1977

This was the year that Agnetha and Björn planned on having another baby. But for Agnetha this was not an easily made decision. Other people's lives had to be considered also. Other careers could be adversely affected. After talking, it was decided the best time for having the baby would be around Christmas. The tour would be over before Easter and the second half of the year would be used for working on the next LP in the studio. Björn made a statement saying, ``We didn't want the baby to interfere with the group's progress.''

The 1977 tour began in Europe. This first part of the tour was a great success. News from America were uplifting too. Not only was the Arrival LP gold, but during this year they would add The Greatests Hits LP and the single Dancing Queen to their golden collection. February marked the first time that ABBA were to play in Britain. Five shows had been scheduled. Demand for tickets at London's Royal Albert Hall were so great that ABBA added another show.

The show itself was over 100 minutes long. ABBA used a helicopter sound as they appeared on stage. They packed just about everything they could into their performance, leaving out few songs. Among the new material there was one notable act, the mini stage production of The Girl With The Golden Hair. This mini musical was a fitting end to their performance. It was theatrical and well received by the audiences.

It was at this time that a movie featuring ABBA was being considered. It was decided that if everything would go as planned, the group would not tour in 1978 because Agnetha would be busy caring for her new baby. This film would help if it detailed the 77 tour because no live appearances were planned for 1978. The film had been planned as a documentary and was already being shot in Britain. ABBA decided to include their mini musical in this film. When ABBA arrived in Australia, the most fanatical leg of their tour the decision was made to change the film from a documentary to a comedy. Swedish film maker Lasse Hallstrom, who was also the director of their promotional videos was selected to work on this project. This project became ABBA-The Movie. Most of the footage was shot in Australia during the first half of March.

Sydney, Australia was the venue of the first concert in the last leg of the tour. There were torrential rains and a lot of thought was put into whether or not the concert should go on. The weather did not prevent most of the fans from arriving at the concert. ABBA did not wish to disappoint this audience so they decided to go forward with the show. All the precautions that could be taken were, but during one of Frida's dancing numbers she slipped and fell down. She was badly bruised but still went on with the show. The audience numbered more than 20,000. If ABBA had any doubts about how the Australians felt about them, they were already put to rest by this wet enthusiastic crowd. Tickets were sold out at all of the remaining shows in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth. An additional show was added because Stig did not want the crowd to be over 20,000 people because of safety reasons. He did not wish for any fan to be injured by too large of a crowd.

In October, the single The Name Of The Game/I Wonder was released. These were the first two songs that would be released from the LP, ABBA-The Album. Within two weeks of it's release The Name Of The Game reached #1 on the British charts. It remained there throughout November. The end of 1977 was also when ABBA-The Movie was nearing completion.

Agnetha was also nearing the end of her pregnancy. On December 4th, she gave birth to her second child, Peter Christian Ulvaeus, in a Stockholm hospital. Four days after his birth photographers were anxious to get pictures. On the same day as the pictures were released in the British newspaper, The Daily Express, another ABBA-related story was released, ABBA had overtaken the Beatles in record sales worldwide and had topped record charts in no less than 32 different countries.