Auftakt für Brighton = Prelude for Brighton

ABBA performed (mimed) Waterloo (English).

This Eurovision Song Contest Preview was broadcast in 2 parts by HR Germany and previewed all the entries for the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. Waterloo was in part 1 of the German broadcast.

If this was a little film of Waterloo sent around Europe, then this could possibly have been ABBA's first appearance on British television if they were used in the Eurovision Song Contest Preview programme broadcast (in colour!) on BBC1 on 31 March 1974 at 4.45pm as per this Radio Times snippet (the issue cost 5p!). According to the Radio Times, ABBA were in part 2 so it is not the same order as the German version (where ABBA were in part 1). The UK's presenter was different too (David Vine) so perhaps the clips were sent around Europe and each country created their own versions. Bizarre then that this clip has not been seen in full before now.

This also means that this performance is AFTER their winning performance at Melodifestivalen which would explain the similar set.  Whether it was filmed straight afterwards on 9 February or perhaps the following day is unknown.

This entry refers to the GERMAN Eurovision preview because this is where the clip below is from. It also previews the performances of Olivia Newton-John, Irene Sheer, and Gigliola Cinquetti amongst others.

Broadcasting Info:

• 27 and 28 March 1974, HR, Germany, 1974
• BBC1, UK, 31 March 1974 at 4.45pm
• Finnish TV, 30 March 1974 and called Eurovision laulukilpailu
• Two short clips were also broadcast in Wenn das kein Grund zum Feiern ist... on 17 August 2002 on ARD Germany
• HR (local company of ARD), Germany, 28 December 2007 (a very short clip - 13 seconds) at 10pm in a TV special about German entries to Eurovision called Unser Lied für den Grand Prix (Our song for the Grand Prix).
  
   

This clip has been released on the CD/DVD ABBA – Waterloo Deluxe Edition on 6 April 2014.

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Getting to this point - identifying where the clip came from and who/what/why/where/when - was truly a huge collaborative effort because I can't possibly do it on my own.  Thank you to everyone who contacted me to add to the discussion and not wanted to let it go until we had a resolution.  

It seemed a shame to over-write the discussions which led us to arrive at this point so they are available below!

It all started when a short clip was shown on Unser Lied für den Grand Prix (Our song for the Grand Prix) in Germany .... all we knew about it was that it was Waterloo sung in English and the set looked very much like that for Melodifestivalen.

It would seem to have been filmed at the same time (give or take a day or so) and the same place as for Melodiestivalen. The set is virtually identical (same round door, same silver arch) but with different lighting. (Agnetha is wearing silver boots in this clip, not black ones as worn for the Melodifestivalen. It also looks like she is not wearing any t-shirt under her blue top. For Melodifestivalen, she's wearing a red top underneath).

So was this the final rehearsal (the dress rehearsal) before the competition?  Why in English?   Perhaps because if they knew it was being sent around Europe then.

The questions that need answering:

• Was this before or after their Melodifestivalen win?
• If it was before, why was it in English?
• If it was after, what programme/purpose was it recorded for and where was it broadcast?
  
   

The case for a REHEARSAL performance FOR Melodifestivalen:
If you take the view that the set wasn't quite finished, This could have been an early rehearsal, when the set wasn't quite finished and ABBA later changed some details like swapping the white baby grand piano for the brown upright piano in the actual Melodifestivalen. (Björn subsequently swapped his acoustic guitar for the star-shaped guitar in the actual Eurovision Song Contest).

I didn't think it could be Melodifestivalen because they sang Waterloo in Swedish, not English, like this clip is. But dear Henk made some good points about Eurovision ie. that on the start of the Eurovision song contest, all countries had to sing in their native language. Later it was possible to sing in another language (mostly English it seemed). In 1975, Teach-In had to sing Ding A Dong in Dutch for their national finals, but for the Eurovision itself, they were free to choose - and they chose to sing it in English.

So perhaps ABBA HAD to perform Waterloo in Swedish for Melodifestivalen, but already had the English version virtually ready and tried it for this rehearsal. It MIGHT have been the first time they had performed it. Remember that Stig and ABBA had planned this whole campaign very carefully! Perhaps after they saw their English performance they were able to review how they looked and how it sounded - ready for their victory in Brighton

Also, the set looks unfinished... in this clip, the door is visible throughout the performance, whereas in the Melodifestivalen, the door disappears behind a silver drop-down screen as soon as Agnetha & Frida have run through it.

The case for it being recorded AFTER their Melodifestivalen win:
If you take the view that the set was finished with before dismantling ...

A fan from Finland also has a good thought: that this clip might have originally been shown in one of those programmes usually shown in the run-up to the Eurovision Song Contest to introduce the songs from the participating countries. One such programme was broadcast on Finnish TV on 30 March 1974 and called Eurovision laulukilpailu (Eurosivion Song Contest) lasting 30 minutes in colour (apparently not all programmes broadcast on Finnish TV in 1974 were in colour) and described in a TV listings magazine as "Preview I: Eurovision presents the participants of the song contest, held in Brighton on April 6th. The first part includes Finland, Great Britain, Spain, Norway, Greece, Israel, Yugoslavia, Sweden and Luxembourg." There was no PROMO until June 1974.

Another fan, "SS", says, "there would, looking at it one way, have been no reason to make a clip of them performing the English version of Waterloo if they hadn't have won Melodifestivalen". This point was made by 2-3 fans also. A good point but a bit too negative to fit in with the plans and hopes of Stig, Benny and Björn I think, who you get the impression were determined and very confident of a Eurovision win in 1974. On the set "SS" says, "I also think it may have been AFTER because the set is more staged down, no lighting etc, as if it was a quick decision to record it as the set was being dismantled. I also think that maybe this clip was firstly recorded just for the members of ABBA and Stikkan to see how they looked performing the song in English, for example, if they were confident with the lyrics, etc . I then have a feeling this MAY have been passed out to countries who ran a pre-Eurovision show introducing the songs to viewers."

Dutch fan Henk has, I think, hit on the solution to this mystery, and the answer was found in the Dutch comic book released in 1978. On p.26, about Melodifestivalen it says, "Then finally came the last rehearsal; the costume rehearsal. Very important, because it would be taped on video, which would be sent to Europe.”

13 seconds of this footage was broadcast in Germany on 28 December 2007 in a programme about German entries to Eurovision. Using our powers of deduction, the fact that footage of Germany's 2007 entry Roger Cicero was included in this programme must mean that it can't be older than April 2007, which must mean that the company ARD still HAS this clip (maybe complete?) in their archives. That of course makes theory two, that the clip is some kind of promotion clip after Melodifestivalen, much more likely. After all, why should a German TV company own rehearsal footage of a Swedish pre-selection? A clip sent to ARD in order to enable a presentation of the participants of Eurovision 1974 sounds much more plausible. The fact that the Eurovision Song Contest is and was so famous in Germany supports that theory, explaining a possible application for the clip, a possible broadcast, and why it has been archived so well.

A thread on abbasite4everforum (no longer online) gave weight to this theory as someone remembers seeing them a week before Eurovision on British TV.

 

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They are called The Abba on the screen!

Lyrics available on the Official ABBA site

 

Agnetha wore the silver boots that she wore for the Eurovision Song Contest (she wore black boots for Melodifestivalen)

Björn wore different (or altered later) trousers, for this performance they had red zig-zags on his legs.

Thanks to Philip Muytjens, Petri Kaasalainen, Markus, Dustin, Henk Jansen, Colin Mutter, Pascale Ranson, Erik Liebstaedter, Petr Mlejnek, Ian Cole, Sam Shervz, Yannick, Jan Bach, Frank Klophaus, Henk Jensen and Robin Andersson. Thanks also to: abbasite4everforum (no longer online). Huge thanks to Jozsef
YouTube link c/o BennyVideo