The Concert: A Tribute to ABBA
Sarasota has always had a soft spot for music that knows how to make an entrance.
By Edit Sarasota Staff
Sarasota has always had a soft spot for music that knows how to make an entrance. A glint of disco, a bright piano figure, a chorus built for the whole room—and suddenly even the most reserved audience is singing along. That particular kind of communal joy arrives onstage this fall with The Concert: A Tribute to ABBA, an evening devoted to the Swedish quartet whose songs have outlasted trends, decades and, in some cases, entire generations of pop music.
ABBA’s appeal is more durable than nostalgia alone. Beneath the glitter are meticulously crafted songs about longing, uncertainty, romance and reinvention, arranged with the precision of classic pop and delivered with an almost cinematic sense of scale. “Dancing Queen,” “Mamma Mia,” “Take a Chance on Me” and “The Winner Takes It All” remain fixtures because they are both immediately recognizable and emotionally elastic: they can soundtrack a wedding, a road trip, a late-night kitchen dance or the private melancholy of an empty room.
The touring production known as The Concert: A Tribute to ABBA takes that repertoire seriously, recreating the group’s vivid concert style with a full band, layered harmonies, period-inspired costumes and the exuberant visual language associated with ABBA at its peak. The result is less a museum piece than a live celebration of songs that continue to move fluidly between generations. For Sarasota, a city with a deep performing-arts audience and a particular fondness for polished live entertainment, the evening offers an easy pleasure with enough musical craft underneath to reward attentive listeners.
The setting is part of the attraction. The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, with its unmistakable purple exterior and bayside position, has long served as one of Sarasota’s principal gathering places for touring concerts, theater and dance. Its auditorium is especially well suited to an event that depends on the audience becoming part of the performance; ABBA’s choruses are difficult to hear without imagining the room answering back.
The Concert: A Tribute to ABBA takes the Van Wezel stage on Sunday, October 18, 2026. Expect a night of luminous melodies, extravagant hooks and the rare pop repertoire capable of turning an ordinary Sarasota evening into a shared singalong.