ABBA star Björn Ulvaeus has weighed in on whether the Swedish band will ever play at Glastonbury - and the odds aren’t looking too good.
Ulvaeus was asked about the music festival in an interview on BBC Radio 2’s The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Friday.
Asked whether ABBA would consider performing at next year’s festival, which will mark the 50th anniversary of Glastonbury, Ulvaeus said: “Oh, no. It’s a straight, straight no.”
He explained that while the band have been working on new music together, it would be too much of a “hassle” to get everyone back together for rehearsals ahead of an event such as Glastonbury.
“We recorded some new songs and you’ll probably hear them next year, at least one of them, but that’s quite a different thing from going through the hassle of rehearsing and – just one show, it would be the same as doing a whole year of tours,” he added. “It would take 10 years out of our life.”
In April, ABBA announced it would release new music for the first time in 35 years.
A specific release date has yet to be confirmed, but the band will experience a revival of sorts during a hologram tour populated by digital avatars of its four members – Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
“That is really, really exciting,” Ulvaeus said on Friday, adding that the tour would include “live musicians and huge avatars singing old songs and new”.
