People Creeped Out By CGI ABBA Concert And Say It Gives Them Black Mirror Vibes

Digital versions of legendary pop band ABBA may have wowed fans in London earlier this week, but some on social media couldn't help draw comparisons to Black Mirror after seeing the premise of the show.

The 'ABBA Voyage' performance features avatars of the quartet, who remain one of the most popular bands of all time.

The original members, Agnetha, Frida, Benny and Bjorn, all attended the opening night of the concert, where they got to watch digitally constructed versions of themselves on stage on Thursday night, 26 May.

In the works for more than six years, the show featured ground-breaking technology that allowed the audience to enjoy ABBA classics such as 'SOS', 'Voulez-Vous' and 'Lay All Your Love On Me'.

Over the course of a month, the band performed in motion capture suits as 160 cameras scanned each of their individual body movements, as well as facial expressions.

However, the eerily accurate behaviour of the avatars left one or two viewers feeling a little bit unsettled.

Indeed, the idea of watching one of the biggest bands of all time performing virtually in front of a huge audience conjured up memories of a certain dystopian drama.

This👏is👏ABBA👏Voyage👏 pic.twitter.com/6kGQ2zu1TU

— ABBA Voyage (@ABBAVoyage) May 26, 2022

Black Mirror first hit TV screens on Channel 4 in the UK back in 2011. Created by comedian Charlie Brooker, its sinister imaginations of the future and the role technology will play has seen it morph into a huge hit around the world after Netflix picked it up.

One particular episode, 'Rachael, Jack and Ashley too', which featured Miley Cyrus, centres around a pop star who is trapped inside technology, and is forced to perform by her manager.

People paying £75 to see hologram versions of ABBA should be the plotline for the next episode of Black Mirror #ABBAVoyage

— Alice (@alicekatemurray) September 7, 2021

While ABBA aren't being compelled to perform, it is a departure for a group to be digitally reborn on stage when all of the members are in fact alive.

Unlike previous hologram performances, which have been widely canned by reviewers in years gone by, the 'ABBA-tars' have been constructed on a vast, 65 million pixel screen.

The abba shows are the next black mirror episode

— DEVON (@devontheplace) September 7, 2021

Alongside lighting and other effects, it creates a spectacle on stage that is nearly indistinguishable from reality.

"We want to pull on the emotions," producer Svana Gisla told the BBC. 

"So if you come out of here and feel like you've seen a visual spectacle, we will have failed. If you come out of here and you've laughed and you've cried and you can't wait to go back, that's what we want."

"That was frickin' incredible," pop star Zara Larsson told the BBC after the show. "I cried four times. I didn't know I was going to feel like that.

"It felt like I was experiencing them in their prime and it was very emotional."

"It was an extra-terrestrial, extraordinary, exhibition of fabulousness," added renowned choreographer Les Child. "They've done an amazing job."