A person's first concert is one of those memories that tends to last a lifetime. In my case, it was the Spice Girls at Wembley — a fact I once cringed at during a goth phase, but now regard with pride.

For a young person, that first experience of live music can feel defining, which gives the accompanying parent a serious responsibility. For the rest of her life, my daughter will be able to tell people that her first gig was ABBA Voyage.

The show may often be associated with hen parties and girls' nights out, but ABBA Voyage — the virtual concert that recreates the Swedish quartet in their 1979 pomp — also works remarkably well as a family day out. One advantage is its location in the Olympic Park, which means arriving by DLR. Children tend to love the DLR: it is a train in the sky with no driver. It is not something I considered before having a child, but adults who take the front seats and deny children the thrill of "driving" the DLR now seem particularly hard to forgive, perhaps even more so than those who play social media aloud without headphones.

The ABBA Arena is highly child-friendly

The second major strength is how smoothly the experience is organised. The ABBA Arena was purpose-built at a reported cost of $175m, and the practical details show it: queues move quickly, toilets are plentiful and staff are friendly. Phones are banned inside the performance, meaning children experience the concert without viewing it through a screen — a welcome feature for parents concerned about the harms of social media.

The virtual versions of Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad are strikingly convincing. The "ABBAtars" were developed over several years with George Lucas's visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic, using motion capture of the four band members themselves. Watching them perform may be the closest modern equivalent to the 1895 cinema audiences said to have been terrified that a filmed train was about to run them over. As my daughter's friend put it: "they look so real!" There is not much to add to that assessment.

Some of the 1970s nostalgia was inevitably lost on my Generation Alpha companions, but the music itself proved timeless and had them twirling in the aisles. ABBA remains difficult to dislike, especially for young girls. My daughter sang Dancing Queen all the way home.

ABBA Voyage is part of a broader wave of digital and virtual concert experiences that have expanded what "live" music can mean, from hologram tours of deceased artists to Fortnite concerts staged by the likes of Ariana Grande and Travis Scott. What sets this production apart is that the performers are still alive and were actively involved in creating their digital counterparts, giving the show an authenticity that purely posthumous or animated spectacles cannot match.

The final word of this review belongs to her: "You should go because it's so colourful and futuristic".

ABBA Voyage is offering a family rate, under which each adult ticket can be used to purchase up to two half-price child tickets. More information is available at