Now we’re out a bit later each night we had a slower start to the day, heading out around 9am for a quick breakfast at Pret followed by a particularly nerdy expedition, out to Upton Hill (in Zone 3, shocking!) just to visit a big Dr Who shop out that way. Why not. It’s nearly an hour on the train, but at least it’s direct from our local station on the District line, no need to change trains. It’s fun watching the train when you’re near the last carriage as they have no doors between carriages.

Once we got there, after a bit of a walk, we found nerdy Dr who heaven. It was cool, but they were very thingy about photos, so no pictures. I only bought a few small things, being ever mindful of having to lug at around. Anyway, I was really glad we took the hour trip each way to see it.

We caught the train back, dumped the purchases at the hotel, then back to tube to Leicester Square for our next thing. Found a lovely little Italian lunch spot nearby for a very filling and good value (for London) meal, then on the the theatre.

Perry found that Brokeback Mountain had been turned into a play, he was able to get tickets, so it was time to watch our third tragic love story in a row unfold.

It’s the tale of forbidden love between cowboys Ennis and Jack, who, despite the expectations, pressures, and dangers from society, can’t ignore what their hearts are really feeling for each other. Which of course causes a good deal of drama and another unhappy ending. The play was 90 minutes long, with no intermission, presented ‘in the round’ in a relatively small theatre. One constant throughout those 90 minutes was what could best be described as ‘the ghost of Ennis future’, watching his past unfold. I’m still not sure about the effectiveness of this, but hey I don’t write plays, I’m just a customer. He just didn’t seem to add much in terms of exposition or emotional weight as such. It wasn’t a musical, but rather, “a play with songs”, expertly performed to the side of the stage by a band and singer Eddi Reader, her of the “It’s got to be-e-e-e Perfect” song of times gone by. Her now-more-gravelly voice was a perfect match for the southern-inspired songs dotted throughout the performance. Overall it was pretty well done. I guess the whole point of theatre is often not just to entertain but also to make you think – and you really do have to wonder how many people had been, and indeed still are, deeply unhappy because circumstances wouldn’t let them live their lives as their genuine selves. It’s still happening, and that in itself is a bit sad.

We popped back to the hotel then straight back out again – we’re doing our bit to contribute to Transport for London’s profits today for sure. Tonight’s adventure is not a tragic love story, and definitely not something to make you think. It’s ABBA!

Yep we are fortunate enough to be seeing ABBA Voyage, the concert with the “ABBA-tars” dancing around in stage to a live band. It’s all a bunch of super clever computer graphics, but all the moves etc were capture from the stars of ABBA themselves, turned into realistic digital figures, and played back night after night for our enjoyment.

It takes place in a purpose built facility – they had food so we grabbed a bite to eat, a slightly dried out hot dog but what can you expect from your regular music venue.

As for the show itself – it was incredible, though not quite what I expected. I thought it was going to be more of a virtual abba concert, with the “ABBA-tars” playing through their hits like you’d expect from any musical act. When they were doing this, the show was at its strongest. The effect of four people on stage is so convincing, it really does look real 99% of the time. Their live backing band is big, loud, and plays very well. It’s also backed up with an incredible collections of lights, lasers, movable screens, with effects that travel though the whole theatre front to back, to great effect.

When they’d zoom in on any of the bands reconstructed faces though, you could tell they’re not quite real, just some kind of can’t-put-my-finger-on-it thing that makes you think no, it’s not quite a real human being.

Maybe half the songs were played as Abba-on-stage. Others were turned into virtual video clips, two songs went completely off-piste and became an animated story, which felt a bit out of place. For one song the abba-tars stopped completely and handed it over to the backing band to complete the song.

It just have the hardest job picking what songs to put in the concert, but it wasn’t all “just the hits”, there were a few unexpected songs too. I was glad to see “summer night city” finally getting an outing., and I didn’t expect the show to open with “The visitors”. Pretty sure they managed to squeeze in something from every album, including the new one.

And I’m not sure if I should admit it but I kinda new I’d have a little cry, I guess it’s unavoidable when you see a big chunk of your childhood coming at you live (ish) and loud. Happy tears though 🙂 The funniest part of show probably had to be watching thousands of old 50-somethings dancing terribly to songs from the 70s. It was kinda like every wedding you’ve probably ever been to, just on a much larger scale 🙂

Then 90 minutes later it was all done, they finished with The Winner Takes it All, and I guess we all won on the night. A trip back in time, an amazing light and laser show, and a chance to say we’ve kinda seen a favourite band from our earlier years. Lovely. I’d go again.

Getting home wasn’t a drama, the crowd dispersed across the nearby Docklands Light Rail and on to the tube, so it was a pleasant journey back, and gave me time to write up these notes while they were still fresh in my mind.

We’re slowly but surely running out days (you could take that as a deeply philosophical statement, or, just that the holiday is slowly but surely drawing to a close) but oh, we’re not done yet. Onward!