ARRIVAL IN SYDNEY - FIRST REVIEW!

ABBAMAILer Chris Patrick flew from Brisbane to Sydney on Saturday to see ARRIVAL. Here is his review...

Something refreshingly gorgeous took place on Saturday night in one of Sydney's outer suburbs. ARRIVAL. They were nothing short of brilliant. Their attention to detail in re-creating the atmosphere of the '77 live shows was breathtaking - and the fact that their costumes were made by ABBA's Owe Sandstrom made it all the more special.

The helicopter intro set the mood, blasting into an electrifying rendition of "Tiger" and the next two hours was nothing short of spectacular. Although visually it was very much '77, it was a treat to hear '79 gems like "As Good As New", "Chiquitita", "Does Your Mother Know" and "Summer Night City". And talk about teasers... "Gimme!, Gimme!, Gimme!" dropped down a key at the end - which usually means a segue into "Super Trouper"- but it didn't happen! This show was 70's ABBA all the way.

The second half was where ARRIVAL really showed their superiority in the cover band stakes: a brilliant rendition of the mini-musical "The Girl With The Golden Hair" - complete with narrator. Sadly no "Carousel", but no-one minded. Their message was clear - ARRIVAL were playing to us, the ABBA fans. Their love, respect and commitment of ABBA shone throughout. And what an encore "Hole In Your Soul" was. We were all going for it on the dance floor right next to the stage... and had been for most of the second half. Eye contact was the name of the game too - many times the two girls would sing down to us, with us singing and gesturing back - particularly in "Does Your Mother Know". Björn had a chance to shine here, giving us a great guitar solo as well as his only stab at singing. Strangely, he stuck to his guitar playing except for this song, and left the male vocal parts to one of the backing singers - and yes, there were three of them!

My favourites for the night? "When I Kissed The Teacher", "That's Me" and "I Wonder (Departure)". "Benny" was so much more authentic than his Bjorn Again counterpart - all the riffs and nuances were there, particularly gorgeous was his piano solo in "I Wonder". And how privileged did we all feel at the end of the show - all four members came out to talk to us, still in costume. We chatted for a good half hour, and they were so happy to be there - the vibe was great. They told us that they're working on including "Just A Notion" in their show - and revealed that they're also doing a new recording of the song.

We bade ARRIVAL farewell and then proceeded to the bar of the Revesby Workers' Club, where we talked (and drank) the night away until about 3.30am... The last stragglers made a very interesting (and illegal) carload - Jeff Roberts was the hero of the moment when he offered to ferry Graeme, Ian, Grant, Matti Crocker and me to our respective destinations... Ian was crowd-surfer extraordinaire when he agreed to straddle the three of us squeezed into the back of Jeff's small sedan...

ARRIVAL's concert last night had no gimmicks, no silly nicknames, no slapstick routines. It was pure, unadulterated ABBA. Graeme is right... they are the quintessential act, visually and musically. It was a concert deserving of a bigger audience, but those who were there made sure the group went away smiling. ARRIVAL's Benny told me after the show: "We work very very hard to pay tribute to ABBA. Their music means so much to us." And it was there for all to see. The creative activity at work here is astounding to say the least.

Graeme went to amazing effort to help ARRIVAL get an audience - thank you so much. It was great to see you, Grant and Ian again and I hope you had a great time at the second show. My message to fellow fans after seeing ARRIVAL - don't be disillusioned and disheartened by present-day rumours, hype and psychoanalysis. ABBA's future is in good hands.

Chris Patrick, Brisbane, Australia