RED BANK: HOMAGE, SWEET HOMAGE
The members of Abba Mania bring their top-touring tribute to the Scandinavian pop conquerors back to the Basie, in a week that also boasts spot-on salutes to The Beatles and Janis Joplin.
Tribute acts! For dedicated music fans of the baby-boomer era, the alarming loss of one AM/FM legend after another is tempered only the demand for a newer, bigger breed of hard-touring sonic soundalikes. It’s an experience that’s shockingly “Even Better Than the Real Thing” in many cases, when stacked up against the stooping shoulders and flattening voices of those aging 60s-70s-80s survivors — and for venues like our Count Basie Theatre, it’s a crowd-pleasing and seat-filling brand of fun fantasy that manifests itself three ways from here to next Sunday.
From Broadway to birthday parties, the epochal 1970s hits of international pop sensations ABBA have never even come close to going out of style – and with the savvy Swedes having stuck Beatle-like to their guns regarding any prospect of reunion, the market for maximum mamma-mia has been the province of acts like Abba Mania, the theater-scale tribute show that takes the Basie stage this Saturday, February 20, for what promises to be a “respectful and enjoyable” sound-and-fashion sojourn through such polyester pacesetters as “Voulez Vous,” “Dancing Queen,” “Winner Takes It All,” “Super Trouper” and then some. Take it here for tickets ($25 – $39) to the 8 pm show — and take it to the other side of the record for more.
