After performing the complete works of The Beatles from memory for the Festival of Chichester two years ago, this year David Bathurst turns his attention to the Swedish supergroup ABBA.
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00:00Good evening, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers and also
00:05Chairman of the Festival of Chichester. Now, we can rely on David Bathurst to come up with
00:10something truly special for the Festival of Chichester. Two years ago, it was the entirety
00:15of the Beatles from memory. David, I'll leave it to you. What is it you're doing this year
00:19and when?
00:20Well, this year, it's going to be ABBA. I decided literally the day after completing
00:26my Beatles task that I would love to perform the whole of the ABBA catalogue from memory
00:35in the same venue as I did the Beatles, Boxgrove, just outside Chichester. And I set the date
00:42for the 6th of July and as I speak, it's just over a week away.
00:47Fantastic. And ABBA, is that because you're as much an ABBA fan as you are a Beatles fan?
00:52I think possibly even more so. I absolutely adore them. I absolutely adore ABBA.
00:57What is it about them then?
00:59I just love everything. The complete package. I mean, the songs, superb tunes, great melodies
01:05and lots of variety both in terms of the melody and also the tone, the content. They do some
01:12very intense, poignant songs. They also do some songs which are completely potty, very
01:18off the wall.
01:19Is it more of a challenge though? Because it's easier to imagine a solo man with piano
01:24accompaniment doing the Beatles, less easy to imagine ABBA. Is that a fair comment?
01:29That's a very fair comment indeed. There is a smaller number of ABBA songs. It's something
01:33like 120, 125 compared with getting on for 200 Beatles songs. But there are two issues,
01:41the logistics, actually getting the music. Unfortunately, ABBA didn't produce a nice
01:45convenient omnibus songbook like you get with the Beatles. I had to go digging around
01:50for the tunes and the harmonies that I needed. But also the orchestrations, the harmonies
01:56aren't straightforward. The cues and entries aren't straightforward either. So that's taken
02:00a lot of work, but we're getting there.
02:02So what proportion do you think people will know? It's a smaller proportion, isn't it,
02:06than the Beatles?
02:07I would say so, yes. I would say possibly no more than about a quarter will be well
02:11known to most people. Obviously, you've got the old favourites, Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia,
02:17Waterloo, Winner Takes It All. But then there are so many really niche ones. And I'm hoping
02:24that those who come along to hear me, watch me, will pick up some of the great tunes that
02:30exist that aren't so well known.
02:32It sounds fabulous. And in terms of the learning, are the Beatles easier to learn? I mean, the
02:37Beatles have got some monumentally complicated ones, haven't they? Which was easier learning?
02:41If anything, I think ABBA was marginally easier. But there are one or two ABBA songs
02:47that run the Beatles pretty close. There's one called The Day Before You Came, which
02:51is very, very wordy. Another one called I Am The City, which goes at 100 miles an hour.
02:57And that's taken a huge amount of rehearsal. Learning the Gilbert and Sullivan songs from
03:02memory, including their patter songs, was a great help in learning that one, I have
03:05to say.
03:06And what's it going to take for you to get through this on the day, do you think?
03:10Lots of bananas, lots of caffeine, and lots of encouragement, and lots of support. All
03:17of those things together.
03:18The point being, it's open. You want people to come along.
03:21Absolutely. Very much so. Admission's absolutely free. We're going to ask people who come to
03:27contribute to a retiring collection in aid of three great charities, the Sussex Snowdrop
03:32Trust, the Sage House Dementia Hub, and Boxgrove Prairie itself.
03:36Fantastic. So the times and the venue again.
03:39So it's the St. Blaise Centre, which is in the grounds of Boxgrove Prairie, just outside
03:43Chichester, starting at 9.45 in the morning, finishing roughly quarter past five in the
03:48evening.
03:49And given that you decided on ABBA the day after The Beatles, do you have an inkling
03:53of who you might decide for next time? Or is that unfair to ask you now?
03:57It's a toughie. I could go ABC, ABBA, The Beatles, Carpenters. But I've got one or two
04:03other possibilities as well, which I'm turning around in my mind. But it will depend very
04:08much on the logistics, how easy they are to obtain, and how many of them there are
04:12in total.
04:13Fantastic. And can you think of anyone who's done this before?
04:17I can think of nobody who's done this before. And I can guarantee that there'll be one or
04:21two songs which have never been performed in this country before.
04:25Fantastic. Well, along may you keep doing strange and brilliant and bizarre things for
04:29the Festival of Chichester. Great to speak to you, David. Thank you.
04:32And you too, Phil. Many thanks.