ABBA Voyage Reviews: What the Critics Say

ABBA Voyage opened at the ABBA Arena on 27 May 2022 and has been reviewed ever since, with ratings consistently three stars and above.

Reviewers do not argue about how well it is done. They argue about what it is, and that is the same question a customer is weighing before booking.

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The Critics' Verdict

Four years of reviews, and only one has gone below four stars.

The pattern inside them is worth more than the average. Four of the five national broadsheets landed on four: the Times, the Telegraph, the Independent and the Observer. The Guardian alone went to five. Away from the broadsheets it is mostly fives.

They were not cooler about the execution, because nobody is. They were cooler about the premise, and the fifth star is what they held back for it. That is the same reservation the one three-star notice is made of, and it is the thing to make your mind up about before you book, not the quality of what is on the stage.

And they have not changed their minds. The praise in April 2026 is the praise from opening night, and so is the reservation.

Read across, they describe the same evening. The illusion works. The arena is part of the show. The songs do what the songs do. Where they part company is over whether a concert with nobody physically on the stage is a concert.

What the Reviews Praised

The illusion, first, and no critic dissents on it. The Guardian's Alexis Petridis wrote in May 2022 that "it's almost impossible to tell you're not watching human beings", and the five-star notices that week reach for the same helplessness: PinkNews' Darren Scott called it "quite literally, jaw-dropping".

The Evening Standard's David Smyth, in May 2022, put a number on it: the ABBAtars are "about 80 per cent realistic, 20 per cent Madame Tussauds". He also caught the detail that makes the case for the other side: "they even came on late and left the stage for their costume changes".

It still holds four years on. LouReviews' Louise Penn, at four stars in April 2026, wrote that when "a 3,000 seater arena all singing the chorus of 'Fernando', you can easily forget that the four members of the band are not actually there".

The arena itself. The building, its speakers and its lighting get picked out as often as the ABBAtars. On: Yorkshire Magazine, in May 2026, called it "an assault on the senses". The Enfield Independent, at five stars in 2023, wrote that "this show really does have to be seen to be believed. Far more than a traditional performance, it's an experience."

And the feeling, which surprised people. The New Statesman's Emily Bootle, in May 2022, called it "an extraordinary technological and artistic achievement, brilliantly entertaining and somehow beautifully uncynical", closing on "there is nothing more real than pop music". musicOMH's Ian Wade, writing in May 2025, described "nuclear-level nostalgia, smacking you hard with all the feels as you dance, cry and grin away the night". NME's Andrew Trendell reckoned others would copy it and struggle: "it'll be a struggle to come close to the experience."

Where Reviews Were Mixed

Is it a concert or a cinema screening? This is the real split and it has nothing to do with quality. monstagigz, the three-star notice of May 2022, found it "a rather soulless, cinematic experience" while calling the ABBAtars incredible in the previous breath. LouReviews, four stars in April 2026, arrived independently at the same place: "I'm not entirely convinced about this innovation replacing real, live musicians, and wonder how it might evolve in the future." Four years apart, two reviewers heard the same thing and had the same doubt about it.

The strongest argument against booking runs further. It says that once you set the technology aside, what is left is an ABBA night in a very sophisticated disco; that a digital performer cannot feed off a crowd and give the energy back the way a live one does; and that anyone who wants human performance would be better served by Mamma Mia! at a lower price. It is a fair case and it concedes the music, because ABBA's catalogue is not the part anybody disputes.

The answer to it is that there is nothing else like this anywhere in the world. That is the reason to go: there is one of these, and you cannot see it any other way.

Against them, and just as firm. Nialler9's Niall Byrne, writing in January 2024, was precise rather than mystical about what is happening: "these aren't holograms, they aren't 3D, they are 2D renders of 3D models life-size on video screens", and still concluded, "you really haven't seen anything like ABBA Voyage before". Rolling Stone UK's Brit Dawson, at four stars, called what the band and producers had done "groundbreaking".

The set list, and this one has been settled. The commonest criticism of 2022 was that hits were missing. WhatsOnStage's Alex Wood, on a five-star review, warned that "anyone awaiting… certain songs will be left disappointed", and reviewers named Take a Chance on Me and Money, Money, Money as the absentees. Both went into the show in May 2025, along with Super Trouper and The Name of the Game. That criticism no longer applies, and a 2022 review is the wrong place to check it.

One complaint recurs, and it is the only thing about the show itself that more than one critic dislikes. Partway through, the four leave the stage and an animated film plays. The Guardian called it a lull that provided "an opportunity to visit the bar", the Observer could not see what it was doing "beyond padding out the voyage theme", and the Independent found it "a baffling anime film". Three papers, two years apart, on the same few minutes. It is brief, and everyone who mentions it still recommends the show.

The Times adds two of its own: the sequence of the four in neon catsuits was "just too synthetic", and the cartoon during Voulez Vous added nothing. Everything else in the notices argues about the concept rather than the staging.

Two critics, independently, put the weakness on the relay screens rather than on the figures, and that is the one thing here that should change what you book. The Guardian saw "a hint of video game uncanny valley about the projections on the giant screens either side of the stage, but your attention is continually drawn to the human-sized avatars", and the Independent found that on the bigger screens they "have a touch of the video game character about them". The illusion is at its best on the stage itself. The closer you are to watching the real thing rather than a screen of it, the better it works.

The most useful reservation comes from the Independent. Jessie Thompson, also at four stars, put it as "the show lacks emotional connection… the ABBAtars don't know we're clapping or singing along", and then answered it herself, because "the real alchemy here is happening all around you". If you are deciding, that is the trade in one sentence.

Price. Raised by the sceptics and by the enthusiasts alike: the Enfield Independent noted on a five-star review that tickets cost more than a standard arena concert. It is worth budgeting for rather than a mark against the show.

The live band is praised throughout, but the musicians change from year to year, so any 2022 praise of a particular player describes somebody who has since moved on.

Is ABBA Voyage Right for You?

Book it if you love the songs, or if the technology is the draw. Those are the two audiences the reviews describe, and the show is built squarely for them. It is not a general night out that happens to have ABBA in it.

Book the Dance Floor if you can stand for 100 minutes. It costs more than a seat and it is the better evening. The concert runs straight through with no interval, so a standing ticket means the whole 100 minutes on your feet.

Think twice if you want people on the stage. The reservation two reviewers reached four years apart is the one to take seriously, and if live human performance is the point of a night out for you, it will be the thing you notice. Mamma Mia! is the live alternative and it costs less.

Think twice about the price against a normal gig. You are paying arena money and more for a shorter concert. What you get for it is the thing nobody else has.

For children, the venue recommends 6 and over, under-3s are not admitted at all, under-16s must be with an adult of 18 or over, and the Dance Floor is not recommended below 12. It is concert-loud with heavy flashing lights and lasers throughout.

If you are weighing it up, call us on 020 7193 9050 and we will talk it through.

Book ABBA Voyage Tickets

Seats start at around £40.50 and Dance Floor tickets at around £57.50, so the cheapest way in is a seat, though standing costs less than most of the seats do. All-in pricing, so the price you see is what you pay.

New dates are released monthly rather than in one on-sale, so a date that is not there today may open next month.

Times, the schedule, where to stand and how to get there sit on our ABBA Voyage tickets page, and the building itself is covered in our ABBA Arena guide.

Book tickets • Call us on 020 7193 9050

Sources

The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent, The Observer, The Evening Standard, The New Statesman, NME, WhatsOnStage, Time Out, PinkNews, Rolling Stone UK, Attitude, musicOMH, Nialler9, London Theatre, All That Dazzles, monstagigz, Enfield Independent, On: Yorkshire Magazine, Every Record Tells A Story, LouReviews.