Every ABBA song from memory at the Festival of Chichester
After performing the complete works of The Beatles from memory for the Festival of Chichester two years ago, this year David Bathurst turns his attention to the Swedish supergroup ABBA.
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00:00Good evening, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers and also
00:05Chairman of the Festival of Chichester. Now, we can rely on David Bathurst to come up with
00:10something truly special for the Festival of Chichester. Two years ago, it was the entirety
00:15of the Beatles from memory. David, I'll leave it to you. What is it you're doing this year
00:19and when?
00:20Well, this year, it's going to be ABBA. I decided literally the day after completing
00:26my Beatles task that I would love to perform the whole of the ABBA catalogue from memory
00:35in the same venue as I did the Beatles, Boxgrove, just outside Chichester. And I set the date
00:42for the 6th of July and as I speak, it's just over a week away.
00:47Fantastic. And ABBA, is that because you're as much an ABBA fan as you are a Beatles fan?
00:52I think possibly even more so. I absolutely adore them. I absolutely adore ABBA.
00:57What is it about them then?
00:59I just love everything. The complete package. I mean, the songs, superb tunes, great melodies
01:05and lots of variety both in terms of the melody and also the tone, the content. They do some
01:12very intense, poignant songs. They also do some songs which are completely potty, very
01:18off the wall.
01:19Is it more of a challenge though? Because it's easier to imagine a solo man with piano
01:24accompaniment doing the Beatles, less easy to imagine ABBA. Is that a fair comment?
01:29That's a very fair comment indeed. There is a smaller number of ABBA songs. It's something
01:33like 120, 125 compared with getting on for 200 Beatles songs. But there are two issues,
01:41the logistics, actually getting the music. Unfortunately, ABBA didn't produce a nice
01:45convenient omnibus songbook like you get with the Beatles. I had to go digging around
01:50for the tunes and the harmonies that I needed. But also the orchestrations, the harmonies
01:56aren't straightforward. The cues and entries aren't straightforward either. So that's taken
02:00a lot of work, but we're getting there.
02:02So what proportion do you think people will know? It's a smaller proportion, isn't it,
02:06than the Beatles?
02:07I would say so, yes. I would say possibly no more than about a quarter will be well
02:11known to most people. Obviously, you've got the old favourites, Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia,
02:17Waterloo, Winner Takes It All. But then there are so many really niche ones. And I'm hoping
02:24that those who come along to hear me, watch me, will pick up some of the great tunes that
02:30exist that aren't so well known.
02:32It sounds fabulous. And in terms of the learning, are the Beatles easier to learn? I mean, the
02:37Beatles have got some monumentally complicated ones, haven't they? Which was easier learning?
02:41If anything, I think ABBA was marginally easier. But there are one or two ABBA songs
02:47that run the Beatles pretty close. There's one called The Day Before You Came, which
02:51is very, very wordy. Another one called I Am The City, which goes at 100 miles an hour.
02:57And that's taken a huge amount of rehearsal. Learning the Gilbert and Sullivan songs from
03:02memory, including their patter songs, was a great help in learning that one, I have
03:05to say.
03:06And what's it going to take for you to get through this on the day, do you think?
03:10Lots of bananas, lots of caffeine, and lots of encouragement, and lots of support. All
03:17of those things together.
03:18The point being, it's open. You want people to come along.
03:21Absolutely. Very much so. Admission's absolutely free. We're going to ask people who come to
03:27contribute to a retiring collection in aid of three great charities, the Sussex Snowdrop
03:32Trust, the Sage House Dementia Hub, and Boxgrove Prairie itself.
03:36Fantastic. So the times and the venue again.
03:39So it's the St. Blaise Centre, which is in the grounds of Boxgrove Prairie, just outside
03:43Chichester, starting at 9.45 in the morning, finishing roughly quarter past five in the
03:48evening.
03:49And given that you decided on ABBA the day after The Beatles, do you have an inkling
03:53of who you might decide for next time? Or is that unfair to ask you now?
03:57It's a toughie. I could go ABC, ABBA, The Beatles, Carpenters. But I've got one or two
04:03other possibilities as well, which I'm turning around in my mind. But it will depend very
04:08much on the logistics, how easy they are to obtain, and how many of them there are
04:12in total.
04:13Fantastic. And can you think of anyone who's done this before?
04:17I can think of nobody who's done this before. And I can guarantee that there'll be one or
04:21two songs which have never been performed in this country before.
04:25Fantastic. Well, along may you keep doing strange and brilliant and bizarre things for
04:29the Festival of Chichester. Great to speak to you, David. Thank you.
04:32And you too, Phil. Many thanks.