When ABRA Cadabra began more than a decade ago, the quartet decided early on they would never want to be known as musical impersonators. Instead, the Vancouver-based group comprised of Ryan Langevin, Jeanette O’Keeffe, Marlie Collins and Jonas Falle aimed to pay tribute to a band they loved.
Now, with countless live shows under their sparkling belts, ABRA Cadabra have perfected their act as a fresh, respectful and classy homage to the Swedish pop supergroup.
“We are paying tribute to ABBA’s music and honouring them; we do it as ourselves and fans of the music,” says O’Keeffe. “It’s a nostalgic journey that we are taking people on, but it’s also such great music that we want to do it justice, so we take a lot of care in working out the songs and putting on a great show for people.”
O’Keeffe says because ABBA’s music is so uplifting and timeless it is common for whole families to come out to ABRA Cadabra shows and enjoy their versions of hits songs such as “Dancing Queen,” “Fernando,” “Waterloo,” “Take a Chance on Me,” and the list goes on.
“What I find so unique about ABBA’s music is our audience ranges from young kids to grandparents, so we’ll do a show and there are three generations in the audience, all singing along to the songs,” she says. “That is the coolest thing for me to see, that it spans generations.”
A clear distinction is made in the music industry between musical impersonators and tribute bands and O’Keeffe is proud to say ABRA Cadabra falls into the latter category. The show includes ABBA songs as well as some added bonuses to encourage audience interaction.
“We make it clear from the get-go that we are not trying to pretend to be ABBA,” she says. “We share the music and the stories behind the songs, as well as information about ABBA that the audience would be interested in.”
The group’s Powell River show has special importance, says O’Keeffe, as longtime ABRA Cadabra sound technician Alan Rempel now lives in Powell River and will be mixing sound at Evergreen Theatre that night.
“Alan has been with us almost since the beginning and he’s just this wonderful guy who is responsible for us having such good sound,” she says, “so it will be a nice reunion for us.”
ABRA Cadabra
When: 7:30 pm, Thursday, October 20
Where: Evergreen Theatre
Price: $39.50 plus fees
Info: 604.485.2891, rockitboy.com
