Abba set to return with new music and show on September 2

'Abba Voyage' to feature holograms of the band performing their classic hits as well as new tunes

Swedish pop group Abba haven't released new music since 1982. AP

One of the world's most successful musical groups is set to return with new tunes on Thursday.

Swedish four-piece Abba, who rose to fame in the 1970s, is set to break their 39-year hiatus with a new show and release of brand new music.

A new verified Twitter account called Abba Voyage was created on Thursday and teased images from a purpose-built theatre in East London, along with the dates 02.09.21.

According to The Sun, Abba Voyage will reportedly feature “Abba-tars” or avatars of the group's younger selves beamed on stage performing their classic hits. The show will be accompanied by a documentary-style film, which follows the group's comeback from making music to the creation of a hologram show.

“It will be like taking a step back in time for those watching," a source told The Sun.

While the hologram tour was initially announced in 2016, the band is also expected to release five new songs to accompany the show.

Abba members Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad first confirmed they would be stepping back into the studio in 2018.

“I think sometime this year,” singer-songwriter Ulvaeus told CNBC in May 2020 when asked when fans can expect to hear the long-awaited new tunes. But the coronavirus pandemic delayed those plans.

Abba became one of the most successful pop acts in history after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with Waterloo. Their chart-toppers also include Dancing Queen, The Winner Takes It All, I Have A Dream and Voulez-Vous.

They have sold more than 380 million records. A stage show based on their music, Mamma Mia!, is performed worldwide and inspired two blockbuster films: Mamma Mia! (2008) and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018).

The stage musical is also set to return to the UAE on Monday, September 13 at the Dubai Opera.

Speaking to the BBC during the early stages of the Abba Voyage production, Ulvaeus said the idea had been presented to the band by Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller.

"He came to Stockholm and he presented this idea to us that we could make identical digital copies of ourselves of a certain age and that those copies could then go on tour and they could sing our songs, you know, and lip sync. he said. "I've seen this project halfway through and it's already mind-boggling."