'Meeting my Waterloo' in a great Waterford setting
The show was performed by Derek Flynn, Paula Weldon and Lauren Cardiff
Derek Flynn is a one-man conveyor belt of entertainment for Tramore. You name it and Derek does it. He’s produced some really special plays for Tramore Coastguard and all around the South-East and his Theatre Vamps Co. guests every summer at the Theatre Royal. Derek is also a talented musician and thrives on tribute acts for artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, Fleetwood Mac. Tonight, it’s mega glam-rock band ABBA that’s on the Coastguard turntable.
Not only does Derek entertain us with that never-ending catalogue of ABBA hits, but he fills us in on backstory with juicy titbits of gossip that find their way into the performance. The audience probably knows the ABBA story anyway but we’ve forgotten much of it. Like how the group got its name when Swedish disk-jockeys tired of rattling off Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni and simply shortened the name to ABBA. The group hated it by the way but success often comes along untrodden paths.
This ABBA band is a slick, professional musical threesome of Derek Flynn, Paula Weldon and Lauren Cardiff, that does exactly what it says on the tin…perform all the ABBA hits to an audience that already knows them by heart and makes up the fourth band member. It’s an audience that just can’t wait to sing, sway, wave, roar along with lyrics that have probably been sung a million times over in kitchens and bathrooms whenever the songs hit the radio.
Of course, the band are still best known for their Eurovision win with 'Waterloo'. The song was chosen as the best song in the competition's history, although I still have no idea what the ballad is about. The original title of the song was 'Honey Pie', and was heavily inspired by UK glam rock of the time, particularly Wizzard's, 'See My Baby Jive'. The official explanation is that the song is about a woman who "surrenders" to a man and promises to love him, while referencing Napoleon's surrender at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. As my once-teenage daughters would say: “Yeahhhh….RRRRRIGHT!” The Swedish supergroup was formed in Stockholm in 1972 by two married couples: Agnetha Fältskog, and Björn Ulvaeus, along with Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group went on to become one of the most popular and successful musical groups in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1982. Fame took its toll on their personal lives, however, and both couples separated leading to the breakup of the band in 1982. The songs that come from this period are probably the best songs that the band wrote…'S.O.S, 'The Winner Takes it All', 'Money, Money, Money', 'Knowing Me, Knowing You'.
Ten years after the group broke up, a compilation, ABBA Gold, was released, and became a worldwide best-seller. In 1999, ABBA's music was adapted into 'Mamma Mia!', a jukebox musical that toured worldwide and is still in the top-ten longest running productions on both Broadway and the West End. 'Momma Mia—the movie', was released in 2008 and became the highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom that year and a sequel 'Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again', was released in 2018. The band’s record sales are estimated to be between 150 million to 385 million sold worldwide and enjoyed huge success in Britain, Australia, United States, Republic of Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. In fact, ABBA was Sweden’s second largest export company after Volvo.
So…what was the secret of their success? Well they were the first of the glam-rock bands and their music is hypnotically tuneful. Even now, I still only know a handful of the lyrics of most of the numbers but the disco beat and the constant repetition encourages everyone to sing along. And the songs are easy to sing. The melody clusters around a handful of notes, the songs are largely monosyllabic with a note for every word, catchy phrases and Hispanic titles like Fernando and Chiquitita sit in the memory and tell stories, and the rhythm is infectious. These writers knew what they were doing. Just try stopping tonight’s audience that is swaying, clapping on the beat and belting out the lyrics.
The 90-minute gig flies by and the cast are at the door thanking everyone for their patronage. As for me, well…I had tuned out long before 'Dancing Queen', set the feet tapping. I sorta remembered why I had fallen out of love with the glam-rock Super-Troupers…the songs just all began to feel the same. ABBA and I met our Waterloo many, many moons ago!
