Arrival From Sweden Review - C+ to B
by ChefJeff#1 on 11/20/22The Cabot - BeverlyRating: 3 out of 5After multiple postponements (I purchased the tickets way back in November 2019) the group finally made it back to the Cabot Theatre in Beverly, MA on 11/17/2022.
Positives first: the two women (particularly the brunette) have terrific voices. The group sang all of Abba's greatest hits, a medley of lesser-known songs, and a new song off of Abba's latest album. The show - minus an intermission - clocked in at less than 2 hours. The big finish - of course - was "Dancing Queen" and two young girls from the audience - one of whom was in full Abba regalia - were allowed to join the group on stage for the finale. The audience was on their feet! Also, the band musicians were first-rate, particularly the sax and keyboard players.
Now the negatives: for some reason theatres think it adds to the performances to rotate the extremely bright stage lights directly into the audience's eyes, regularly blinding all who are seated in the orchestra. It makes for an extremely uncomfortable evening as we try to time the rotation so as to close our eyes every few seconds to avoid being blinded. This has happened to us here at the Cabot, at the Lynn Auditorium, and at the Blue Ocean in Salisbury, MA. As to the tribute band itself - in an attempt to look more like the real Abba singers, two members wore cheap-looking wigs: the blond singer and the lead guitar player. It was disconcerting to say the least. The background singer had a nice voice, but her microphone volume was set too high, and she often overwhelmed the lead singers. All in all, it was nice to see this band again, but it was not a stellar evening.