When Abba came to Dublin: The story of their only gig in Ireland 

Tickets for £5.50, figure-hugging outfits, and a rendition of Danny Boy all feature among the memories of that magic night in the RDS 

Abba on stage in London in 1979, just over a week before the Dublin gig: Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson. Picture: Gus Stewart/Redferns

Abba were the hottest ticket in town when they played the RDS in Dublin on November 15, 1979. It was their only ever gig in Ireland, the final leg of a three-month tour of North America and Europe. Traffic came to a standstill outside the Gresham Hotel where they were staying, as thousands of fans clogged up O’Connell St. trying to catch a glimpse of the super troupers.

  A public appeal went out to source a ticket for President Patrick Hillery’s daughter Vivienne (who died in 1987 after a long illness). Ticket prices started at £5.50 compared, for example, to the £1.80 it cost to see Carole King perform around the same period.