Dancing Queens Unite: The Magical London Experience Every Woman Over 50 Deserves

Decades after first hearing ABBA, I discovered a London experience that felt like a reunion with every version of myself.

Travel evolves as we age, but the desire for joy never does. In fact, it becomes more urgent. We’ve lived enough life to understand what truly sustains us – connection, memory, laughter, freedom, and those rare moments that remind us we are still wonderfully, vibrantly alive. For women over 50, few experiences summon that feeling quite like ABBA Voyage in London.

I didn’t go as a superfan. My relationship with ABBA began decades ago with a shrug and a barter that still makes me smile. But this show turned out to be unexpectedly uplifting – so much so that I now think every woman in our generation should consider taking the trip.

Nearly 50 years ago, I was living in Tokyo, a scrappy young music journalist dating a Swiss man who adored ABBA with unshakeable devotion. I, on the other hand, preferred my music raw and edgy. Eurovision pop at that time felt like a brightly colored trifle – fun, but not something that lingered.

Because of my work, I had access to concerts, LPs, and all the backstage perks. One afternoon, he made me a proposal: “Give me your ABBA tickets, and I’ll buy you anything you want.” I told him I needed a kitchen table and two chairs. He bought them; I handed over the tickets. At the time, it felt like the most logical exchange in the world.

ABBA Songs

Yet ABBA’s music – whether you sought it out – had a way of weaving itself into the architecture of your life. Songs slipped into weddings, road trips, heartbreaks, new beginnings, or those late-night moments when melody becomes memory. Even when I brushed them off, they stayed with me.

So, when my longtime British friend Emma, whom I met while living in Amsterdam 25 years ago, and I planned a London getaway, something inside nudged me toward ABBA Voyage – not out of fandom, but curiosity. And because it felt only right to lean into the moment, I slipped into a silver glitter top, leather trousers, and a pink fur pom-pom scarf before stepping out into the night. At this stage of life, dressing joyfully is its own declaration.

Reliving ABBA

Stepping into the ABBA Arena feels like stepping into a vivid recollection of your younger self. Women in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and older filled the audience, traveling in groups, pairs, or alone. There was something reassuring – even exhilarating – about being surrounded by women who carry themselves with confidence and an unspoken sense of having lived.

London itself helps set the tone. It’s one of the easiest cities in the world for a solo woman traveler: safe, clean transportation, well-lit streets, English-speaking ease, and an endless tapestry of things to do. You can wander through museums, linger in bookshops, people-watch in cafés, stroll along the Thames, or treat yourself to afternoon tea without a flicker of discomfort. London doesn’t make you feel out of place – it invites you in.

By the time you arrive at the ABBA Arena, you’re already inside a story of your own.

The moment you step inside, the energy shifts. The interior glows with a theatrical blend of violet shadows, sapphire beams, warm amber pools, and sudden flashes of gold. These aren’t static lights – they move with the music. They create mood, tension, softness, and joy. The space feels alive, as if it’s breathing with you.

No Ordinary Venue

It doesn’t feel like a concert venue. It feels like a jewel box humming with anticipation.

Even if technology isn’t something you think about, the artistry behind ABBA Voyage is impossible to ignore. The entire arena was built exclusively for this show. Nothing is borrowed, and nothing is accidental. The building itself is an instrument.

ABBA reunited in a Stockholm studio wearing motion-capture suits for weeks, performing every gesture, every harmony, every subtle expression. Industrial Light & Magic – the same team responsible for Star Wars – took those performances and transformed them into astonishingly lifelike digital avatars. Not cartoonish. Not robotic. Not uncanny. Simply… young again. Young, but still unmistakably themselves.

Behind them, a curved LED screen wraps you in landscapes so detailed your eyes can’t find the edges. One moment, it looks like a traditional stage. The next, it dissolves into a cosmic swirl of color, or a dreamlike world that feels three-dimensional. At times, it seems as though the stage opens into another realm entirely.

Hundreds of speakers are hidden throughout the arena, creating a warm, enveloping sound that comes from everywhere at once rather than blasting forward. Hydraulics move the stage so smoothly you don’t notice the mechanics – only the transformation. Panels glide, light bends, and the environment shifts around you like you’ve stepped into a living music video.

Anchoring everything is the live band – the Voyagers – whose musicianship adds the warmth no technology can replicate. Their harmonies and instruments give the performance its humanity, grounding the brilliance in something deeply real.

There was a singular moment, during “Dancing Queen,” when the entire arena became a single movement of energy. Women who haven’t danced in years suddenly began moving with abandon. Laughter rose. Voices blended in unison. People who were strangers minutes before glanced at each other with the same knowing expression: We’re still here. We still know how to feel alive.

It was impossible not to join in.

A Shift in the Air

And in that moment, something shifted. The digital brilliance faded into the background, and what rose to the surface was simple human joy. The music was a bridge between who we were, who we are, and who we’re still becoming.

As for what to wear? Whatever lights you up. This is not the night to be understated. Sequins, shimmer, bold colors – lean into the fun. I wore a silver glitter top, leather trousers, and a pink fur pom-pom scarf, and fit right in with thousands of other women doing exactly the same.

Arrive early. Buy some drinks. Take photos. Enjoy every moment.

Not Just a Show

I expected entertainment. I left feeling transformed – lighter, freer, somehow both nostalgic and forward-looking. ABBA Voyage isn’t just a show. It’s a celebration of everything we’ve lived through – and everything still ahead.

And if the Dancing Queen inside you hasn’t been out in a while, London is the perfect place to let her shine again.

The ABBA Arena sits beside Pudding Mill Lane station on the DLR line – a quick two-minute walk from platform to entrance. Getting around London is remarkably simple: use an Oyster Card, a contactless credit card, or Apple/Google Pay. Tap in, tap out, and you’re moving through the city like a local.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Are you an ABBA fan? What’s your favorite song?