“I wish tonight would last forever”
(Album: “Wrap your arms around me”)
November 2nd, 1979: ABBA concert in Frankfurt (Germany)
I found them at last. They were buried deep in the archives of the attic, but I found them, the negative films from that evening more than 25 years ago. So I scanned them in
order to share them with you. The quality, I admit, is kind of lousy. I only had a simple equipment with a 50 mm standard lens, no zoom. No flashlight either, I had to compensate this with an ISO 800 film. But nowadays’
technology allowed me to digitally refurbish them a little bit. And however the objective results may be judged, myself I value them as invaluable memories of an evening which will stay unforgotten for the rest of my life.
Agnetha often has reasoned about how stressing the tours were, that they sometimes even had difficulties to realize in which city the stage they actually were standing on was located. That she missed home and her
children. I’d like to thank her (and the other band members) with these photos that they took all these efforts. For her this evening probably was one out of dozens, falling into an anonymous hotel bed after an exhausting
show. For me, as for thousands of fans, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience I probably wouldn’t trade for a million.
I was lucky enough to have a seat which allowed me to proceed directly to the stage right after the show began. I always have judged this fact being a present from
Heaven. Around me was pure hysteria. Agnetha has told us she sometimes felt frightened by this madness.
I really do understand that and even if the gossip press would like to make us believe that this is supposed to be a
phobia, I think it is a very normal and adequate reaction, if you ever have seen it with your own eyes. I’m glad to tell her that I didn’t participate. As a scientist I’m a very controlled and reasonable person, have always
been. I would have felt like a fool if I had joined into that screaming obsessiveness. I enjoyed those two hours still and quiet and allowed my inner eye to take over. I couldn’t have screamed even if I wanted, I guess, because
she was so breathtaking. I’m not sure after so many years, but I sometimes even forgot to clap between the songs, I think. And fortunately she didn’t sing “Disillusion”, my all-time favourite, because I fear that a very
controlled youngling who later would attempt to become a reasonable scientist would have fainted in front of her eyes, LOL!
Enough talk now. Enjoy the pics!
