockholm
Waterloo was recorded at Metronome Studio in Stockholm a week before Christmas 1973.
Stig first thought of calling the song Honey Pie, then found Waterloo early one Saturday morning in a book of quotations.
Still a working studio, not open to drop-in visitors. See the front from Karlbergsvägen.
Won
Metronome Studio, now Atlantis. Turn the B to see where it faces.
Brighton Dome · 6 April 1974
ABBA won the 19th Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden at Brighton Dome on 6 April 1974. Sweden sang eighth of seventeen. Each of the seventeen juries had ten votes to share. Call them in song order and watch the board.
The board is empty. Call the first jury.
Votes from the official scoreboard; this page calls the juries in song order.
On BBC Music Day, 15 June 2017, a blue plaque for ABBA was unveiled here, live on BBC Sussex. Brighton Dome has been a music venue since 1867 and puts on more than 600 events a year.
A working concert hall. The plaque is on the Church Street side.
Stockholm, then Pudding Mill Lane · May 2022
The four performed in motion-capture suits for five weeks in Stockholm, scanned by 160 cameras, with more than 100 people from Industrial Light & Magic. Hold the button and keep holding while the ring fills.
A tap or a key press switches on 20 cameras at a time.
The stage is dark. Hold the button to start the cameras.
1979
Fill the ring to see who is on stage.
Pudding Mill Lane station is a minute’s walk; Stratford is about 25 minutes.
Now
Södermalm · Djurgården
2002 · Mariatorget 3, Södermalm, Stockholm
Benny Andersson bought the Aston Hotel and the Rival cinema on Mariatorget in 2002, with two partners.
The Rival cinema opened in 1937 with 1,218 seats. Today it has 99 rooms and a 735-seat theatre. Rival’s own history lists the 2008 gala premiere of Mamma Mia! with the film’s cast.
A working hotel with a bar, bistro and theatre on Mariatorget.
Mariatorget 3, Stockholm
Benny Andersson’s hotel in a 1937 cinema building on Södermalm: 99 rooms, a 735-seat theatre, a bistro and an Art Deco cocktail bar.
Check rooms
7 May 2013 · Djurgårdsvägen 68, Djurgården, Stockholm
A red telephone marks Ring Ring, the first big hit, from 1973. Only four people in the world have its number.
ABBA The Museum opened on 7 May 2013 at Djurgårdsvägen 68, next to Gröna Lund. A self-playing piano is linked to Benny’s studio. If a red light flashes, it starts to play. The four members narrate the audio guide themselves.
The current exhibition follows Dancing Queen from its first idea and recording onwards. It opens 10am to 6pm every day from 1 September to 23 December 2026. Adult tickets cost 269 to 349 kronor, and it takes cards only.
Tram 7 and bus 67 stop at Liljevalchs/Gröna Lund; the Djurgården ferry stops at Allmänna Gränd.
Djurgårdsvägen 68, Stockholm
The hotel in the same building as ABBA The Museum, with the Visitors Bistro downstairs. Tyrol and Gröna Lund are next door.
See the hotel
January 2016 · Lilla Allmänna Gränd 3, Djurgården, Stockholm
Mamma Mia! The Party opened at Tyrol in Stockholm in January 2016.
It has played more than 1,400 times to nearly 650,000 guests, more than any other show in Sweden. Björn Ulvaeus said it began as an experiment. Guests eat, drink and watch theatre, music and dance. This season runs to 28 November 2026.
Book a seat for Mamma Mia! The Party. The museum is a two-minute walk up the lane.
Stockholm archipelago
Björn and Benny wrote songs including Dancing Queen and Fernando in a summer cottage on Viggsö, in the Stockholm archipelago.
Björn no longer owns it, and it is not open to the public. The ferry from Vaxholm takes about an hour.
ABBAWORLD, the touring exhibition, rebuilt the Viggsö writing studio at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney in 2010.
The cottage is private and not open. This page names the island and leaves the cottage off the map.
Stockholm archipelago
Live marketplace results for boat trips out to Vaxholm and the archipelago. Viggsö is about an hour by ferry from Vaxholm.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare trips11 places you can visit. The writing cottage on Viggsö is private, so it is named and left off the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Still a working studio, not open to drop-in visitors. See the front from Karlbergsvägen.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The studio has gone and the building is private. Stand on Sankt Eriksgatan; the studio itself is rebuilt at the museum.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open 10am to 6pm daily until 23 December 2026. Cards only. Tram 7 to Liljevalchs/Gröna Lund.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Book a seat for Mamma Mia! The Party. The museum is a two-minute walk up the lane.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working hotel with a bar, bistro and theatre on Mariatorget.
Karlbergsvägen 57, Vasastan, Stockholm
Waterloo was recorded at Metronome Studio in Stockholm a week before Christmas 1973.
Still a working studio, not open to drop-in visitors. See the front from Karlbergsvägen.
Sankt Eriksgatan 58, Kungsholmen, Stockholm
Polar Music Studio opened in May 1978. ABBA made all their remaining studio recordings here.
The studio has gone and the building is private. Stand on Sankt Eriksgatan; the studio itself is rebuilt at the museum.
Djurgårdsvägen 68, Djurgården, Stockholm
ABBA The Museum opened on 7 May 2013 at Djurgårdsvägen 68, next to Gröna Lund.
Open 10am to 6pm daily until 23 December 2026. Cards only. Tram 7 to Liljevalchs/Gröna Lund.
Lilla Allmänna Gränd 3, Djurgården, Stockholm
Mamma Mia! The Party opened at Tyrol in Stockholm in January 2016.
Book a seat for Mamma Mia! The Party. The museum is a two-minute walk up the lane.
Mariatorget 3, Södermalm, Stockholm
Benny Andersson bought the Aston Hotel and the Rival cinema on Mariatorget in 2002, with two partners.
A working hotel with a bar, bistro and theatre on Mariatorget.
Stay
Hotel Rival on Mariatorget, and the hotel in the museum building on Djurgården.
Mariatorget 3, Stockholm
Benny Andersson’s hotel in a 1937 cinema building on Södermalm: 99 rooms, a 735-seat theatre, a bistro and an Art Deco cocktail bar.
Check roomsDjurgårdsvägen 68, Stockholm
The hotel in the same building as ABBA The Museum, with the Visitors Bistro downstairs. Tyrol and Gröna Lund are next door.
See the hotelGo there
Museum tickets, and marketplace walks and boat trips around Stockholm.
Djurgårdsvägen 68, Stockholm · From 269 kr
Open 10am to 6pm every day until 23 December 2026. Adults 269 to 349 kronor, children 7 to 15 from 129; cards only. The four narrate the audio guide.
Book ticketsStockholm
Live marketplace results for ABBA and pop-music walking tours of Stockholm. Check each itinerary for its stops.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursStockholm archipelago
Live marketplace results for boat trips out to Vaxholm and the archipelago. Viggsö is about an hour by ferry from Vaxholm.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare tripsWhat’s on
ABBA Voyage in London to 28 June 2027; Mamma Mia! The Party in Stockholm and London.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
Carl Magnus Palm’s books, and four records tied to these places.
Carl Magnus Palm
Palm’s biography of the group. He also leads two-day tours of ABBA’s Stockholm.
Find the bookCarl Magnus Palm
Fifty years of the group, from the same author.
Find the bookABBA · LP, Polar POLS 252, 1974
Released in Sweden on 4 March 1974, a month before Brighton.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyABBA · LP, Polar POLS 272, 1976
Rune Söderqvist designed every ABBA sleeve from this one on.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyABBA · 3LP, Polar, 2020
One of the six Wembley nights of 1979; first released in 2014.
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Find a copyABBA · CD, Polar, 2021
The album behind the London show.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
12 of 12 places · 16 of 16 Moments
Karlbergsvägen 57, Vasastan, Stockholm
ABBA record Waterloo at Metronome, a week before Christmas.
Sankt Eriksgatan 58, Kungsholmen, Stockholm
Polar Music Studio opens; ABBA record the rest of their records here.
The studio closes after 26 years.
Viggsö, Stockholm archipelago
Björn and Benny write songs including Dancing Queen and Fernando in a summer cottage on Viggsö.
Djurgårdsvägen 68, Djurgården, Stockholm
ABBA The Museum opens on Djurgården, with the Polar studio rebuilt as its last room.
Lilla Allmänna Gränd 3, Djurgården, Stockholm
Mamma Mia! The Party opens at Tyrol.
Mariatorget 3, Södermalm, Stockholm
Benny Andersson buys the Rival cinema and hotel on Mariatorget.
The gala premiere of Mamma Mia!, listed in Rival’s history.
Church Street, Brighton
ABBA win the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden with 24 points.
A BBC Music Day blue plaque for ABBA goes up on Brighton Dome.
Engineers Way, Wembley, London
A six-night residency on the 1979 tour; one show later becomes Live at Wembley Arena.
Pudding Mill Lane, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London
The four perform in motion-capture suits in Stockholm; a second shoot follows in London.
ABBA Voyage opens at ABBA Arena.
Peninsula Square, Greenwich Peninsula, London
Mamma Mia! The Party opens at The O2.
Moore Park, Sydney
ABBA’s first Australian show, in the rain, to about 20,000 people.
Alexandra Avenue, Kings Domain, Melbourne
14,000 inside the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and as many outside.
