Mamma mia! ABBA is born again.
Make that Bjorn Again.
The ABBA tribute band Bjorn Again, which plays Winnipeg tonight, has become an international sensation covering the songs of the 1970s Swedish hitmakers, much to the surprise of the group's founder, Rod Leissle.
"The initial premise was to be a bit of a comical kind of dig but when we heard the songs for the first time in 10-15 years and focused on them we thought, 'Oh god, these songs are brilliant,' " says Leissle, who started the group in 1988 with his friend John Tyrrell in Melbourne, Australia as a way of making fun of the group they mocked in their youth.
"There's certainly some kind of magic in those songs. Musically they are incredibly well-written songs. They sound like easy pop songs, but they are complicated. They really worked at these songs and they stand the test of time."
Bjorn Again started selling out pubs and nightclubs before taking their show to Sydney and beyond, getting better costumes and equipment while winning over fans all across Australia with their faithful versions of ABBA hits such as Mamma Mia, Waterloo, Dancing Queen, Ring Ring and S.O.S.
Those fans included Nirvana, who saw the show in 1991 and were so impressed that they invited Bjorn Again to play during the 1992 Reading Festival in England, setting the stage for their success in Europe.
"We were doing a cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit at the time and we asked the band if we should still do it since they were playing but they wanted us to do it, and we did with them watching on the side of the stage and the crowd went crazy, even though we thought we were going to get killed," laughs Leissle.
Since then the group has played 45 countries and numerous festivals with bands as diverse as Black Sabbath and Metallica.
"I think some of the songs, not all of them, but many ABBA songs do stack up to Beatles songs and that's a big comment to make because I believe The Beatles' songs can't be beat," Leissle says.
ABBA -- Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad -- first came to prominence after winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo. A string of hits followed and they were one of the most popular groups in the world when they broke up in 1983.
They have said they will never reunite, even turning down an offer of $1 billion to tour again.
There are five versions of Bjorn Again touring North America, Europe and Australia, including the one at the Burton Cummings Theatre tonight.
