Mamma Mia the Party!

Linnea’s choice of activity for this weekend was Harry Potter World. Mine was ABBA Voyage, the ”Abbatar”-show. Unfortunately the Abbatars were on a show break JUST this weekend, while they were changing their playlist apparently. So the next best thing - we got tickets for Mamma Mia The Party!

This is why we had got a hotel close to the O2 Arena, to be close by to the show. 

We had misunderstood the timing a little bit, as the ‘doors open’ was at 12pm, but the show didn’t start until 1pm, so we were really early, a bit unnecessary. Ah well, gave us more time to enjoy the pitchers of Passionfruit Cocktails..!

 

We got a table on one of the balconies, which turned out to be a great spot, as we could get up and dance whenever we felt like it without disturbing the show.  

 

It was a really lovely afternoon! The food was surprisingly good, a Greek three-course meal, and the performers were great. 

I had mistakingly thought it was the Mamma Mia-musical, but in a restaurant setting; but indeed this is a completely different show. The storyline was still based in a restaurant in Greece, and with all the music from ABBA (and others), but apart from that, it had little to do with Mamma Mia. Don’t get me wrong, it was still really good!

The whole place was full and the atmosphere buzzing from the first musical number. People were having so much fun singing along and dancing next to (and on top of!) the tables. Us too!

I am really happy we did this together!

And I'm feeling good

As it happened, I had two concerts happening the same week this month! First the gigantic Coldplay experience last weekend which I have already blogged about, and then on Thursday the more intimate Saadiyat Nights concert with crooner Michael Bublé.

Linda and I started at Mamsha with dinner at the Estonian restaurant Valgerand. Linda had never been, and I had only been once, so we were looking forward to it; and were not disappointed!
Yummy cocktails and delicious food with a Scandinavian touch. Om nom nom!

Neither one of us had yet been to this new concert venue on Saadiyat, and it was really nicely laid out.

Michael Bublé came with all his hits, and some classics from the Great American Songbook. He has a fabulous voice, but he seemed a bit... tired. I mostly enjoyed the big band actually. I love this kind of music, and when he let the band shine it was magical!

A lovely night under the stars!

Music of the Spheres

I September it was announced that the band Coldplay was going to kick off the 2025 part of their Music of the Spheres World Tour here in Abu Dhabi, and people went wild!

This tour began already in March 2022 and is scheduled to end in September this year. It is the most attended tour of all time. Every stop on their whole tour has indeed completely sold out, as soon as the tickets were released! Coldplay has set a variety of records with it at the venues they visited, for the UAE, it is the biggest concert to date, with 50,000 people each night, for four nights.

My friend Linda amazingly managed to snag four tickets, and very kindly offered us to come along with her and her husband; but as Nathan couldn't guarantee that he would be off, the forth ticket was eventually passed to our friend Nina.

On Saturday it was finally time for the concert, and we were all super excited! Johan took us over to the big shuttle bus parking in their car, left it there and shuttled to the arena. All went super smooth, both Linda and I were extremely impressed by the logistical organisation. Not a queue nowhere!

First we enjoyed a bite to eat in the Fan Zone, and bought some merch:

Nina, Linda and I:

Then we decided to head inside as we had standing tickets, and wanted a somewhat good placement, even though we didn't want to be at the very, very front.
We were all quite keen on listening to Elyanna, the opening act, who turned out to be real good!

Now I understand photos from a concert is not much to enjoy, you would've had to have been there! But I put them here for my own sake. They'll evoke good memories for me, when I look back at them some day!

It really was an absolutely unique experience, with big balloons bouncing all over the audience, confetti blasting at several occasions, lasers and lightshows, fireworks and of course - the PixMob wristbands, given to every concert goer transforming them into a pixel during the show.
You really felt like you were part of the show, as those wristbands turned the whole crowd into a light canvas, which was showing different animated effects, immersing the whole audience into the event.

We also got handed special "moon goggles" upon entering, that we were encouraged to use in one particular part of the concert. They turned blinking lights (and the moon!) into hearts when you looked at them through the goggles.

All very very cool! What a fantastic experience!

 

The Big Gig Festival

Anna had sorted tickets for all of us for the big event in Horsham this weekend, the Big Gig Festival. It's clearly one of the highlights of the summer, as all the 3000 tickets were sold out. Luckily it was held at the Cricket Club, which is only about 150 meters from Anna's house!

We set up with chairs and blankets - and a jug of Pimms! What else?

Since it went on from 2pm until 10pm, we had brought a picnic. Although being so close to home was very practical of course, because we could just pop back if we needed something. Or to go to the toilet, rather than use the portaloos.

Group photo of all the girlies!

There was several bands playing throughout the day, 'Murdochs Crazy Act' which I really liked, 'The Ezra Experience' and the 'Fleetwood Mac Legacy' which I thought were more so-so.

The Pink tribute - 'Almost Pink', was one of my favourites:

But the best was 'Kieran as Ed Sheeran', the headlining act. The girls were all the way up the front dancing the night away.

We all had such a great day - and night!

Metallica

Lucas and Nathan had both got concert tickets from Thomas for their birthdays, for a very special concert experience now in June back in Copenhagen - a two day Metallica experience. Luckily Nathan got his leave approved so he could take part!

Linnea and I also got offered tickets from our friend Katja who had some left over, but I politely declined. Metallica is not really my thing, at least not in that way for a whole evening.
On the first night it was just the boys going:

Turned out Lars and Nanna were sitting not very far behind them at all! How funny!

On the Sunday all of them, including Linnea, took off to the concert together with Lucas' friend Simon:

I stayed at home at Thomas' in my lonesome, and actually watched the Euro. Yay.

They had a great time!