Twenty years ago today I saw ABBA live in concert at Wembley Arena. : - ))))

Let me start with a bit of background .... in summer of 1979 I was 14.

Since the announcement of tickets being on sale, one of my neighbours in particular had been trying to get me tickets. She queued at Wembley Arena (sold out) and at Chapels in Bond Street (sold out) - remember there were no credit card hotlines in those days! We even phoned up private advertisers in the Evening Standard to find that they were selling their tickets for over £100 - and in 1979, that was a price that was way out of reach to us. It broke my heart.

When the ABBA magazine arrived with the competition, it seemed like this was my last chance. So I entered ten times under each of the names of my family, and when I ran out of names, I used my teddy bear as an entrant. Instead of his usual name of Teddy, his entry was posted under the name 'Edward Barnes'!

About two months later, the ABBA magazine arrived with the names of the competition winners. I held the issue in my hands knowing that the biggest disappointment of my life so far was about to unfold ... but I was wrong!!

Amazingly, there was a 'Sara Barnes' in the list of competition winners. At first I just whooped and jumped with joy - I had won!!! But, oh my God, was I the ONLY Sara Barnes in the world? No I wasn't - because a girl I got the train to school with (who went to another school) had a Sara Barnes in her class and it was spelled the same way too (i.e. not 'Sarah'). So doubt crept in, I hadn't won the tickets after all ... tragedy, I had to be picked up off the floor in a hysterical, screaming, inconsolable fit. After all, I'd entered 10 times - what would be the chances of MY entry, the one under MY name, being a winner? I was prepared to tag along to the concert as the friend of Edward Barnes if I had to! So I didn't know if I'd won or not.

For two weeks I moped about depressed as hell. Then half-term came and I had a whole week off school to dwell on my bad luck even more. Oh great!!

On Thursday morning, there was knock on the door and from my bed upstairs I heard my Mum express surprise to the postman at having received something that needed signing for. I thought nothing more of it - my Dad was an avid stamp collector and always getting post so I thought it was for him.

(I'm starting to well up here now, I have a lump in the throat ....)

A short while later, my Mum came into my bedroom carrying a tray. She'd brought me breakfast in bed. A bowl of cereal and a nice cup of tea. She opened the curtains and sat down on my bed (unheard of!) as I started to sip from my cup. Then she produced something from underneath her jumper - a letter, addressed to me in a typeface, not hand-written (14 year olds never get 'official' post!). It was registered post.

Suddenly my heart went berserk as I realised this may just be the best bit of post I would ever receive. I opened the envelope and pulled out a light blue coloured letter. As I opened out the letter, I saw the words 'ABBA Magazine' in big dark blue letters with the official ABBA logo. Two orange and white pieces of paper dropped onto my lap face up. Two tickets to see my favourite group in three weeks time. My mope had ended!! Was I the happiest girl in the whole wide world. Quite possibly so!! I was ecstatic, I cried my eyes out. My Mum had her happy daughter back again ....

Over the next week another agony began - who to take with me. My best friend Jenny wanted to come with me but she didn't like ABBA as much as my other friend Honor. Honor's Mum was Swiss and Honor had the Golden Double Greatest Hits album and I was really impressed by that! Honor used to sing Rock Me with me in the playground doing a silly dance routine. I thought it was therefore only fair that Honor come with me and not Jenny. I wanted a FAN to benefit from this, not a non-fan who just wanted to come along for the ride. (I'm making a point here by the way .....). Next problem - Jenny didn't like Honor which at 14 is a big deal. So I lied in the name of ABBA and I told Jenny that I was going with my Mum. To this day Jenny doesn't know that Honor came with me! And to this day, I don't regret my decision not to take my best friend.

10th November 1979 was a Saturday

Honor's parents dropped her off early afternoon so we could get ready together and so Honor could see my baby rabbits (born five weeks earlier).

We spent the afternoon playing with the rabbits and I could hardly contain my excitement. I'd already seen Benny & Björn on Swap Shop that morning and was really disappointed that Frida & Agnetha weren't on too - but never mind, I'll see them later!

We left my house together at 18.00 as we were getting the 83 bus from Hanwell to Wembley. Mum and Dad were going to meet us outside afterwards and bring us home.

We journeyed in more or less silence, I felt sick with nerves. And then, as we rounded the last roundabout of the journey, I caught sight of the big ABBA sign at the front of the Arena, It was all lit up and it was enormous. My heart jumped through my mouth and started to beat really quickly. I wanted to stand in front of the sign and just stare at it, it was fantastic.

Inside, I only had enough money to buy a programme and a scarf but there were lots of other goodies for sale there which made me really sad!! Oh how I hated being so young and penniless ...

My next disappointment was to find that the tickets were in the back third of the Arena on the floor - the stage seemed like miles away and I was short-sighted! The concert was due to start at 8.00pm and by that time, the place was packed.

The stage was covered by an enormous pair of blue velvet-looking curtains and lit from the front. It looked very impressive. Occasionally a spotlight (one year later I'd know it as a Super Trouper!) would appear to the right of the curtains. The audience would hush and the light would go away. Then there was a nervous ripple of laughter! This happened 3-4 times. The last couple of times a drum could be heard from behind the curtains as the musicians were getting into place.

And then it happened. The lights went down over the audience and that haunting melody echoed out across the arena. It seemed to go on forever and I was almost hysterical with excitement! I wanted to burst out crying again! As the melody built and built, to THAT bit, (you know the bit I mean!), the curtains opened and there was Agnetha and Frida standing there with their arms outstretched in those white cloaks like two upside-down Vs (as if spelling out Voulez Vous!) The place erupted! The audience stood up and applauded and what struck me was that everyone was calm, there was no screaming, there was no shouting or cheering. It was the most RESPECTFUL applause I've ever experienced, as if everyone realised just what an honour it was to be standing in the same room as these four talented people standing on the stage.

They launched into Voulez Vous and after that I don't remember too much! I remember not being able to see a whole lot. Being 4'11" now, I must have been even shorter then so when everyone else stood up I couldn't see a thing. I stood on my chair but got told off by a security guard. I remember seeing Agnetha and Frida running up and down those stairs on either side of the stage to get closer to the audience. I remember Björn introducing 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' as "current number three in the British charts!" and I remember "Do you wanna hear an oldie?!" That was me shouting "YESSSSS!!!"

I remember the strange introduction to 'Summer Night City' and I remember the audience going "Aaaaahhh!" when 'Thank You For The Music' started! I remember Tomas Ledin because I remember thinking "get off, get off I want ABBA!" . I remember Agnetha doing her 'I'm Still Alive' because she sounded so fragile, like her heart was still broken and I wanted to hug her (no change there then!). I remember that Benny's front synthesiers moved around 360 degrees because he kept spinning it round - and I remember him getting lots of loving cuddles from his beautiful fiancée. She'd go up and cuddle him from behind - lucky Frida (no, seriously - Benny only married Mona because he hadn't met me first ....).

I remember when the Polar ice-caps moved apart in the middle of the stage to reveal A B B A in lights but at first they just flashed individually, or just the A's or just the B's or one at a time, or one after the other. Then with 'Dancing Queen' I THINK or was it 'Hole In Your Soul' all four letters lit up spelling ABBA and that was a great moment (those who've been to the B&B concert will understand - it's a bit like when the A's make an appearance!).

And I remember 'Waterloo' because just when you thought it was finished, there was a little bit more. I remember being really sweaty and I remember my neck hurting through straining to see and my feet hurting because I was wearing high heels!

Then it was all over. We walked out the Arena, and Mum and Dad were right there waiting for us. Mum said that I was dressed like every other girl in the arena - I had burgundy footless tights (remember those girls?! - they gave you freezing cold feet!), black skirt, burgundy jumper, and tweedy jacket!

They'd been standing outside for about 15 minutes and had heard the end of the concert quite clearly outside standing there with a load of other parents. They'd even heard Björn asking if we wanted to hear an oldie, because they said the roof nearly came off when everyone shouted back at him!

Well there's my memories of that day, I hope you think it was a well-spent lunch hour at work today!!

Sara - Bracknell, UK