This is more James' territory than mine but I am partial to ABBA's music so the visit was not exactly a burden. I doubt that the exhibition in Sydney is the definitive critical study of the band with as much peripheral material on display as ABBA specific items. For example there are video clips of Kylie Minogue singing Dancing Queen at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics...
...and a front page from Sydney's now defunct Daily Mirror during the group's visit to Australia in 1977...and look...the paper only cost 10c in 1977.
There was no doubting the high spirits of everyone in attendance. This was especially the case in what for me was the highlight of the exhibition, a stage where you could sing ABBA songs along with holograms of the group. Families lined up to take their turn on stage and I was spellbound as father after father marshalled their little ones into performing Dancing Queen and Mamma Mia.
I don't think I have seen as many straight men going gay with complete abandon as in this karaoke delight. It was difficult to capture a clear image with so much hip swivelling movement.
A secondary exhibition at the museum is Top Secret: Licence to Spy.
Although aimed at children this exhibition was popular with the dads too who clearly were seriously into the spy mission.
We heard plenty of dads, who only minutes earlier we'd seen lip-synching ABBA, earnestly taking charge of their childrens' handling of the mission.
I was scared there for a moment, thinking you were up on stage singing along with Abba songs.
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