AVRO Platen Gala = AVRO Records Gala

On 11 October 1984 Björn and Benny were in the audience with Tim Rice to promote Chess. They were briefly interviewed by host Willem Duys and Elaine Paige performed Nobody's Side (having sung two songs prior to B&B's interview).

On 13 October 1984 Frida performed Shine and Come to Me (I am Woman) introduced by host Willem Duys.

Other guests included:

1. The Everly Brothers - Walk Right Back, Bye Bye Love, You Make It Seem So Easy, Wake Up Little Susie, All I Have To Do Is Dream, On The Wings Of A Nightingale, Lucille
2. Roberto Jacketti and the Scooters - Take Me Home
3. Sade - Smooth Operator
4. Deep River Quartet - Mister Paganini
5. Claude Michel Schonberg - Ne dit rien
6. BZN - Turn it Over
7. Elaine Paige - The Prisoner (Love Theme From The Eyes Of Laura Mars) and The Rose 
8. Interview with Tim Rice, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson
9. Elaine Paige - Nobody's Side (note that Elaine was presented with some flowers during the song proving she was miming)
10. Matt Bianco - Whose Side are You On
11. Joe Cocker - Civilized Man
12. Spandau Ballet - I'll Fly For You and Highly Strung
13. The Nits - ?
14. Robert Long - ?
15. Pim Jacobs and Louis van Dijk - ?

So Frida, Benny and Björn were not each other's presence during recording of this programme.

Click here for a picture of Benny, Björn in rehearsals.

There is extra material available in the archive so we can tell the previously untold saga of Frida's performances as follows:

1. After Frida's performance of Shine she was mobbed and said, "beware of my make-up!". In amongst the circle of fans surrounding her, one girl shouted her name and kissed her.
2. Frida was given too many flowers to hold in her arms so she dropped them - at this point the audience full of fans gave her huge applause and chanted her name.
3. She then had to adjust her hair and gloves before the second song, Come to Me (I am Woman), but the bottom of her outer skirt was caught up on the inner skirt. This can easily be identified on the unaired footage of this performance, as it can be seen continuously till the end of the performance.
4. In the middle of the song a second fan ran to the stage to give her flowers and a kiss. Frida was confused for a moment: what could she do with the flowers?  So she dropped them to the floor and continued singing. She was again mobbed at the end of the song again.
5. After this performance the director said that she should repeat Come to Me (I am Woman) because there were too many incidents for a broadcast (her costume needed adjusting, a fan had run on stage and there were flowers on the floor).
6. So Frida performed Come to Me (I am Woman) for a second time and it is this second performance that was broadcast. That was why after the second aired performance (really her third performance), only one fan presents flowers to her.

Broadcast information:
Thursday 11, 20:50-22:30 and Saturday 13 October 1984, 21:00-22:30, AVRO, The Netherlands. 
A compilation show was broadcast on 17 May 1985, including Come to Me (I am Woman).

Frida being mobbed at the end of the performance and saying "beware of my make-up!"

Information from Intermezzo No.8. Thanks to Jozsef for the broadcast date, other guests names and pictures. Location and host name information from ABBA in Holland (no longer online).
Thanks to Philippe Dupont, Jan Bach, Greg Hartney and Henk en Remko
YouTube clips c/o Craptastic 80s and TopPop